So I recently started on the minimed 522… however there are a few questions I have that my educator hasn’t told me, annnd i’m rather confused about :
I only use to take one shot of lantus, 17 units a day, no novorapid or anything before I ate… so i’m confused with this whole ‘bolus’ ordeal… should I bolus before each meal…even if I didn’t need to do it on MDI? or is bolusing just for when I want to eat something out of the ordinary? argh so confused… I don’t want to take more insulin than I need.
SECONDLY! haha. This question my boyfriend and I are most curious about… how long can you go disconnected? if I wanted to go for more than one hour… OR… lets just say something lasted for more than one hour that requires disconnecting of the pump haha would I go back and give myself a bolus of insulin at that hour mark? would I have to connect myself back to the thing? would I go low if i gave myself a bolus and then returned to the pump 2 hours after disconnecting? This whole part of the pump I think is its major disadvantage… so much to remember my brain feels like its turning to mushed squash. Anywho sorry for all of the crazy questions, but i’ll appreciate it if you help a women out!
Jill , welcome pumper from BC, the other end of Canada !!! Did you get the book Pumping Insulin by John Walsh, latest edition ? Did you mean you have pump 522 ? You also should be in constant touch with your pump nurse, at least for a while. So you need to ask her/him the questions .
I am sure you and your pump nurse are setting you up for your basal rates by fasting in 6 hour sessions and finger poking ??
You and Nurse may find, that you do not require 17 u of basal daily as you did in the past.
I feel , that your second question should also be answered by your coach , at least for now … your question seems a bit confusing to me , quote " would I have to disconnect myself back to the thing? " When things are in place , then you can feel very comfortable by adjusting regarding your life style .
Indeed lots to remember : you can do it
I just take really strict care of my self. I’m on a vegetable protein based diet and exercise alot so I have never needed alot of insulin. My endo has recommended that I don’t even need the pump, but I want it for that flexibility to control night time lows and to occasionally be able to eat the things that my boyfriend does when we go out for dinner etc.
It dosent sound to me that you need the pump, or that you have been educated enough from your educator about how to use it, I am not meaning to sound rude, if I do I apologize, I am fairly new to it also, but I use 75-90 units of insulin a day, so I get a constant drip and need to bolus every time I eat, it just seems a waste of money and supplies if you are barely using 60 units in a 3 day period. There is a good book I read before starting the pump, Insulin pump therapy demystefied. Check it out, it answers lots of questions. Good luck
Bolusing before a meal? Most pumpers have to, to cover the carbs they will eat. If you never used to bolus, you’ll need to find out if your educator calculated your basal rate a little high to cover meals, or whether your educator expected you to bolus. I’m surprised that was not part of your training–it’s kind of a crucial point!
Most pumpers have to experiment to see how long they can disconnect.
For example, I can usually go 30 minutes with only a 20 point increase in blood glucose level. Longer than that, I need to bolus a small amount before disconnecting and then another small bolus on reconnecting. To figure out that teeny bolus, I look at what my hourly basal rate is for the time in question (which varies a lot-- can be .7 units per hour some hours of the day, 1.5 units per hour in the early morning when I’m battling dawn phenomenon) and pro rate depending on amount of time unconnected and whether I’ve had any exercise in that time frame.
If you don’t take much insulin overall, having a pump that allows .1 or lower bolus increments is helpful.
It IS a lot of work to customize your basal and bolus rates, but that’s one advantage of the pump–you can finetune your doses to fit your body’s particular needs.
First off the biggest recommendation that I can give you is get the book “Pumping Insulin” by John Walsh. This will explain everything that you want or need or don’t want to know about pumping. Since you are on a pump you should get this book.
Any time you stick food into your mouth that contains carbs you need to bolus, if your BG is high and you need to do a correction, you also would need to bolus. Of course there are exceptions but for the most part this rule holds true. Lantus is a long acting insulin that hangs around for up to 24 hours. The insulin you use in your pump only lasts for around 4 hours otherwise known as short acting insulin. Because it is short acting this is why you have a basal insulin dose all day long and because of this you can take more or less depending on the time of day and activity level.
Lets say you want to take your pump off at 12pm and put it back on at 1pm, your BG levels won’t start to rise until 2 pm and will remain high (if you do nothing) until around 3 pm. There is a 2 hour lag time between when you take your basal insulin and when it actually takes effect. Unless you are going swimming there is really no reason to ever take your pump off even if you are working out leave it on and you will get much better results. This is where the temp basal use comes into play because you can turn down your basal rate to cover your work out so you won’t go low.
No worries you will master your pump it just takes time to get used to all the features and how they affect your BG.
great dave thanks for the advice, so if i disconnect the pump for an hour this will guarantee my bs to rise after a few hours? what do you do in the context of intimacy if you don’t mind me asking hahah? do you just leave it on? hahah
No one can tell you what will happen if you take your pump off for an hour! You will have to experiment and learn how long or if a disconnect is possible. I NEVER take my pump off, I’d have to replace the lost basal with a bolus so what’s the point. You need to keep your meter close if you disconnect. Luckily my husband doesn’t mind the pump. I hope the pump is the right choice for you Jill, and Like Dave said you will master your pump and it does take time.
