Pump and insulin in today !!

[Riri]

Hello - just a quick note to say that I'm now on insulin and the pump for real. First big shock - BS in low teens when pump fitted at 1.45 - felt a bit 'funny' at 2.30 and my BS had pummeted to 4.3 in 45 mins. I didn't expect that to happen so quickly, especially since my nurse told me that my sugars were likely to be a bit higher over the first few days/weeks and would probably needs some tweaking. Took some glucose and I've been 8 to 9 ever since. I don't know if this is normal when you fit your set and pump to begin with? Anyway I'll be keeping a close eye on it now for the first few weeks. Bye for now x

 

[ebony321]

Hi,

Great news!

You still may have some long acting insulin in your system, especially if you used lantus before. so that is likely to cause your BG's to act a little strange, so i wouldn't change anything for about 2/3 days. UNLESS you hypo in the night, then change it right away!

Are you testing in the night? the quicker your get your overnight basal correct the easier it'll become.

I would expect your BG's to be up and down as you tweak your way through, you have a full 24 hours to programme so it will take some time

Aslong as you keep and eye on things and test regularly you shouldn't hit any major problems, you already have experience in the mechinical side as you've had the pump a while so just insulin theory to crack now

goodluck!

 

[Riri]

Thanks Ebony. I've always tested in the night at 3am. My DSN suggested I continued this for a while (no more) and then go to bed to sleep! She's a great DSN and only says these things because she knows me well and I'm a born worrier I was on levermir and took it midday so by about 11am every morning it had started wearing off so I'm surprised that it's still in my system now (again my DSN said there would be some still left possibly)? I am SO KEEN to get my overnight right as it seemed to kick off problems for the rest of the day. Just one query - did you find you needed a lot less insulin on the pump than what had originally been set-up for you?

 

[phoenix]

A quick answer from me on that one, my basal went down from 16u of lantus to about 12u using a pump. My boluses also went down as I could be more accurate. All in all I take about a 25% less insulin using the pump.

 

[Riri]

Thanks Phoenix - I think my DSN has set my rate with a 25% overall reduction in insulin (from my total dose on MDI) to start with to see how I get on so that sounds about right although I know I'll probably have to change bits and bobs through the day.

 

[annettekp]

The first day my son was on the pump we had a hypo in the afternoon and had some trouble keeping his blood sugar up in the evening. We were told the levemir in his system would have been the cause.

 

[Riri]

Thanks for advice. Today and last night has not gne very well - 8.8 at the moment which is ok but I've needed to take correction doses throughout to bring me down. 16.1 at 3am this morning. It seems to me that my basal rate is too low - would you agree? I will phone my DSN tomorrow with my blood sugars as I dont feel confident enough yet to change the rates myself. Yuck diabetes!

 

[Riri]

Day 3 and things are better. My DSN changed my basal rate from 6am to 9am to 0.500 yesterday (all other basal time the rate is 0.450) and changed my carb ratio for breakfast (all meal ratios currently 1:10) so this was changed to 1 : 7.5 - all BS readings today have been below 10 and my pre supper reading was 6.4 - very chuffed with this. I'm not to change any more for a few days to see what's what. Changed the set tonight as well (worried about that) but all seems ok. Ive just read anther post with questions on this - I had enough insulin left so I only changed the set and kept the same tubing and reservoir - I think I'm ok to do this aren't I? I'll keep my updates coming and especially if it helps someone else in the same situation as me :crazy:

 

[ebony321]

Sounds like it's going well!

It's always a good idea to wait a few days to see how you react to changes in basal and ratios. I usually wait 3 days unless it's seeming to cause me hypo's or high highs!

I tend to aim to change one thing at a time if possible, this way if theres a problem i can predict it's the last thing i changed. For example i change my cannula and my BG seems to be rising with little effect from corrections i can assume it may be a bad infusion site.

But if i were to change my cannula, tubing, cartridge all at once i would have to work my way through them all if i had a problem.

It's also good if your starting out to be able to fully concentrate on just one thing too. Sometimes it'll fall that you may have to change your cartridge the same day as your cannula but it doesn't matter, it's something i prefer to do so don't worry too much.

I also note in my diary when i last changed things, helps me remember when to change each thing. I also have a reminder set on my meter that beeps at me to change my infusion set every two days.

I also test my BG and hour and 2 hours after changing my set, this way i can know that its working fine.

What type of cannula do you use? if you use a teflon cannula it's sometimes recommended you leave the old one in as well as your new one for a few hours so if theres a kinking problem you can plug back into your old cannula straight away. I use steel cannulas so it's not a problem for me.

Keep asking anything you like, theres been many a time when i was new to it i just searched for my problem and someone had posted previously about it, so it's always a good idea