I bump into a few now and again. I’ve only been pumping for the last 3 years but, it sticks out to me now that I know what i’m looking for. I am a “podder” now for the last 1 1/2 years and people think it’s a blackberry.
That’s cause potatoes and rice don’t have gluten, and it is, after all ONLY a gluten free menu, not a carb-free one. I’m glad they’ll switch veggies for starch, though! 
Name the place! I’d like to hang out!
Meeting place, Bolingbrook OG
Set your insulin pump to hyperspace and loosen your pantsometer! I’m booked this weekend but February looks wide open.
I’ve been diabetic for almost 8 years and had not met another person with diabetes until this Fall. I was in the local pharmacy and the store’s assistant manager was there to pick up his insulin. I heard him tell the pharmacist that he would return the next day to pick up his syringes. I wanted to talk to him as one PWD to another PWD but I didn’t get the chance.
I often keep an eye out at my Endocrinologist office to see if there might be other pumpers there … but No, there haven’t been yet. I live 90 miles west of Chicago if there is ever a “get together” of fellow diabetics.
For sleep just let it rest near you. I used to keep in a pocket but as I tossed and turned i would lie on it now i leave it at my side and as I turn, I subconsciencly just pick it up and move it as required. It comes in time. (19 yrs now)
Zoe, may I ask you a question? If you don’t have time to reply that’s ok!
I am a pumper now, but when I was on shots I was told not to bolus more than 10mins before I eat. Then after I started the pump I’ve read it’s best to so a square or dual wave bolus.
Here’s my question, it is best to bolus before you eat (like 20 mins) or spread out? It’s had me confused for weeks now. I was only dx’ed 3 months ago. So I’m still really new to this.
Thank you!
I’ll give it a shot, for me, it really depends where my BG is and what it’s doing? If it’s like 100 and is the morning and it’s going up, I’ll wait 20-30 minutes. If it’s 70, I will eat pretty promptly, or wait until the food is ready, even if it’s 10 minutes after I tested? If it’s really elevated, like the spikes I get when I exercise that will run 140-160, I’ll bolus and shower and do all that before I eat?
It also depends on what you’re eating. Unless I’m running very high, I bolus right before I eat. My meals tend to be high fiber/high fat and even when I bolus right before I eat, I have to be careful or I’ll end up low at 1-1.5 hours. The only way to figure out whether to pre-bolus or not is to see what works.
Maurie
There are also some other factors to consider when choosing when to bolus. First, you need to balance safety, particularly in situations where you may not control timing, like restaurants. Also, different insulins have different onsets and everybody reacts differently. I am using R, and I need to inject 30 minutes before eating.
A helpful way of seeing if you should adjust your bolus timing is to test your blood sugar when you expect a peak and see whether your bolus is properly timed to match that peak. When eating simple carbs, most people will have a peak blood sugar at 15-30 minutes. For a complex carb, the peak is more like 1 hr and as Maurie notes, a peak for a high fat or fiber meal will often be 1-1.5 hours.
And if you have gastroparesis, all bets are off.
When you switched to the pump, did you find you need only 75% of your MDI TDD insulin? And did you find you lost weight?
There is no reason to be overweight if people know what they are doing. I gained 10 lbs this year from increasing my TDD and now I have to lose it again. Everyone knows all the components of a successful strategy. Anyone who is diabetic is going to find there is a problem unless you go strictly low carb and have a little higher basal, with extra care to make sure the night time basal is low enough to avoid lows. Just a 10km walk means I take less insulin on that day and even 1/3 the amount the next day. That is how effective exercise is on activating the receptors.
One of several of my goals is to lose the 10 lbs even before spring, so I can work on the famous last 10 lbs during the summer.
So instead of feeling jealous of the thin pumper, let’s just encourage each other in reaching a goal. It just takes determination and mini strategies.
The reason I asked about 75% less insulin is that I find it almost crazy that I even need a pump when all I take is 3-20u per day and 15u was my average when I was 124 lbs.
The world is fat because of the standard approach to diabetes…that is why I am so certain Dr Bernstein is right.
One hazard of having a ‘strategy’ is that it can still change? I worked out a lot before I got a pump and have kept it up afterwards and have lost weight, maybe 80-90 lbs (I weight myself a lot…) over maybe 5 years? I still refuse do do a ‘strictly low carb’ strategy. I do go pretty lowish carbs during the day most of the time but I splurge in the evening. To me it’s a really nice night if I eat 45-55 carbs @ dinner, bolus for 65 carbs and have a couple of beers to even things out?
Re the exercising, I have been runing for a couple of years now. I bicycle more in the summer but when I switch back to more exclusive running, my BG will run down but, as I get more used to running, I don’t get as much bang for my buck out of it and end up taking more whiffs of insulin to keep up with it? If you are intermittent but do pretty gonzo walks, like 10K, you probably would see that but when I’m running 20-30 miles a week for a few months, I will slowly see that I don’t turn my basal down as much as I keep pushing myself.
Having a goal is good but I have done the weight thing very gradually and, if your goal is 10 lbs and you lose 5, don’t be disappointed, just keep it up. Even if you only lose a couple of lbs, you will likely still get the endorphins going and feel a lot better if you can keep it up? That has been my experience, I think I have more on my page about what I did but, in terms of what you said, I wouldn’t disagree except to say that it’s not a guaranteed direct and linear relationship between exercise, TDD and losing weight? I still see it go up and down. I took a week off last week after I rolled my ankle and, when I got back going, the ‘in shape’ had totally worn off and my BG has been in the toilet ever since. Stuff like that happens all the time to me. Maybe it’s because I’m a slacker about keeping records but exercise hasn’t gotten rid of suprises w/ diabetes for me, the suprises are mostly that I haven’t keeled over yet. Except that one time.
You made me laugh! thank you!
Janina -
I am someone who is diabetic, doesn’t go low carb (average 165 net carbs on a typical day) and don’t have a problem with too much weight. At 5"10" and 150lbs, I’d like to put on another 3 pounds and I’ve worked very hard to get my weight back up from about 142lbs which was just too thin.
The theory that one gains weight because one’s TDD is too high confuses correlation with causation in my opinion. If you eat more than you need to maintain your target weight you have to cover the carbs. The increased TDD reflects the overeating unless you are eating to insulin due to using incorrect basal rates and ratios.
We’re all different.
Maurie
Very interesting and I read your page profile. I could hold you up as an example to follow, but I am 11 years older and know a lot about supplements, so I know how much DHEA affects me. I started taking it when I was also 43 like you, so don’t ignore my suggestion for you to at least ask for a DHEA-S blood test next time. Men also need to do a PSA test to know their level.
I can’t wait to get more, as soon as I get to my doctor’s clinic. I feel a LOT younger and more vigorous taking DHEA and it improves cholesterol and blood sugars and does make me feel younger. For anyone into fitness, it is a God send, that’s why it is banned in sports…it is perfectly normal to take it to get up to 20 year old levels, according to my doctor for just his patients who are not competing, but you know that in sports the idea is that people should be doing it naturally without aid other than their hours of training.
But hormones are so integral to how the body feels…just like insulin…so to live a better life, I fully recommend it and I research everything. I’ve been on and off taking it for 10 years…in the USA it is just an OTC supplement in a health store. But sure, you need to mention and discuss it with your doctor. My doctor is who suggested it to me and I buy it from him as it is banned in Canada by the influence of the pharma lobbyists. But he imports it from the USA and many of his patients take it.
Hmm, very intriguing. I had hit some protein powder for awhile as I had an extremely cathartic experience the first time I hit “the wall”? I’d run 8 miles for the first time and felt ok so I figured I’d run 5 the next day and felt ok for the first 4 mile and then was like ‘blooey’ and totally ran out of gas but it was December, cold, nasty and I was a mile from home so I chugged home and swilled a bottle of Myoplex that I got for the Turkey Trot and felt better within 1/2 hour or so but maybe it ws just stopping running? LOL. I’m not sure I totally need anything as I feel pretty young and vigorous anyway? Although that might be because I turned into a slug in my early to mid-30s? I’d read the Wikipedia page but it’s past my bedtime but thanks for the tip! I’ll check it out!
I don’t disagree with you at all, but I am a veteran at what I am doing, but not necessarily recommending my choices to others, except supplements are invaluable despite which basic carb versus low carb approach a person takes.
I am a very low carb person for the last 8 years. I certainly don’t think it would be for you, so don’t think I am recommending it, unless a person wants to lose weight.
I do know that I gained weight from taking more insulin, not to match what I ate, as it wasn’t driven by overeating. It was a purposeful move to try to have more energy to do heavy lifting work, etc. The results were not good, but I got more DHEA and within a week I felt a lot better. I should have done that first.
I know that my weight stayed normal with 15u average for many years. I do not gain but stay level at 20u TDD, but when I go to 28u I gain at a rate of 1 lb/week. My own GP doctor and endo both know that I am a supplement person. I have no insulin resistance, but there still is for all people an immediate activation of receptors during and after exercise, even for up to a day after, if the exercise was significant, but a 10-20min walk is too minimal to affect the next day.
I see resistance as being affected by many things (1) exercise in all cases (2) overweight (3) co-factors that help insulin attach to the receptors and hormone replacement, so all supplements have each a differing effect.
I fully agree that we are all different. Each person has to run their own types of experiments on themselves. However, I know my own case as to how I gained, quite well. I wish I had got the DHEA earlier as I know how well it affected my cholesterol profile in 2007 in conjunction with about 35 other supplements.
I am really glad this works for you but please dont bejudgemental of others. Its wonderful; that you only need 15 to 20 units some of us need in the range of 100 u per day. The disease affects aech of us in a different way so please dont dump the guilt on those of us that are heaveier that its all our fault - I have tried multiple efforts to reduce and now cant work out with some heart issues. So I eat less and bolus less and try but still carry an extra 50 pounds. There is no magic wand for everyone.
Never am I healous just happy for others who manage better. I recently went on the dexcom to try and better figure the horrible maze of numbers
35 supplements is more than I am interested in investing in! That’s like a nice bottle of Scotch every week!! I have tried protein powder things but I think the effect is as much placebo as anything. I read the wikipedia page about DHEA as well and it appears that the results are inconclusive although I’m glad you found something that has helped you?