The Pumpers Thread!

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Sugarbum said:
Thanks for this Becca, I have just watched it back. So, now I know what de-gassing is!

Its strange I had never heard of this before this thread. Looks time consumming but I will give it a shot. Thanks for this link because I might keep the video rolling while I do it just for promting. I take it this is working for you?

Cheers Becca x
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Hiya, we used to do it and it worked really well. I have a friend who swears by it and they don't get any bubbles. Trouble is it's time consuming - i really need to get into a better routine and make the time to do it 🙂
 
Thanks for the good wishes everyone :D

Bev - I've been keeping pretty thorough logs for while now (I'm a scientist, I like collecting data! 😛), but I think I'll take your advice and start writing down everything I can - anything that will help!

Lesley - I'm trying to get in touch with a girl who was put forward a month before I was to see what's happening with her. I'm finding it difficult to get any information out of the hospital itself, which is a bit frustrating! Good luck with your appointment! 🙂
 
Add my good wishes to them all randomange! Look forward to hearing all about it...

randomange said:
Thanks for the good wishes everyone :D

Bev - I've been keeping pretty thorough logs for while now (I'm a scientist, I like collecting data! 😛), but I think I'll take your advice and start writing down everything I can - anything that will help!

Lesley - I'm trying to get in touch with a girl who was put forward a month before I was to see what's happening with her. I'm finding it difficult to get any information out of the hospital itself, which is a bit frustrating! Good luck with your appointment! 🙂
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Howdy all

Crumbs, does no one sleep?! Amazing...

Right: exercise. Sorry a bummer Lou. WHAT a drag for you. Only thing I can think is exactly what Adrienne says -- lucozade OR a temp before getting there. Tracey -- we always take pump off for exercise unless kicking football around etc and not very intensive...We always temp basal at 75% afterward for 2 hours at the moment...

We have been having serious bubble problems as well -- E does all his own stuff, and his frustration levels are sky-rocketing...Bev, we always shoot insulin through, but I like the idea of sending through a lot rather than just a little -- just a little sometimes leaves the damn things there, sitting right at the top happy as Larry...😡 Maybe a goodly number of units will slaughter ANY bubble! And yes Lou: the plunger, the plunger! ARGH! *How* can something be made that just lets in squiggles of air if not done exactly right. ARGH!

I'm interested to hear about the cartridges: at last set change E was railing on about this, saying it's so simple to do, why is no one doing it, this is ridiculous, etc...Must admit this had never occurred to me! On the other hand, he *is* much more business oriented than I ever will be, so I guess it's the way he thinks.

Yes: Dragon's Den, anyone?! We will join up! Shall we go and present our case, and get the US distributors on board?! Come on!

And had NO IDEA that you could prime a bubble out of the tubing...sheesh. Have never done it. Imagine we would not need to then follow with a fixed prime, because we were advised not to fixed prime when changing the reservoir without changing the set (rarely necessary). But I shall remember this -- THANK YOU!

So glad to see everyone on this thread -- hi Tom!

Adrienne: I'm *dying* to know what you have up your sleeve! Becca: you too!

Tracey, you are doing brilliantly I think, as everyone says. It must be quite an adjustment...well done! Sorry for the stressful set change and the stressful morning... :(

***

This end number-wise all is well. A little low yesterday afternoon, no idea why. And games today etc, so we'll see!

Meanwhile my daughter is home with suspicious symptoms, tamiflu in the house now -- but we're not giving it to her. She's just a bit poorly, not awful, but with all the symptoms, only milder than I expected.

And meanwhile, I go away for 9 (!) days at the beginning of October. ACK ACK! I pray we don't all come down with something, AND that things are even for OH when away. It's hard work, as we all know.

Over and out for now!

xxoo
 
E just back from school...to further complicate the exercise issue, he encountered 2 hours of football today (had forgotten about it, so not discussed with us!), and decided (rightly) that he just couldn't leave his pump off for two hours. So he tested and set himself a 60% temp basal for that two hours and afterward for an hour...This was having already set himself a 75% temp basal after rugby in the morning! AND he's still on a dual wave from lovely pasta salad at lunch!

So far so good. He's on 5.3, and will reset the temp basal when it runs out, prob only to 75%. But late pm is a low time of day for him , so best to play a little safe...

SO: possible to do lots of combinations of things. Proud of him for thinking it through, and for actually doing it.

Bev, I forgot to say well done for guesstimating A's busy adventure day at 45%. Clearly a good thing!

bye --

xxoo
 
Tracey, you seem to be doing so well with your pump! you certainly seem to be getting the hang of it!

I have been running so high for the last two mornings, haven't got a clue why but they have taken me ages to get back down! This morning I woke with a 21.8 and yesterday was a 22!!! But at the weekend I was struggling to stay above 4 on Saturday, or was it Sunday! oh I don't know, I am so tired and have a bangin headache! hope they settle down soon. I am hoping that the pump will help to alleviate some of the randomness which I get! Roll on Tuesday for my pump nurse appointment!
 
lesley1978 said:
Tracey, you seem to be doing so well with your pump! you certainly seem to be getting the hang of it!

I have been running so high for the last two mornings, haven't got a clue why but they have taken me ages to get back down! This morning I woke with a 21.8 and yesterday was a 22!!! But at the weekend I was struggling to stay above 4 on Saturday, or was it Sunday! oh I don't know, I am so tired and have a bangin headache! hope they settle down soon. I am hoping that the pump will help to alleviate some of the randomness which I get! Roll on Tuesday for my pump nurse appointment!
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Thank you Lesley,

It is so difficult I know, lets hope all goes well with your meeting. I am there thursday, going through my wireless handset, which is also my new meter. Not been allowed to touch it yet!
 
Adrienne, have just been reading what you said on Katies thread and the spikes after meals.

I too have huge spikes after meals, mainly breakfast and lunch, in the past if i upped my ratio i would crash by about 3 hours. I am still having big spikes, 16.6 after breakfast today and 15 after lunch. when i spoke to dsn she talked about changing basals rather than ratios, and i will try and discuss it with her on thursday when i see her. She also said i need to bolus at the meal, wheras i was taking my breakfast insulin 30 miins before to avoid the spike.

but i am a little confused as i eat breakfast and lunch at very different times as i work shifts etc. So what i think im trying to say is how can i have fixed basals for these times if im not necessarily eating at those times??

ps i was 6.7 at lunch and 5.9 at tea, so come back in range at 4/5 hours. hope you can help me as this is THE thing i really want the pump to sort out for me.
 
tracey w said:
Thank you Lesley,

It is so difficult I know, lets hope all goes well with your meeting. I am there thursday, going through my wireless handset, which is also my new meter. Not been allowed to touch it yet!
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Good luck for Thursday Trace. Bet you can't wait to start messing with your new gadget. Did you have a choice of pumps to choose from?

Lesley
 
lesley1978 said:
Good luck for Thursday Trace. Bet you can't wait to start messing with your new gadget. Did you have a choice of pumps to choose from?

Lesley
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yes, when you get funding it is up to you which pump you want, they will show you the animas, medtronic and spirit combo, but you can choose.
 
tracey w said:
Adrienne, have just been reading what you said on Katies thread and the spikes after meals.

I too have huge spikes after meals, mainly breakfast and lunch, in the past if i upped my ratio i would crash by about 3 hours. I am still having big spikes, 16.6 after breakfast today and 15 after lunch. when i spoke to dsn she talked about changing basals rather than ratios, and i will try and discuss it with her on thursday when i see her. She also said i need to bolus at the meal, wheras i was taking my breakfast insulin 30 miins before to avoid the spike.

but i am a little confused as i eat breakfast and lunch at very different times as i work shifts etc. So what i think im trying to say is how can i have fixed basals for these times if im not necessarily eating at those times??

ps i was 6.7 at lunch and 5.9 at tea, so come back in range at 4/5 hours. hope you can help me as this is THE thing i really want the pump to sort out for me.
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Hi Tracey

I hope I can help - Becca, maybe you can tell me if you think I'm right or suggest something else.

Your shifts are, I suppose, going to be a bit like school and weekend. We have different patterns for both these scenarios. For us it is about having a lie in at the weekends if we can, although not any later than 9.30, 10am at a real push. On the Medtronic you can have three patterns, the standard and pattern A and pattern B. So you could in theory have three different variations of your basal for you different shifts.

Ok breakfast. This is how it has worked for Jessica for months and months and how I managed to get the spike down. Jessica always had huge spikes up to the 20's.

So her school pattern is this : She has breakfast at approx 8.15 am and her insulin for that she bolus's just beforehand.

0000 0.30
0200 0.25
0400 0.35
0500 0.85
0900 0.05
1300 0.55
etc

The 0500 basal used to be at 6.30 am instead. We even went up to 1 unit at one point but she still spiked and crashed at 12 noon.

So we took the basal down but made it earlier by half an hour and the spike started coming down. We eventually found that having a really high basal started at 5 am seemed to sort her spike out at 10.15 ie two hours after breakfast insulin. However she then crashed big time. We therefore ended up with another basal at 9 am of the smallest increment our pump allowed us to stop the 12 noon crash. Originally we had a 10.30 am lower basal but she still crashed so we brought it back half hour at a time and finally settled at 9 am to stop the 12 noon crash.

All very complicated but it worked. Normally whatever you do with a basal will have effect approx 2 hours later but for some reason our mornings to not follow that pattern at all.

For us it was a matter of playing with the basals.

So you could play around with your basals to see what works best for you and you can then manipulate the timing of that to suit your working hours and meal times.

Hope I have helped and I hope I have explained it ok. Don't forget this is just my experience. I have heard others say the same but I don't think anyone has as early a high basal as us. Most seem to be around the 6.30/7.00 am mark.:confused:
 
Hi Adrienne, looks good to me, we do exactly the same:

00.00 0.20
06.30 0.45
09.00 0.25
20.00 0.45

Bolus are:

06.30: 1:15
10.00 1:30
11.30 1:22
18.30 1:28

we have a big basal coming in from 0630 for Rose to cope with the 10am spike and it seems to work, we have to haul back on the basals from 0900 though to avoid a crash. Her bolus for her mid morning snack is almost half beacuse again she would hypo.

As Adrienne says, can you set up different patterns for the shifts you are on? What shifts do you do? 🙂
 
Adrienne said:
Hi Tracey

I hope I can help - Becca, maybe you can tell me if you think I'm right or suggest something else.

Your shifts are, I suppose, going to be a bit like school and weekend. We have different patterns for both these scenarios. For us it is about having a lie in at the weekends if we can, although not any later than 9.30, 10am at a real push. On the Medtronic you can have three patterns, the standard and pattern A and pattern B. So you could in theory have three different variations of your basal for you different shifts.

Ok breakfast. This is how it has worked for Jessica for months and months and how I managed to get the spike down. Jessica always had huge spikes up to the 20's.

So her school pattern is this : She has breakfast at approx 8.15 am and her insulin for that she bolus's just beforehand.

0000 0.30
0200 0.25
0400 0.35
0500 0.85
0900 0.05
1300 0.55
etc

The 0500 basal used to be at 6.30 am instead. We even went up to 1 unit at one point but she still spiked and crashed at 12 noon.

So we took the basal down but made it earlier by half an hour and the spike started coming down. We eventually found that having a really high basal started at 5 am seemed to sort her spike out at 10.15 ie two hours after breakfast insulin. However she then crashed big time. We therefore ended up with another basal at 9 am of the smallest increment our pump allowed us to stop the 12 noon crash. Originally we had a 10.30 am lower basal but she still crashed so we brought it back half hour at a time and finally settled at 9 am to stop the 12 noon crash.

All very complicated but it worked. Normally whatever you do with a basal will have effect approx 2 hours later but for some reason our mornings to not follow that pattern at all.

For us it was a matter of playing with the basals.

So you could play around with your basals to see what works best for you and you can then manipulate the timing of that to suit your working hours and meal times.

Hope I have helped and I hope I have explained it ok. Don't forget this is just my experience. I have heard others say the same but I don't think anyone has as early a high basal as us. Most seem to be around the 6.30/7.00 am mark.:confused:
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thank you! yes it does make sense, but i need everything explaining to me so that i understand it, and you do that so well.

I can have 5 different basal patterns on my pump but only using the one at the moment. I have already upped my basal from 0.4 to 0.5 from 4 am until 8 am as i found that i was rising after 4 am and my work bfast spike is at around 9.15/9.30 ish, so the 8am will still have an effect at 9? However only been couple of days and nt had bfast at that time every day, today a lie in and bfast at 9.30.

So you are saying, to set pattern 2 for days off or late shift to higher basal up to maybe 10 am, as will have effect until 11 am? And still keep higher basal from 4am to cope with dawn spike i get?
 
tracey w said:
thank you! yes it does make sense, but i need everything explaining to me so that i understand it, and you do that so well.

I can have 5 different basal patterns on my pump but only using the one at the moment. I have already upped my basal from 0.4 to 0.5 from 4 am until 8 am as i found that i was rising after 4 am and my work bfast spike is at around 9.15/9.30 ish, so the 8am will still have an effect at 9? However only been couple of days and nt had bfast at that time every day, today a lie in and bfast at 9.30.

So you are saying, to set pattern 2 for days off or late shift to higher basal up to maybe 10 am, as will have effect until 11 am? And still keep higher basal from 4am to cope with dawn spike i get?
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As an example. For a school day we use the basal I said before (standard pattern) :

Breakfast at 8 to 8.15 am
0000 0.30
0200 0.25
0400 0.35
0500 0.85
0900 0.05
1300 0.55


For a weekend (pattern A) :

Breakfast at 9.30 am
0000 0.30
0200 0.25
0400 0.35
0600 0.85
0930 0.10
1300 0.55
etc

There is not that much difference on our patterns. She eats breakfast an hour later so the 5 am basal becomes 6 am on pattern A. The 9 am 0.05 on standard becomes 9.30 am and 0.10. We tried 10 am but that didn't work. She also uses less brain power at the weekend than at school so is not exercising and so needs a bit more insulin ie 0.10. By 1300 however we are back to normal.
 
Adrienne said:
As an example. For a school day we use the basal I said before (standard pattern) :

Breakfast at 8 to 8.15 am
0000 0.30
0200 0.25
0400 0.35
0500 0.85
0900 0.05
1300 0.55


For a weekend (pattern A) :

Breakfast at 9.30 am
0000 0.30
0200 0.25
0400 0.35
0600 0.85
0930 0.10
1300 0.55
etc

There is not that much difference on our patterns. She eats breakfast an hour later so the 5 am basal becomes 6 am on pattern A. The 9 am 0.05 on standard becomes 9.30 am and 0.10. We tried 10 am but that didn't work. She also uses less brain power at the weekend than at school so is not exercising and so needs a bit more insulin ie 0.10. By 1300 however we are back to normal.
Click to expand...

ok, so your 5 and 6 am are to cope with breakfast and not dawn phen? sorry i am confusing myself. Was thinking of setting pattern two now for tomorrow as working in the afternoon, gonna leave all the same but up 8 and 9am, i can set mine hourly. does that sound right?
 
All this temp basal and different basal patterns seem very complicated. I must admit that I am a little scared of getting used to doing it and trying to get it right if hopefully I get my pump. I suppose though, its similar to adjusting my MDI at the minute.


Tracey, you really seem to be getting the hang of it!

How did everyone else adjust to it? Is it really daunting?
 
lesley1978 said:
All this temp basal and different basal patterns seem very complicated. I must admit that I am a little scared of getting used to doing it and trying to get it right if hopefully I get my pump. I suppose though, its similar to adjusting my MDI at the minute.


Tracey, you really seem to be getting the hang of it!

How did everyone else adjust to it? Is it really daunting?
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your right it is complicated, but adrienne and the others are so good and explain things really well. I have learnt everything about my diabetes on thos website. when i was diagnosed i was on two injections, feeding my insulin, was not told about carb counting, mdi pumps or anything, have larnt it all on here. And my dafne course too, again only heard about that on here as well.
 
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