Newbie on a quest

[Pumper_Sue]

Thanks for the replies all, and wow Jenny that's really encouraging to read!
I'm with Dr Sankar now myself (since last October) at St Cross. In fact, I'm off there tomorrow to get hooked up to an insulin pump. And you're right, the care at St Cross is so much better than anywhere else I've experienced so hopefully things are going to improve for me. It's strange how you lose your grip on things when feeling low, I honestly thought I'd first posted my questions on here last year. Turns out it was a little longer ago than that!

Good luck with the pump, if you haven't bought it already please do invest in the book pumping insulin by John Walsh, it's known as the pumpers Bible and worth it's weight in gold.

 

[mr self destruct]

Good luck with the pump, let us know how you get on - I'm starting with one on 16th May. Hello and welcome back by the way!

Well, I had it fitted Monday and wow! Just wow! My BG ranges between 7 and 15 daily, yet after 24 hours on it it never went outside 4.2 - 7.8. It's amazing!

 

[stephknits]

Sounds amazing! What pump have you got?

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Well, I had it fitted Monday and wow! Just wow! My BG ranges between 7 and 15 daily, yet after 24 hours on it it never went outside 4.2 - 7.8. It's amazing!

I hate to burst your bubble but after a couple of days things tend to go t*ts up, this is when all the hard work and I do mean hard work begins basal testing and adjusting basal rates sorting out your carb ratio and correction factors etc.
Very much worth the effort at the end of the day though.

 

[mr self destruct]

Ah ok, glad you mentioned it!
The nurses did say that next week I'll be fasting for parts of the day to see how the basal rate affects me. That might be when the hard work begins.

Stephknits, I have an Accu-Chek Spirit Combo which links via Bluetooth to an Accu-Chek Aviva Combo bg meter. I'm really impressed with both. Good luck with yours next week!

 

[trophywench]

I was only talking to Roche today - and the Tech help girl also had a Combo and now has an Insight same as me - and we both said the Combo was a LOT more bullet proof than the Insight is. Much more 'user friendly' we both think. If I didn't hate 'filling syringes' so much - reminding me of how stuff was when I was first diagnosed - and the reservoir being so huge (10 days supply for me if I'd filled it) - in a number of ways I wish I'd had another Combo. Wonder if they'll still be available at my next update LOL (about another 1200 days I think!)

I'd totally miss being able to leave the pump alone and just have the meter/handset in my hand to do it all.

Sue remembers me when I first had the Combo - like you first week was pretty great. However after the next 3 weeks I was about ready to throw it out the window. I had to gather all my resources and give it a damn good talking to (of course I was really telling myself off LOL) - and actually said 'at' it, I'll be buggered if a bit of plastic and a few PCB's like you is going to beat ME - so put that in your pipe and smoke it!

And of course - it wasn't actually that hard. The thing that hits everybody is - we all did things virtually instinctively on MDI by that juncture in our diabetic journey - and will a new 'system' - none of us can, until we get used to it. But like most things - we all got used to it pretty quickly after that - and started knowing automatically what to do, when, once more!

 

[mr self destruct]

Sounds like I have a bit of a bumpy road ahead then.
Not been a good day so far, it seems like every time I do a bit of moderate exercise (I built my daughter a wooden slide and loaded a car onto a trailer) my bg drops below 4. Having said that, it peaked at 9 so it's a lot lower generally, which can only be a good thing.

Also, I have that book on order so hopefully things will stabilise once I know what I'm doing.

 

[trophywench]

LOL - knowing what you're doing is a quest we've all been on! I'm not too sure I've got any more than an O level in it even now, though!

 

[mr self destruct]

Haha I'm only just old enough to know what O-levels are!

 

[trophywench]

Haha I'm only just old enough to know what O-levels are!

I was glad of my Biology teacher telling us about diabetes, some 6 years later when I was diagnosed - whereas, similar to learning then that the earthworm is a cosmopolitan - I had just assumed I'd never need to know about that again !

 

[mr self destruct]

Ok so it's been a couple of weeks with the pump now, and yes it's a bit of a rollercoaster as regards the bg levels. We're currently playing around with various basal rates and adjusting as necessary, but I've had daily hypos which is scary. I'll stick with it though.

 

[Northerner]

Ok so it's been a couple of weeks with the pump now, and yes it's a bit of a rollercoaster as regards the bg levels. We're currently playing around with various basal rates and adjusting as necessary, but I've had daily hypos which is scary. I'll stick with it though.

I hope things settle down soon 🙂

 

[mr self destruct]

Cheers bud, it's nothing a ready supply of jelly beans can't sort. 😉