Due to the bad weather in the eastern half of the US, my shipment of Omnipod pods is taking about an extra week to get here to me in Scotts Valley, CA. Took my last one off yesterday, and am on MDI until the shipment arrives, estimated Friday.
I HATE THIS!!! The thing I'm finding sucks the most is having to pay attention again to records, preventing stacking, etc. You easily forget what a pain all the record-keeping is when your pump is doing it for you.
Also, I'd gotten so used to the convenience of insulin administration with the pump I was totally taking it for granted. Back to seeking a little privacy to pull my shirt up and give myself an injection.
Thirdly, gear. I'd forgotten the plethora of little things I need to make sure I have on my person. Humalog pen, pen needles, alcohol pads.
Thank God for the Dexcom. My BG control has taken a little hit in the last 48 hours, but it would be a lot worse without the G4.
I find the most annoying part about IOB to be the lack of IOB information. But otherwise, I don't mind it except that my control is terrible. :)
Hope you get your supplies soon!
I'm seriously considering taking a pump vacation myself. My blood sugar control over the past week has been nearly non-existent, and especially over the past two days I have spent most of my time in the stratosphere. Not sure what is going on but I am piling on insulin with no effect, so I'm suspecting a pump issue. Between my infusion set issues and now this, I'm really considering a vacation just to simplify things for the time being ...
Every pump has its pluses and minuses... one of the things I like about the omnipod is I use a completely new pump every time, so "trending" failures of the equipment don't happen.
OTOH, "instant" failures happen more often, though (bad pod).
I've thought about the OmniPod for my next pump but the cons just outweigh the pros. I hate the idea of the waste (I don't even like disposable insulin pens), I've heard very bad things about failures (Type 1s going into DKA after 2-3 pods in a row failed, etc.), and for me the fact that you are stuck with one type of infusion set. But I know for some it works great.
I am FINALLY down to 8.4 (150ish) after something like 20u of corrective insulin which is insane for me. My pump went off with its, "Your bolus amount exceeds your two-hour limit" which I don't think I've ever gotten before, and yesterday it went off with its, "Your TDD exceeds your limit" which I have set to 100u and have only ever gone over once when my insulin seemed to go bad (and that was not too long in the past ...). The pharmacy doesn't have any Apidra in until tomorrow, and at the rate I've been using insulin I'm going to have to avoid carbs if I'm going to make it to tomorrow afternoon ...
I've so far failed to find any actual pump problems, which would leave an alternative of possibly a combination of stress plus hormones plus maybe some low-level infection or something ... If I pick up new insulin and am suddenly crashing low I think I'll switch to another brand, as that would be twice in recent memory insulin just lost potency, which in my opinion is really dangerous.
Sorry to hear it, Dave. I've had numerous snafus with all my medical needs lately, due mainly to pain-in-the-butt Medicare rules. (and a bit to my pain-in-the-butt doctor's office which needs a reminder, preferably in person to get anything done! I'm getting low on my sets too, but what usually saves me from the same plight is I have an "emergency bag" packed with some extra sets, syringe, test strips and I just forget about it until I run out and it becomes an emergency, just not the wild fire/earthquake brand!
Jen, you definitely get more than your share and I think I would be considering a pump break too in your shoes. Sounds like it's getting better; I hope you get a break for awhile!
I also keep an emergency kit (for fire/earthquake) which I dip into if my supplies are taking too long to arrive, and then just refill when they do come. The only thing I don't keep in the kit is insulin because it expires so quickly once it's kept at room temperature.
Remember that insulin issue we both had a while back? It almost seems like that's what's happening again. We'll see tomorrow when I get a new batch! But if that's not it, I am will probably go on a pump break over the weekend and see if that fixes things (although I need to check my Lantus and make sure it's not expired).
I don't put insulin in mine either. I also don't put in meds because I always use those up, but I just had one of my 3 med boxes break and so I think I'll put at least a few days in there. I can always use the same principal of using and replacing it if I run low on something. Thanks for the idea!
I think in the end I concluded my problem was a combination of less potent insulin and poor absorption for whatever reason. I definitely recommend using a completely different body area when highs are too frequent and persistent.
My Levemir expired a long time ago! Yes, going off the pump can also be diagnostic!
I was having similar problems a few weeks ago, with my BG going high (VERY) and staying there. To test my pump, I took a shot of 5 units of insulin. It reacted the same way, that is, hardly at all.
The past two days I feel pretty much like I've been injecting water. I can get down after many hours of multiple huge corrections, but then I eat again and shoot right back into the double digits despite using a 1:5 or even 1:3 ratio (at breakfast). I'm seriously considering taking tomorrow off sick so I can sort this out.
Have you tried putting on a temporary basal. You might be incubating a bug of some sort and that will put your basal requirements way up. Once your basal is off you will become more insulin-insensitive and your boluses won't work effectively either. Try +50% and see what happens (test frequently of course or watch your cgm to avoid hypos).
Hi Jen, just wanted to say I hope you can get your BG's down..if you're not feeling well, hope you feel better soon. I've read yours struggles here and always just wish you the best! :)Nothing sucks more then high BG's that won't come down (well, maybe low BG's that won't come up..ha!)...but please be careful, too.
Do you have a smartphone at hand? Our free Glucosurfer App (for iPhone, WP7/8 and Android) can calculate dosages and IOB for you. It will be some work to find the correct I:C ratios because the basal pattern on NPH/Lantus/Levemir (I hope you have a basal at hand) will be different from your pump profile. This is because I:C ratios are often influenced to some extend by the basal profile of your pump or basal insulin. This tweaking might take longer than a week and I hope you will find a way to cope with the situation...
It seems I go through this problem with stubborn high sugars a couple times a year, for a week or two. But this time I would go really high. I went on a low carb diet for a couple of days (less than 50 per day) and my sugars went down. But since the problem always goes away by itself, I don't know how much of a factor that was. I just figure the hormone goddesses are messing with me. Maybe I should sacrifice a chicken or something.
I haven't figured out the cause of mine, but it seems better today. In fact, I now need to nudge my settings back down a bit. I think part of my problem was just breaking the cycle of highs and insulin resistance. Maybe now that I've done that (had a few highs today but also in-range numbers) maybe I can get back on track.
