Hi every one,
I’ve had type 1 diabetes for 20 years now, & was in pretty bad shape until the pump. I have had the pump for a couple of years now. I’m having lots of unexpected highs in the morning. Also some site problems, and now that I’m older I need more insulin. I eat well & test 6-8 times a day. My doctor is happy with my results, but I feel like I’m having more problems than I should for the care I give myself. I can’t be the only one. I’m starting to get kinda pissed about the whole thing. Any suggestions??
HELP
Kalee
Kalee- Have you done a test of your settings lately? I just started double checking my settings and found many of my issues were solved by fine tuning them. Evening correction setting was not enough etc… Your basal\bolus needs may have changed.
Good luck, and let yourself be mad at it.
I’m on my way to my doctors now… thanks
LOL… Yes I have been mad @ it!!! -)
What Mark said. And what kind of site problems are you having exactly? Could be a different kind of set is all you need, or maybe move your location to another part of your body. I have been pumping for nearly 20 years, and in that time I have had to make lots of changes, adjust basal and bolus settings and just deal with unexplained periods of poor control. Yes, do get mad, but also know it can be resloved!
You might need to adjust your night time basals patterns to account for your morning highs.
If you are noticing a pattern for these highs like they always occur at within a specific time window, or you are waking up high or it’s happening an hour or two after breakfast then you can start to figure out the culprit and make the necessary changes to your pump patterns.
Your insulin peaks about 2 hours after being released, so if you are waking up high, you might need to start testing during the night to see when the numbers are starting to creep up.
If it’s after breakfast try doing a basal test by fasting and testing every 2 hours. If your blood sugar stays stable then it’s probably not a basal problem and you might need to adjust your carb ratio for your boluses.
It can be very frustrating when you are putting in so much work and not seeing the results you feel that you should. We’ve all been there or right there with you.
Hang in there.
Thank you both very much =)
Kalee did you get any good news or help from your doc?
i think you should try another set too
and you really should take it easy if
you have done what you are supposed
to do
i hope you get better soon,and
good luck with your doctor
You didn’t say which pump. However, with Medtronics’ CareLink system, my endo keeps track of all my settings and tweeks them over the phone (from 75 miles away) every few weeks. I don’t do any tweeking on my own. I want my endo to be at fault. ;^) That’s why he’s getting the big bucks.
She changed some setting I will call her back in 3 days w/ the results.I may have to adjust a little more.
Thanks, I switched to the sure T , so far so good. Before the hose was getting bent when it went in my skin. This site is a small needle.
Thanks
Its the medtronic minimed . She changed some setting yesterday, I’ll call back in a few days to check in. She may change it more =) I’m feeling a lot better since I changed to the sure T infusion set.
Kalee-looks like you are finding some answers. Thats great.
Yes they are great=) I will pass that info along
thanks
Thank you everyone for your help & support. I’m really feeling better about it. As everyone knows the less stress the better=)
Hi Dave,
I am new to the boards so I apologize if you’ve posted this elsewhere and I’ve missed it. Please tell me more about the Sure-T’s. I am on Minimed 710 and have been having problems for months. I am hitting lots of veins, even when doing everything to check and recheck, and often I end up with a bent canula. I absolutely don’t want to get off my pump, but I am really frustrated!
I have called Medtronic, they advised I talk with my Endo. I spoke with my Endo who advised I speak with Medtronic! Any info is appreciated.
Thank you,
Leslie
I tweak everything myself on my pump… but I have always been like that with my diabetes. Unexpected highs in the morning is usually that you’re just not taking enough increase in basal from ~4am on to cover your morning dawn phenomenon or you are going low in the middle of the night then it’s rebounding back up. I had that problem. Have you woke up in the middle of the night and checked your sugar? Other way is to wear a cgms for a few days to chart your sugars. Your site shouldn’t be the problem if you only experience highs in the morning. If it was your site you’d get them all the time. Also, I have the best control when I dont eat carbs late at night and before bed. I eat some protein before bed (I’m into bodybuilding) with zero carb and has done wonders with my nighttime BS control. If it’s dawn phenomenon it can help to take milk thistle before bed also… it blunts the release of adrenaline from the liver.
My biggest advice if you haven’t already done so is to read the book “pumping insulin” by Robert Walsh. It is a requirement IMO if you are on a pump. I have learned SO much from that book!
Peace and good luck Kalee
Allen,
Thank you sooo much I changed some of my night settings. This morning I was a little on the low side & I fixed that so tomorrow I should be great. I forgot about that rebound thing =) Im doing much better with my diet now that I’m eating low carb meals. I just need to get motivated to exercise.
Kalee
Have a grrreat day =)
I know this is a bit of an old discussion, and I hope you’ve got your numbers sorted, but if you haven’t, then you could see if you can have a continuous blood glucose monitor on, it attaches like a pump and monitors your levels every few minutes, however I do now know how things work in the US as I like in the UK.
THX=)