• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Insulin went in today

Lucie75

Lucie75

Well-Known Member
Messages
302
Location
Bristol
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi all, I've had saline running in my pump for a couple of weeks and today it was replaced with insulin so it's now live!! So far I've had hypo after hypo and have done more testing than I care to count - am hoping this is just my background insulin and that it'll wear off in the next day or two. I've been told specifically not to alter the basal rate without checking with my dsn first so I'll give it a couple of days and see if it all calms down a bit. So tonight, I'm up every two hours through the night testing (oh joy) and I guess I'll have to start planning some fasts - any tips from anyone about the 'smartest' way to go about this? I know you focus on one part of the day at a time and I suppose the best place to start is the night to rule out night hypos. Am slightly nervous and a little daunted by it all to say the least. Any advice most welcome!
 
Yes, was told same, not to alter basal till seeing dsn in 2 months time crazy. I was confident to alter my basal by doing correct fasts and knowing my basal needed adjusting. afterall if you are fasting and its been 4.5 hours since your last meal and insulin dose with no snacks then you know if it needs to go up or down. But, yes best to phone your dsn with your fasting results, and go from there. Stick with it, can take a while to get right. From your results you may need to adjust your bolus insulin prior to your fasting, in order to do the fast after. Then if basal is out, you may need to adjust that to see if the adjustment was correct. best to have the same meals, not too high in fat so you know the food is completely digested before starting your basal fasts, and that way by increasing/decreasing bolus you should have the preficted effect the next day.
Good luck, very demanding and alot of testing but worth it. Then once basal is done concentrate on bolus.
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
Hi Lucie,
congrats on going live. Believe me when I say if you put in tons of hard work right now for the next few weeks in a few years time you'll be really glad you did. Really get to know your pump and all it's functions and how your body works with it. You'll feel like a pin cushion, by the end but you should also have manage to sus out a couple of basal profiles and how to successfully use your bolus and temp balsal functions. I realise it's pretty full on when you're working and got a life. I got mine when I started my summer A-level exams, so it was revise and have a study braek by checking you bg and recording everything you ate etc, not fun. But by the time I went to uni in September I had it all worked out and felt really comfortable with it, which meant i could really enjoy the freshers weekend :shifty:
If you're constantly going low though maybe your DSN should have started you on a lower flat profile? Best ring and check, IMHO it's better to be running over a couple of points while you set everything up than constantly going low. Hopefully today your background should be gone and you'll not be as bad.
Laura
 
As laura (pumppimp) says, contact dsn about your basal rate, I went live on insulin yesterday, had a hypo last night, so my dsn reduced my 00.00-06.00 rate by 0.1, we will see how that goes...I'm surprised how easy it was to change,I feel like I've had the thing for years.... it was great running it 4 a week on saline to get the hang of it, btw, I've got the animas Vibe.....dinky bit of kit......
 
In the end I left it alone and just kept treating the hypos with mammoth amounts of testing in between. Sure enough after 2-3 days my numbers started to level off and be mostly within my target range. I've done the basal testing now and am really happy with it during the week, it's only the weekends that are a nightmare because my levels of activity vary hugely from one weekend to another. I've reduced the rate at weekends but I still have hypo days either on a Sat or Sun (we're also decorating at the moment so I'm stood up all day every weekend - it's amazing how much this affects your bg!)

I have an appointment on Friday this week with my dsn to fine tune the pump a bit more. I've been writing everything down for the last 10 days to take with me. I think one setting is wrong (either my i:c ratio or my isf factor) as my bg returns to target after a meal but I still have lots of insulin on board. This is what we'll be trying to sort out.

I also have the Vibe and I love it. I don't notice it's attached to me half the time until I catch the tubing on something.
 
Sounds like the hard work is paying off Lucie, glad to hear it.

Really encouraging to see all these people getting on so well with their pumps. Hopefully I'll be joining you all at some point.
 
Thanks Dave - it is hard work but I find it, dare I say, enjoyable?!?!?! Pre-pump I probably tested a maximum of 4 times per day and didn't really see the benefit of it because I had become really complacent and over-treated both hypos and hypers so I was disillusioned with it all for a few years. The pump is like learning from scratch all over again and is a whole new challenge. I have done as many as 12 tests in 12 hours over the last few weeks (although on average I'm testing about 8 times per day) and because my pump guides me with dosages etc I see an immediate improvement in bg levels. There's nothing nicer than testing and your meter shows you are in target AGAIN, whereas before I was either 16mmols+ or under 4mmols.

Let's hope you get a pump - it will change your life.
 
Hi Lucie75, I have noticed a drop in my blood sugar, I used to feel hypo at 4.0, but since being on the vibe I don't feel hypo at 4.0 it's now about 2.5-3.0, when I start feeling low. And like yourself I used to over treat my lows.Since getting my pump, I would have been happy with a 13,14 or 15 in a blood sugar and now I'm like even with an 10 or 11, that's a bit above range. And the amount my overall control has dropped to is amazing. And I think on a positive it's the fact that like yourself we are seeing such a difference since getting a pump, it encourages us to keep at it, as we are seeing real improvements.

Hopefully Dave- you will get a pump, as Lucie said it will change your life.
 
I could write this post myself now I've just started on the aviva combo yesterday and all day yesterday I was hypo every time I checked until the evening then it started again at 7am this morning. I'm quite familiar with my fluctuating needs through the day prior to pump so my DSN has made a couple of hourly changes to my basal rates by 0.1 so fingers crossed things improve over the weekend for me, can't cope with all this eating!! X
 
Hi K8tie, it'll only be for a couple of days just so your old background insulin can run out properly and then you'll see a massive improvement especially if your dsn has calculated your basal rates correctly. I think I got through 4 or 5 bottles of lucozade in those first 2 days! Remember to keep testing so you know what's going on - your basal needs will change through the day but you'll soon get to know your problem areas. I know it's a pain but I found writing everything down to be really really useful. I've had my pump for 6 weeks or so now and I'm a changed person. I have confidence in my bg levels and am rarely out of my target range (usually after eating but it soon comes back into range again without me needing to do anything). I have taken advantage of the fact that I don't have to eat at roughly the same time everyday and have only eaten when hungry which, for me, is a massive change to my daily life!! Good luck!
 
Julie - I also think my overall control is now better than it has ever been in the last 30 years, and this happened (nearly) overnight. Oddly, my hypo awareness is much improved even though my bg is generally running lower than it was before I got my pump. I used to feel hypo at around 2.0 - 2.5 but I'm now catching them at 3.9 or 4.1! Maybe it's because my bg is not fluctuating so much - I can't really explain it. Goodness knows how I'd feel if I got as low as 2.0 now - I think I'd be on the floor!! On the other hand, at 9.5 or 10mmols I feel really high, like I used to feel at 17mmols. I guess our bodies must adjust pretty quickly to improved control and become more fine tuned with it's responses. I think it's fab - the results speak for themselves.
 
I've already seen a massive improvement this evening just by adjusting those basal rates. I've only been on it since yesterday morning and I absolutely love it, I don't feel diabetic as I'm not having to be running off to the loo every time I eat to do a needle. Onwards and upwards from here and I'm glad to hear your positive story it's made me look forward to a successful future from the pump once my fasting bloods reveal what changes to be made :) feeling so happy with everything at the minute!
 
Back
Top