Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Pumping. Testing. Fasting

http://www.medtronic.com/wcm/groups/mdtcom_sg/@mdt/@diabetes/documents/images/dia_paradigm_pump_522_v1r_lres.jpg

The insulin pump is an AMAZING invention!!! It's what keeps me alive, providing me insulin throughout the day. It's almost like a little pancreas with a brain, the size of a beeper. The insulin is delivered through the tubing that is connected to a needle that is inserted to my stomach (which gets changed, refilled, and rotated every 3 days).

When I wake up in the morning, I test my blood, plug the number into my pump and then plug in the amount of carbs I'm going to eat. My pump, very concisely, tells me how much insulin to give myself...just like that! It takes a lot of the guessing and math out of it for me.
http://www.northcoastmed.com/enlarge/meters/one_touch_ultrasmart.jpg
With some adjustments that the doctor made, I get scared with how much insulin my pump tells me to give at times. So, on most mornings I cheat a little and cut back a tiny bit on the insulin. This morning, I braved it and took the pumps directions and gave the full amount. I was 175 when waking up. Not awful, but not perfect (80-120 is the goal). I gave myself 1.0 unit to cover being a little high and then another 2.2 units for the 33 carbs of oatmeal I ate.

I went throughout my normal morning, got ready, woke Derek up, and then sat down to test again, making sure I was ok to drive to work. 375?!?!?! WHAT?!?!? When I finally thinkI'm doing soemthing right!!! And then I felt it...sluggish, nauseous, and like I had a row of cotton, lined up on my tongue (I was really thirsty)!!! I tried to hold it in, but the tears came down my face. Sometimes it's frustrating, but I try to just move on and figure out what went wrong, knowing tomorrow will be a new start.

A hug and kiss and some encouragement from my wonderful husband and it's off to work!

Well, it's gonna make for a messy day when I start out like that. Some high's, some lows, and feeling lousy in between. My insulin pump settings [insulin to carb ratio, amount to bring high numbers lower, basal rates (the amount going through me during the entire day)] are all off!!!

Because of this, there is a process of doing fasting tests along with writing down EVERY blood sugar reading and EVERY single thing I put in my mouth...in order for my doctor to help straighten things out. It's a lot of logging and recording, but in the end, it's very useful to figure out how to correct the mess.

So...this Thursday, Friday, Saturday....it begins!!!

http://www.viewpoints.com/images/review/2007/322/9/1195401227-17482_full.jpg
It will begin with eating low fat food throughout the day, being real careful to be as precise as I can as to counting carbs. I begin fasting around 6 or 7pm and will then take a series of blood tests at 10pm, midnight, 2am, 4am, 6am, 8am, and 10am. It makes for a restless night...and of course I get hungry and weak.

That is one series. I have to repeat this again on another day, along with about 3-4 more series of fasting tests at different points throughout the day.

Sure it's annoying, inconvenient, messes with our weekend plans, etc...but it is a step toward better control!!!

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