The Pumpers Thread!

[lesley1978]

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.

I am exactley the same. didn't really get told much by the borough to be honest. just got told low sugar low fat high carb and off I went. When I went to see the dietician last Friday she said that I was carb counting really well and know exactley how to adjust my insulin and wondered how I had 'self taught', to which I replied, the internet! Thank the lord for the wonderful net thats all i can say!

 

[Adrienne]

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?

Why not. It is trial and error and all about the timing. It may necessitate a few more finger tests until you have tweaked it to perfection (I wish!).

Yes the 5 and 6 am is all to do with the breakfast spike. The higher basal at 4 am I would think is needed because of the dawn phenononem (!)

With the dawn phen, what you have to bear in mind is that everyone even non diabetics get it but it is normally more pronounced in people with diabetes but not all !!! You might not have it !

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

 

[tracey w]

Why not. It is trial and error and all about the timing. It may necessitate a few more finger tests until you have tweaked it to perfection (I wish!).

Yes the 5 and 6 am is all to do with the breakfast spike. The higher basal at 4 am I would think is needed because of the dawn phenononem (!)

With the dawn phen, what you have to bear in mind is that everyone even non diabetics get it but it is normally more pronounced in people with diabetes but not all !!! You might not have it !

Good luck and let me know how you get on.

thanks again, unfortunately i think i do. did a basal test overnight few days ago,

10 pm 9.7
2 am 8.7
4 am 8.2
6.30 10

this was on my initial basal of 0.4 for 24 hours. So have upped to 0.5 from 4am,

have decided to set temp basal of bit exta when i get up tomorrow, around 9 ish for a few hours, if this works will set on pattern, sounds like a plan

i know it all takes time and you have years of experience, for whch i and many others are very grateful, xxxx

 

[Adrienne]

thanks again, unfortunately i think i do. did a basal test overnight few days ago,

10 pm 9.7
2 am 8.7
4 am 8.2
6.30 10

this was on my initial basal of 0.4 for 24 hours. So have upped to 0.5 from 4am,

have decided to set temp basal of bit exta when i get up tomorrow, around 9 ish for a few hours, if this works will set on pattern, sounds like a plan

i know it all takes time and you have years of experience, for whch i and many others are very grateful, xxxx

Sounds like a very good plan.

Are you only one one basal and just added one more so now on two? I personally don't understand DSN's who start people of like this. From what I can remember we were put on four different ones throughout the day. The DSN rang me every night at 7 pm and we tweaked together. Over the last nearly 3 years we have 9 basals. Some DSN's say far too many ! Why. If that is what works then sobeit. I have friends on more than that with changes every 1/2 hour for some periods. That is the point of pumps, to do what your body requires. You'll work it out yourself I'm sure but am happy to assist when I can.

 

[tracey w]

Sounds like a very good plan.

Are you only one one basal and just added one more so now on two? I personally don't understand DSN's who start people of like this. From what I can remember we were put on four different ones throughout the day. The DSN rang me every night at 7 pm and we tweaked together. Over the last nearly 3 years we have 9 basals. Some DSN's say far too many ! Why. If that is what works then sobeit. I have friends on more than that with changes every 1/2 hour for some periods. That is the point of pumps, to do what your body requires. You'll work it out yourself I'm sure but am happy to assist when I can.

thats right, just the one, i have not dared programme another yet, i know will take a while but i will get there, i know the pump can do a lot for me, i just need to understand my body and what i need for different situations, i think i will get more help from here than anywhere else though xx

 

[bev]

thats right, just the one, i have not dared programme another yet, i know will take a while but i will get there, i know the pump can do a lot for me, i just need to understand my body and what i need for different situations, i think i will get more help from here than anywhere else though xx

You will -Adrienne is brilliant! (as are lots of others on here too)Bev

 

[Adrienne]

You will -Adrienne is brilliant! (as are lots of others on here too)Bev

Thank you very much Bev, I do what I can, as does everyone else. x

 

[bev]

Tonight had fish and chips (oven cooked) - first time since on pump.
Gave 50% and planned to do rest over next few hours. However, after 2 hour check he was 4.5 - so decided to wait and checked after another half an hour - he was 5.2 - so decided to wait again.
Checked at 10.30 - he was 3.8 so gave 2 x glucotabs
checked 10 mins later - still 3.8 - so small can coke.

So- not sure about giving the rest as i dont want him going low - he ate at 6.20pm - so surely a lot of the digestion should have kicked in by now?

The total units was 5.9
But he only had 2.9 and nothing else!
Any ideas?

Should add that i have increased his basal from 0.375 to 0.400 for the first time tonight aswell (6pm til midnight) - but surely this tiny increment wouldnt have anything to do with the low?Bev

 

[Mand]

Morning Bev.

That's a strange one! What did you do in the end? I cannot imagine that such a small basal increase would make the difference but maybe it would?

 

[Adrienne]

Yes what happened. How about excess exercise during the day and maybe the increase in basal was the cause. Very odd. Don't forget there isn't the fat in oven chips as there are in chip shop chips. Very odd though.

 

[bev]

Hi all,
I checked A last night at 12 midnight and he was 8mmols! So decided to leave it and check at 3 (always do) and at 3 he was 9mmols - so left him and he woke on 6.6mmols at 7am! I have absolutely no idea what happened - i am just glad we didnt give the whole lot - i dread to think how hypo he would have been!
He had only played in the garden for half an hour before eating his meal and he was a bit low so had 2 glucotabs (3.5).

I will just give him a 'normal' type meal tonight and see what happens....🙂Bev

 

[Northerner]

Hi all,
I checked A last night at 12 midnight and he was 8mmols! So decided to leave it and check at 3 (always do) and at 3 he was 9mmols - so left him and he woke on 6.6mmols at 7am! I have absolutely no idea what happened - i am just glad we didnt give the whole lot - i dread to think how hypo he would have been!
He had only played in the garden for half an hour before eating his meal and he was a bit low so had 2 glucotabs (3.5).

I will just give him a 'normal' type meal tonight and see what happens....🙂Bev

Bev, you are so on the ball with things - you make very intelligent decisions under very great stress, I just wanted to say what a wonderful job you are doing🙂 Hope A is settled back to 'normal' tonight!🙂

 

[bev]

Bev, you are so on the ball with things - you make very intelligent decisions under very great stress, I just wanted to say what a wonderful job you are doing🙂 Hope A is settled back to 'normal' tonight!🙂

Thanks Northerner! You dont know how much that means - i was doubting myself this morning - thinking i had made a big mistake with his carb counting or something silly! I have even found the piece of paper i had written all the amounts on and re-worked it - and yes it was correct. I still have no idea what happened - he has half a portion of fish and chips floating around without insulin somewhere!!😱
I think this evening may shed some light on things - hopefully.....🙂Bev

 

[bev]

A got his 'spibelt' yesterday (actually we got 2 in different colours) - he loves it - he even wore it to bed! He was jumping up and down testing whether the pump moved or not - and it didnt - so he is very happy and has worn it to school today. I would recommend them!🙂
I can see the 2 i made him being put in the bin now!😉Bev

 

[Adrienne]

A got his 'spibelt' yesterday (actually we got 2 in different colours) - he loves it - he even wore it to bed! He was jumping up and down testing whether the pump moved or not - and it didnt - so he is very happy and has worn it to school today. I would recommend them!🙂
I can see the 2 i made him being put in the bin now!😉Bev

We have two as well and Jessica loves them but she wears all the others as well, she has about 12 different ones now, all different colours !

 

[Patricia]

Hi all

Just a quick check in to say I am keeping up with things, but can't write much here for the mo' -- teaching starting and it's all go!

Bev, you are doing SO wonderfully. We have so been there (and will be, sigh) -- these middle of the night decisions etc...Argh.

And I'm impressed about the spibelt -- may now broach this with E...

Tracey, I'm with Adrienne on this basal rate thing. We started on 5 and are now on 6, and I just can't imagine doing otherwise. It's possible so why not do it...I hope you don't have to wait long to start properly adjusting....Our highest rate is .75u/hr. Our lowest is now .30u/hr, to give you an idea of range...Each of these is only on for about 3 hours, but it does seem to make a massive difference...

Bev, don't know what to think about that weird fish & chip result... If he was rising a little in the middle of the night (if I've got this right?) it could be that he reacts very strongly very late to breaded things and fried things....We have found that although we use oven chips, breaded fish and breaded chicken can sometimes cause problems...Essentially his late night rise (maybe? Except because of hypo treatment you can't really tell...) could have been the food coming in VERY late, like 8 hours...This has happened to us before...OR as you say, could actually be a shift in basal needs to happen...Is he normally low before bed?

This end,😡. Last evening was one hypo after another -- we just couldn't catch up with it all...we temp basaled all evening and much of the night, but E didn't have a number above 5 for over 16 hours...several were hypos in the threes. ARGH. He was floating in apple juice...

Combination of things, mostly the dastardly DUAL WAVE (hiss for me Lou!). He had a pasta dual wave at lunch, and a much shorter dual wave for rice at dinner. Combined with three hours of exercise in the day 😱, it was a disaster from start to finish, and most annoying. Too many variables interacting in ways we couldn't predict! A terrible night.

I'm getting cross now that it seems although we may be able to 'crack' elements of rice and pasta -- which we feel we have -- we will always but always checking him late, forcing ourselves to stay up, or getting up, to make sure it's all okay. I don't want diabetes to take this away from us! Our food for heaven's sake! What we love! Grrr....Do we have to sacrifice the healthy, quick, tasty and huge variety of foods that are pasta and rice dishes? At night, that is?!

AND: how can we expect HIM to do all this when he leaves home?! How can he possibly want to bother with waking himself up to test the ends of these patterns....

**

On the up side -- says she, pulling herself up by her now frayed (and self pitying) bootstraps: we discovered last night that E hadn't had a hypo any lower than 3.2mmols in over three weeks. This is extremely good going for us -- he has a propensity for low lows at unexpected times. Hurray (she says, weakly) for the pump...

 

[lesley1978]

Hi all

Just a quick check in to say I am keeping up with things, but can't write much here for the mo' -- teaching starting and it's all go!

Bev, you are doing SO wonderfully. We have so been there (and will be, sigh) -- these middle of the night decisions etc...Argh.

And I'm impressed about the spibelt -- may now broach this with E...

Tracey, I'm with Adrienne on this basal rate thing. We started on 5 and are now on 6, and I just can't imagine doing otherwise. It's possible so why not do it...I hope you don't have to wait long to start properly adjusting....Our highest rate is .75u/hr. Our lowest is now .30u/hr, to give you an idea of range...Each of these is only on for about 3 hours, but it does seem to make a massive difference...

Bev, don't know what to think about that weird fish & chip result... If he was rising a little in the middle of the night (if I've got this right?) it could be that he reacts very strongly very late to breaded things and fried things....We have found that although we use oven chips, breaded fish and breaded chicken can sometimes cause problems...Essentially his late night rise (maybe? Except because of hypo treatment you can't really tell...) could have been the food coming in VERY late, like 8 hours...This has happened to us before...OR as you say, could actually be a shift in basal needs to happen...Is he normally low before bed?

This end,😡. Last evening was one hypo after another -- we just couldn't catch up with it all...we temp basaled all evening and much of the night, but E didn't have a number above 5 for over 16 hours...several were hypos in the threes. ARGH. He was floating in apple juice...

Combination of things, mostly the dastardly DUAL WAVE (hiss for me Lou!). He had a pasta dual wave at lunch, and a much shorter dual wave for rice at dinner. Combined with three hours of exercise in the day 😱, it was a disaster from start to finish, and most annoying. Too many variables interacting in ways we couldn't predict! A terrible night.

I'm getting cross now that it seems although we may be able to 'crack' elements of rice and pasta -- which we feel we have -- we will always but always checking him late, forcing ourselves to stay up, or getting up, to make sure it's all okay. I don't want diabetes to take this away from us! Our food for heaven's sake! What we love! Grrr....Do we have to sacrifice the healthy, quick, tasty and huge variety of foods that are pasta and rice dishes? At night, that is?!

AND: how can we expect HIM to do all this when he leaves home?! How can he possibly want to bother with waking himself up to test the ends of these patterns....

**

On the up side -- says she, pulling herself up by her now frayed (and self pitying) bootstraps: we discovered last night that E hadn't had a hypo any lower than 3.2mmols in over three weeks. This is extremely good going for us -- he has a propensity for low lows at unexpected times. Hurray (she says, weakly) for the pump...

Patricia,

Sorry to hear about the bad time that E has been having! hopefully things will settle down soon! It must be so difficult trying to control db for someone else. I find it difficult enough for myself!

3 hours of exercise😱 I don't think I have done that much in the last couple of months never mind 1 day!

Anyway, hope things go a bit better tonight, you must be cream crackered!

Lesley x

 

[bev]

Well tonight i gave A a lowish carb meal so i could find out whats going on.

He had 1 x salmon fillet and a poached egg and 1 x slice of bread with a low fat yoghurt.
It came to 31g carbs - so had 2.1 units.

But 1 x hour later he is hypo at 2.5mmols!

So i am assuming it is the basal rate - but i had changed it last night because he was running a bit high in the evening 10 or 11mmols - so i increased it from 0.375 to 0.400.

So i have put it back to .375 tonight after the hypo - but i am surprised that such a tiny amount has made such a difference?

I dont think it is the bolus as he had been too high at 10pm until about 3am when the basal changes again.

Should add that he was hovering between 4 or 5 just before eating the meal.

Bit confused now!

Patricia, sorry to hear E has been suffering hypo's. He must feel wiped out poor thing. I do share your worries about when the boys are older - will they want to bother waking at 3am to check? I cant even think about it now - the thought of uni fills me with dread...flippin diabetes..😱Bev

 

[bev]

Also forgot to mention that he had rugby today and took his pump off. But he couldnt re-attach it! School finished at 2 o clock today - so this happened at 5 to 2 - so he went to medical room - no-one there - so he figured it best to just come home - luckily we only live a 10 minute walk from the school - but he came in the door panicking and worried that something would happen. Tested and he was 6.6 - so i tried to attach it - but for some reason it wouldnt let me. So set change and all fine. But i tried the old tubing on the new set and it worked - so think he must have knocked the old canula in rugby and it just would not attach.
Felt sorry for him and rang school to ask why no first aider there - she said the school was finishing early today and there was a note on the door to go to reception - so i explained how urgent it can get - but not sure she really got it - she was waffling on - so i think a little note to the school tomorrow.

I did speak to the P.E. teacher and told him he must check A has re-attached his pump - he said he was sorry - he had got involved with something and had forgotten!

I did feel sorry for A - he looked very worried - poor thing. He hasnt done a set change by himself yet - so i dont have one at the school - but i think i will start encouraging him to have a go - just in case.🙂Bev

 

[Mand]

Poor A! But glad he ok in the end. Perhaps a reminder letter to the school will help. Hope so!

Like you, i have been struggling with a 'is it basal or bolus' problem. It is the two hours after breakfast that has been a problem for us. First i changed the bolus and when that did not work i changed the basal but that did not work either so back to original settings and today was 6.0 two hours after breakfast! Flippin diabetes has me running in circles sometimes!

But after a good mid morning reading he forgot to bolus for lunch and came home with a 'hi' reading! 😱 He bolused then and was back to normal by tea time! Phew! Rarely does he forget to bolus so i have not made a fuss. At least we had a reason for the 'hi' and that is the main thing.

Gosh it is exhausitng, isn't it! A day off would be nice but not to be!

But on the bright side, the last few set changes have gone extremely smoothly and as a consequence he much more relaxed about doing the changes, so an upward sprial there! 🙂

Hope you getting on ok, Tracey. 🙂

Hi Patricia, Lou, Adrienne, Becca and all! x