T1 needs HELP with Enlite Pump alarms & Sensor settings/ LIFE!

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
#1

I need HELP! I alarms and vibrations going off on my body 15 hours a day. I’m on the verge of a heart attack! All joking aside. … ( okay there goes another one). My sensor is telling me that I’m HIGH, Like over 350 most of the time. I will do the finger stick, see if it’s close enough to calibrate, and then bolus. I have had horrible HbA1c’s in the last 6-9 months- as high as 8.9. That is totally NOT the kind of patient that I want to be. I have other health issues as well that I do take medications for and that do take time and focus away from treating my Diabetes as well as I should.

My pump settings for my Bolus are just OUT OF WHACK! I have become so confused , after all of these years with my changing body, for how my Carb Units, Carb Ratios, and Sensitivity rates should be. I am really WANT to get that A1c back down to a healthy #. My last # was finally down to 7.9 ( which I think is about 200). I used to be such a “good patient”. Now I have so many medications to take. It’s just overwhelming. I must state that I was dxd with Diabetic neuropathy in my legs and feet plus Plantaar fascittis in 2012 (due to emergency tennis incident). This has never gone away. So now I take up to 1600 Mg. Gabapentin a day.

I’ve now moved half-way across the country to Louisiana and have just gotten in with a new Endo here. My blood work is showing “Fatty Liver” on my test results although I haven’t reviewed it with him yet. I’m also suffering severe migraines here with often limit my daily activity and make my fibromyalgia pain even more severe.

Enough of that. (That STUPID BEEPING IS GETTING LOUDER AS I TYPE- ARRGH!!)

My pump is telling me to check my BG, like every half hour OR LESS. I CANNOT BE CONTROLLED BY THIS CRAP. Do I Call Medtronic’s HELP LINE again???

Thanks for letting me VENT. I am out of time. Must handle reality now.

Beccaboo

#2

I am not a doctor, but it would seem to me that your first “line of defence” should be to cut out most of the alarms! They’re counter-productive if they only cause stress. So, if you have rise or fall alarms set - turn those off. Then RAISE that high BG alarm to a pretty high number (maybe 250? 300?) – at least until you get some peace. The low alert is unlikely a problem at this point, so I’d leave that as a safety net.

Get ahold of Gary Scheiner’s book “Prectical CGM” – it has some great advice on how to get the eventual results you want while using the CGM to your best advantage. It’s available in a Kindle edition, so you can have it RIGHTNOW :slightly_smiling:

I love my CGM - it helps me maintain pretty good control. Good luck!

2 Likes
#3

Sounds like you need to see a CDE for some assistance in re-calculating your ISF, DIA, I:C ratios, basal rates, etc. Without getting these basics tuned in, you will continue to have high A1c’s and will keep getting alarms. If seeing a CDE is not possible, I suggest you read John Walsh’s book Pumping Insulin and Gary Scheiner’s book Think Like a Pancreas. You should read these books even if you are able to see a CDE.

#4

@Rebecca3 – With long periods of high blood sugar it’s difficult to think clearly. You need a clear head to start to figure your way out of this. Can you afford to pay for a private consult with Integrated Diabetes’ Gary Scheiner? If there’s any way you could do that, it would be money well spent. You basically need a total overhaul of your diabetes treatment systems. And trying to do that without being able to think straight is more than is humanly possible.

I’ve been through a period like this. It’s like all the tried and true dosing tactics that you thought you knew simply don’t work anymore. When I was faced with similar circumstance I went from doctor to doctor thinking they could untangle my metabolic mess. They could not. Gary Scheiner is one of the few practitioners that I think could help you. Most doctors, nurse and CDEs will talk to while they’re being paid and your access to them outside of the appointment time is usually very restricted. You might find an exception to this rule but it’s hard. Especially when you have so much medically going on.

In any case, I second what @Thas said about turning off all your high alarms or at least setting them very high. You know you’re high. That is not news to you. It’s only wearing you out. You want to make sure that you maintain the low alarm (on the Dexcom, that one is hard-wired at 55 mg/dl). That is for safety.

One thing that has always worked for me is to fast. Skip one or two meals or even go 24 hours without eating. Drink plenty of fluids and of course treat any lows with glucose tabs or measured amounts of juice. Whenever I do this my blood glucose settles down and doesn’t wildly swing up and down. At least it would give you a break from this rat race. Calm things down for a day.

The solution to your situation will be multi-faceted. There is no silver bullet. You just need to work on one thing at a time! Good luck and keep us posted.

#5

I second Terry’s recommendation to check out Gary Scheiner’s Integrated Diabetes Services! IMO, Gary Scheiner is the most knowledgable T1D person on this earth.

#6

Beats the heck out of me. I couldn’t tell from your post whether you are getting alarms because there is something to be relatively alarmed about or whether you just have your pump settings all farked up relative to your needs.

So … what is up with you? Do you know how to modify your pump settings or do you rely on someone else to do that for you?

How well is your Medtronic Enlite CGM working for you? Do you know how to upload your pump’s data to your Medtronic CareLink account so you can review the Calibration Factor calculated by the pump?