White and 2 big fat sugars please.

[ThunderBolt]

I'm ready for my 1st brew since Wednesday after a run of alternating basal and bread tests. And my feet are bloomin' buzzing like mad. Main reason for the post was to ask how long others took after starting the pump to finish initial basal and bolus testing. Also did others get a bit more freedom to act on their own back when altering doses? I'm slowly creeping back to the doses I'd suggested shortly after Christmas but was advised not to make such big jumps.

Kettles boiled. Toodle pip!

 

[Jennywren]

About 6 - 8 weeks for me , but constantly tweaky and changing day to day , especially when im at work , because i work a 3 day week i have to adjust accordingly as i work with children and being very active at work has a big effect . Very little milk and no sugars seeing as youre maaking the tea , ta

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Can't answer your question as no idea what basal and bread tests are
If you are basal testing, then you need to skip meals and test on the hour every hour for that test block.
You should not be eating bread before a test as high carb and a prolonged digestion.
http://www.diatribe.us/issues/13/learning-curve.php

As to altering doses, you shouldn't expect others to do it for you. The idea of the pump is you operate it to suit your own needs. Not some DSN who prob hasn't a clue anyway.
Most people make their own changes from day one.
Basal should be about right within 6 weeks with tweaking needed.
Have you bought pumping insulin by John Walsh? If not you need to.

As an after thought there is no point messing around with carb ratios untill your basal is right. If that's wrong then everything else is.

 

[ThunderBolt]

Cheers folks...

My basals are pretty much sorted to be honest. I just wanted to try the ones I'd thought should work and they went OK.

As for alternating tests, one after the other, I'm still following the rules I've been set. By time I'd started the basal it'd been well over 6 hours since I'd ate any bread or top up insulin.

And cheers Sue for confirming what I'd thought about taking the wheel so to speak. I'm sure I'd have had everything sewn up if I'd been given a bit more freedom. A few clangers yes but I'd have put up with that and hourly testing becomes half hourly, or quarter hourly if I'm ranging in hypo territory.

I'm by no means having a pop at the dsns, it's probably what they've been trained to do and how to do it, but I'm getting instructions to do things that can't be done on this pump and I feel bad when I have to say so.

I might say I'm going on holiday for a month where there's no phones or emails.

 

[Ellie Jones]

It didn't take long to get the main basal testing out the way... Now it's a case of tweaking every now and again...

I would agree with the DSN about not making too of a large leap from point to another or making too many adjustments at one go, so easy to over shoot or if making too many changes you don't know which one worked and which didn't...

Their job is to help guide you, and at times brainstorm and throw a sugestion forward from the pot of experience of what others have found worked..

Take me for example,

I'm a well seasoned diabetic very experienced with MDI and the pump insulin therapies my experience and capablities really show with achieving good control of my own diabetes... Could I take control over somebody else diabetic control Nope I couldn't...

What I can do, is act as a guide with providing information and knowledge that helps the diabetic understand better, perhaps promote an idea, a suggestion I make may not actually work for you, but it may be the line of thought that gives you an idea that will work for you...

Same as the advice not to take large leaps it is actually good advice...

The body does need to adjust to change in conrtol, if you constantly run high before pumping, and you try to not only stablize control but also bring the control range down too quickly not only can this make you feel pretty crap but it can cause problems with the eyes and even make complications like background retniaopathy worse!

It is far better to gain the stability at an higher range, then slowly bring down the range at a pace the body can adjust itself without impacting on or causing other complications...

Sometimes our DSN's lose sight of the balance required to guiding or controlling, but it isn't suprising as they see many diabetics a high degree will not only have the lack of ability but may also not have the actual interest in making management decissions in their control...

 

[ThunderBolt]

First off, ta very much for replying with all th nuggets of advice. Secondly, sorry it's taken so long for me to get back. Head's been elsewhere to put it politely.

I might already have mentioned som of this but not in a clear way... And I have a tendancy to make up my own phrases for things and expect everyone to know what I'm rabbiting on about. So... In no particular order...

Basal tests are fasting tests. Bread tests are bolus to carb tests. I only call them bread tests as that's what I was advised to eat when running them. With a blob of jam, but I don't usually bother with that and keep to a gram of carb in bread form for each kilogram body weight (which isn't much).

I had chance for a bit of a chinwag with the Diabetic Nurses a few days back and we've agreed to let me take more of a driving seat with chopping and changing doses on a whole while still sending them my tables of results, dose and so on. I feel a lot more confident now with that alone. By that I genuinely don't mean any disrespect to the nurses. I'm just not very good with words!?!

Ellie, like yourself and many others on here, I've done a good few years of the diabetic stint. Glass syringes, on to posh plastic ones, pump first time round and then the pens. I daren't even think about replying to the thread: How many meters have you got? I knew what to do and how to do it... I just didn't!

I will have a look for that book though. And a decent magnifier. Heheh... Cheers.

So, as daft as it may be, I've started again from scratch my own way.

I'm running basal tests over a period of 9-12 hours (+6 hours clearance before). I'll do each session 2 times minimum so as to avoid any of the pain in the posterior one-off results. Only when I've a good idea of the true readings I'll alter the dribble. Another couple+ test runs to check.

And then the same with bread testing, although I'll cut the length down to 8 hours. I know they say 6 but it won't do any harm, and I'll probably need to do more at different times anyway.

All follow up tests for both sets I'll leave for a few days so the doses get chance to bed in first.

Thanks again!