Hi! I need some motivation. I’ve been on the pump for 2 years and I love it. Lately my numbers have been all over the place. I met with my endo awhile back and we adjusted them but they are still going crazy and I feel like it’s because I haven’t been counting carbs correctly. I know this is my fault but sometimes it just gets super hard to control. Sometimes they are great and other times they are all over the place. This is so discouraging. Any advice? Thanks
Hi Amanda…
Lots of things could be causing those fluctuations…and I’ve had the same problem. I’ve found that sites on my belly are the best for keeping my numbers in line. Conversely, sites on my back or butt are the worst, and often result in my “post meal” readings being quite high (my BG levels go up between 80 and 150 points).
STRESS can also cause your numbers to fluctuate…both GOOD stress (excitement) and BAD stress have the same effect.
Lack of sleep can also make your numbers go bonkers.
You said your endo adjusted things…I assume you meant that he adjusted your I:C ratio. I’ve got seven different basal patterns and half a dozen different I:C ratios throughout the day. After being on the pump for over 4 years, and learning how insulin affects me (AND after a lot of talking with my endo)…I’ve got enough confidence to occasionally make slight changes to I:C ratios and basal rates myself.
I always start with a very small change, and observe the change in my BG over several days…before deciding if I need to put things back the way they were or leave my new settings in place.
Something else to ask you endo about is your “insulin sensitivity” and duration of insulin action. I THINK the Ping starts out with a sensitivity reading of 50 and a duration of 3 hours.
I use Apidra and found that I had to increase my duration from 3 hours to 3.5 hours (to prevent my BG’s from going low later in the day).
Good luck…
Joe
Thanks Joe. I noticed that my ISF was making me low when I would correct for highs. So today I adjusted that. My 1u:60 used to work great but now I am getting low (50’s) after correcting for highs. So I now have it adjusted to 1u:60. Hopefully this helps with the lows.
Also, i’ve noticed that I get low between 9:30-12:00 pm so I am going to lower my basal rate between those hours and see if that helps.
Basal insulin impacts BG about 2 to 3 hours after the time that the basal rate is delivered . . . so you may need to make your adjustments a couple hours prior to the time you are going low. It’s not uncommon for people to be more sensitive to insulin during the late evening and early AM hours.
Oh ok thank you. So maybe I should try it for 8 am and see what that does.
Hi Amanda
Please don’t beat up on yourself - we all struggle at different times - and being hard on yourself just makes everything harder.
I would like to maybe suggest you go to the TAGgers group and read through the discussions (not just the comments). My numbers have never been better since using the TAG method and I find it easy to figure out.
Take care,
Cheri
I agree with Cheri . . . in that the use of TAG allows for fine tuning of your bolus and insulin delivery . . . and sometimes leads to the need for less basal insulin.
I also agree that you shouldn’t beat yourself up . . . First of all, beating yourself up only makes you feel worse . . . and second of all, even Doctors don’t know all the answers. . . otherwise they might be able to advance beyond “practicing medicine!”
Sorry - I meant to provide the link - http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/tagers