I am about to get an OmniPod, my first pump. I have had the Big D for 20 years and am very lackidasical and non-compliant. Even after losing both parents and an aunt to it. I had a heart attack in July, 2011 and of course that is the ultimate wake up call if one survives. Thankfully for my guardian angels I am still here. The biggest hurdle to my learning to pump is the carb counting. I understand the doc will help me figure out a way to set a basal rate for 24/7 but that I must know what I will be eating and the number of carbs. I eat a lot of packaged food so she said that was easy but I still fear I am too dumb to learn the counting. I don’t have a fancy cellphone to look them up all the time either. I heard CalorieKing is a great book and I like their website www.calorieking.com but who wants to haul a big book around and research carbs before your meal comes? What if you program those carbs and bolus and then don’t eat all the darn food? Sheesh. Do you have to run laps after your meal?
Please advise how you simplify this for the challenged person. What tricks or gizmos do you use to help with that? Or do you ‘guesstimate’ all the time? Thanks everyone. Wish me lck learning to be a PodPeep.
I did not know anything about carb counting either. I had been on a sliding scale (old school) based on what I had been taught in 1987. It will be less difficult than you are expecting. I do guesstimate at times. Good luck! I think you will love it. I have been on mine for just over 14 months. It is so much better than injections!
Usually, you can compare what you are eating to things you know. For instance, if you kow a slice of bread is 20g, then you can estimate a hot dog bun, pizza crust, dinner roll, etc compared to that. You won’t be perfect, but compared to a SWAG you would be pretty close. After not very long at all, I think you will be pretty good at it.
Hey awesome. I didn’t know the PDM food library was like that. I have only tried the demo pod and talked to the sales rep. Doing the paperwork and visiting the doc in the next 2 weeks. Excited and scared at the same time. Wish me luck.
Thans Daneenm. Um…whats a SWAG? I’m excited to learn more and get the pump but scared too that I won’t get the hang of it. I’ll keep close to this TU group. Take care.
If you have a smart phone, there is a free app called “GoMeals” that has most of the content of CalorieKing (so you don’t have to lug the book around) , including food from many chain restaurants. You can “add food” to a plate, select the amount, and it will total up the calories, carbs, etc. for you. The library is bigger than that in the PDM. I use stuff like this
with my shots today and will start using it with the Pod on Tuesday, when I go in for insulin start.
As others have noted, you will soon learn the counts for your favorite foods and just enter the numbers. Also, its really great that most food is labeled with carb counts these days.,
The pump will not magically solve the dosing problem for you , or make you more compliant…it only makes delivery easier.
In terms of dosing for stuff which you then don’t eat…its exactly the same with the shots you are taking now…once its in, you’;re gonna have to eat that much carb or end up low. You do have the option of lowering basal insulin temporarily, but that won’t compensate for a major insulin OD. How are you controlling the 5 shots/day you said you are taking now ?
P.S. There are good books like “The ultimate guide to accurate carb counting.” that teach you tricks for estimation, based on the size of your hand, etc
No smartphone Pilot but thinking of upgrading. Will try it w/the PDM for a while. Excited and kind of scared of this new ‘Pad Adventure’. This site has great info and great PodPeeps to help. Thanks for your reply.
Thanks for your reply Elaine. I’m looking forward to becoming one. Hopefully I will be able to learn it all and take better contol of my diabetes. The dang gift that keeps on giving!
No kidding about the keeps on giving thing. I was taking 4+ shots a day before I changed to the pump. Don’t have a clue why I didn’t do it sooner, except that I didn’t like the thought of tubing. I think you will love it!
Use the PDM’s food database, this website to ask questions, and other sites to help you with the calculations.
I just wanted to point out, since you asked, that if you program those carbs and bolus and then don’t eat all the food, you definitely don’t want to run laps after your meal. That would actually make it even worse. In that case, if you used the extended bolus feature for your bolus, you may want to cancel the extended portion and re-calculate. Or just eat some more carbs…
Oh yeah, one more thing…the PDM’s food database contains the carbs for a particular quantity of food…like
1 slice of bread, 1/2 cup of potatoes, etc. You will have to do the arithmetic yourself for the number of carbs in the portion you eat.
A nice enhancement for the PDM would be to let you enter the quantity, sum up the whole meal, and then transfer the sum to the bolus wizard. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t do that now.
Ellie, I’m new with the pod, also, after using shots for about 10 years. I find that the diabetes educator is my best friend right now, and if you don’t have one, try to find SOME kind of resource to help you develop a feel for the carb monitoring. If you don’t have an endo, try your local hospital for some kind of program. They do a great job of helping you know what an appropriate serving looks like so you can develop a food plan that works for you. Some people like to count, some like a visual aid - just find what helps YOU - maybe a picture book!
I would do this NOW, so that you’re not having to juggle so many new things at once. If there is simply no program in your area, troll the internet and find something that will help you - it really will help you get your diabetes under better control.
Glad you survived the heart attack - you are one lucky girl!! Now…keep that lucky streak going by attacking this thing that wants to hurt you!
You can do it. My 17 year old does great and had to learn at 15 when he was diagnosed.
Just watch your portion sizes! When we switched to Carb Counting we could not figure out why he was always had high BG at lunch. Then we discovered that a “Cup” or milk to a teenage boy is a “Tumbler” and definately not a 8 oz. “Cup” of Milk. It actually when measured was 3 (1 Cup) servings of milk. One Cup of Milk is about 12 carbs depending on fat content (1%, 2%, Skim, etc) so we were missing insulin for (2 Cups) or 24 Carbs. He now has a “Cup” that holds 16 oz. of milk and he knows where the fill line is and the number of carbs.
Yes, you need to either eat all of the food or substitute a different carb. If my son is not as hungry for breakfast and only eats part, then he will our an equivalent (estimated) amount of milk. For other meals, he likes to substitute a cookie or chocolate. If you are not sure how hungry you are or if it is a large carb meal which may hit your system too fast, bolus for half and then when you have eaten half, bolus for the second half or what you plan to eat. With the pump, it is not another shot - just a push of a few buttons, so it is easier.
We do estimate some but most restaurants and fast food places list their carb counts. Some have “Nutritional” phamplets and brochures and McDonalds even has the carb counts, calories, etc printed on the wrappers now. My son tends to have the same thing at the same place, so I plan to make him a small booklet of his “favorite” meals and their carbs before he goes off to college.
My son does the same thing when eating out. He has the same meal almost every time. I actually took the time to go in and put his favorite meals in the PDM. That way he has it all at his fingertips. When he was on MDI, I made some business cards with all of his favorites on them, laminated them and gave them to him and everybody he travelled with so he would always have the carb counts handy. I know McDonalds isn’t the healthiest food, but I sure do appreciate those carb counts on the boxes/wrappers!
I Think you’re plenty smart enough to do the carb counting-You sure had sense enough to come right here and ask. I’ve been Type 1 for 36 years and still do MDI–I don’t know why—But your comment about running laps reminded me of the olden days-when that is exactly what you did if you over did it with food. Glad that has changed-maybe I’ll look into a pump too-Old dog-new trick.
