Pump upset

Yes, twice daily injections only give good results if eating the same amounts at same times as to continually work properly with insulin.

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brett said:

Yes, twice daily injections only give good results if eating the same amounts at same times as to continually work properly with insulin.

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Just to explain things so as to not mislead, twice daily insulins can vary in their doseage. Most people will inject more of the twice daily in the morning and then less of it later.

People can eat fairly well like 30 - 40g carb at breakfast, 10g snack mid morning, 30-40g carb lunch, 10g carb snack mid afternoon and then give another injection before eating evening meal which can also be varied a bit according to what amount of carb is going to be eaten. Lots of people using bolus/basal give themselves multi injections and still adopt the same way of eating.

As long as people keep to eating the sameish amounts of carb within set time frames and not go overboard, then bg levels stay fairly well controlled and hypos will only happen if they forget to eat when they should or if they do exercise and don't eat or adjust the insulins in hot weather. Now that bolus insulins are available, people can use twice daily insulins and if more carb at lunch is going to be eaten than the usual amount, 1 or 2u of bolus can also be used probably for every 10g carb eaten in excess so its possible to get the best of both worlds. For kids who are young and growing up, twice daily insulins are an option to consider. Even a few units of bolus will enable kids to go to birthday parties and eat whatever is there without sticking to the usual amount of carb that they would need to eat normally, so all is not lost.

The only drawback to twice daily insulins is that over the years, many of the mixtures have been withdrawn because of basal/bolus but some are still available and are probably cheaper to prescribe than analogue insulins and can also offer better stability.

In my opinion, the first priority is to get her wearing the pump. Arm, leg, whatever. A few days of wearing it may make her feel better about it going elsewhere. Also, once you're at home in a comfortable environment it might be easier to convince her to try moving it. I'm not a pump user myself but I know with regular needles the advice is to insert diagonally if there is not much fat? I'm sure you could make arms work somehow if you were extra careful.

If you know anyone who is good with children and can make anything sound fun, try to get them to come along and help make your daughter feel more enthusiastic about it all.

Cheers

Have a look at this website

http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/diabetes/med ... -comb.html

As your daughter is very young and has got to grow up to be teenager, 15/75 mix might be ideal to start off with and then see how she copes with that,

Shell1 said:

she just lied to my sister that she is always allowed to eat the chocolate cereal kraves and now my sister just rang that her bloods are 25 !!

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Are you adjusting the dosages for the carbohydrate content of the cereal AND the milk? It's a must if you want flexible eating.

Is she on NovoRapid right now? A trick that helps, particularly with treats, is to inject in advance, maybe 1/2 an hour. If she eats straight away, the sugar floods into her system before the insulin has started working. Whereas if she waits a while, some of the insulin will already be in her bloodstream, and starting to reduce her sugar levels. Be careful she doesn't go low before she starts eating (so test often, especially the first few times), but in my experience, NovoRapid can take up to 45 minutes before my sugar starts going down!

Sounds like you're doing your absolute best and learning as much as you can. Your daughter is lucky to have such a dedicated mum.

Make sure you look after yourself too, you're going to have to be there for her for years to come. One of the biggest mistakes I made was doing "whatever it takes" to keep my blood sugars normal, as my diabetes got more and more difficult to control. My HbA1cs were very consistent, but achieving them got harder and harder - till I had a complete breakdown.

Not sure if it will help but I found there were quite a few videos on you tube, several on changing sets showed people inserting different types of sets. Maybe find a couple to watch with her, I didn't find any that put me off but probably best to check them first just in case.

Watching some of them really helped me get over that particular hump, still takes me a while to actually press the inserter though :lol:

Your daughter doesn't have to use her tummy. She can use her bum and it wont hurt at all inserting the sets there whatsoever. No one will ever see it as well. This of course is for a pump that attaches to the set using a tube and attaching it to a waistband or having it in a tummy belt The Cellnovo pump although not available to have as yet, can be used as a pod pump or as a tube pump.

Hi,
I just wondered if your daughter has tried injecting into her stomach with her pen yet ?
We were very reluctant to do this for over a year because it seemed too unnatural to inject there.
However once we gritted our teeth and had a go {me first again of course} it became our sons preferred site because it is much easier than rolling up or pulling down his trousers.
I always give our son the chance to try things out on me first and use me as a pin cushion if necessary. Of course I tried a canula myself at a pre-pump session months ago and kept it in for the maximum three days.
Yesterday he started on a pump and has already told us he prefers it.

I really think that parents still need to make decisons such as this for children, she is not really old enough to make an informed choice and in any other area of her life it would the parents who are offering care and control , otherwise many kids would make rbad decisions because they are not mature enough to consider all the pros and cons!

You're not being neglectful but not forcing her! She may have thanked you for it down the line, but she may have also resented you for it.

You're doing the right think by guiding her towards making the right decision for her own health!

My son's biggest objection to the idea of a pump was the 'sets'. He normally injected in very small area of thigh and refused to consider anything else. However, he watched another T1 of the same age put a set in their belly and then was persuaded just to try putting a set in his own belly, before agreeing to a pump. That was 4 years ago. He's just received his second pump and wouldn't dream of going back to injections. So, why not ask to see some different sets, explore where they can go and hopefully find a solution.

My daughter is 4 and got the pump fitted 6 months ago. She hated getting it in her tummy at start but now it doesn't faze her. She says she would never go back to injections. She eats what and when she wants although we still have a good routine. As parents we feel the pump is amazing. If she is at birthday party's she can eat the same as everyone else which doesn't make her different. And you don't need to eat if your not hungry which is great


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