jenet
06-02-2006, 04:36 PM
Hmmm... the forum is gently reminding me I haven't posted in a while, and suggesting I do so. My first thought was that there are a bunch of great and knowledgeable people already answering questions and helping others figure things out, and I don't see much value in my making more "me too" posts. Anything I could share, has already been posted more eloquently by the long-term pillars of this community. So, do I have any questions to post... not really. I've been living with this for 11+ years, I've got a well stocked library on diabetes, I've read through the archives here, I've got a good basic understanding of diabetes (not the detailed internal biological process level though) and what's involved in managing it.
I think I'm just really struggling with depression and frustration right now. Funny how those two seem to feed into each other. The more frustrated I get about not managing this better, the more depressed I get that maybe I never will. I was glad to start pumping in February, and that did solve one problem. I'm not having the monster lows I used to sleep through with Lantus almost every night around 1:00 AM (found by CGMS) with massive highs by 5:00 AM. Being able to have a variable basal rate has eliminated the horrible rebound headaches on wake-up. I definitely need less basal insulin at night than during the day.
However, as any number of people have wisely pointed out, a pump is not a magic wand. My latest A1C (8.8 three weeks ago) is better than what it was (9.4), but not even close to what it should be. I'm glad I got the Animas because increasing my overnight basal by .05 too much causes the lows again, but it seems like my insulin needs change from week to week, and sometimes from day to day.
My endo gave me some new daytime basal settings at the last visit, and for the first two weeks, I was still running high. Then the last few days, I have been low, low, and low again. The first week I was out-of-state for a family funeral (hubby's cousin, annual check-ups for sheriff's dept, healthy, active - heart attack @ 52). So then the next week, my inlaws came to visit. More stress - they didn't ask if this would be a good week (it wasn't), they just said we're coming up. Then this week, my monthly period started. (Sorry if that's TMI for all you guys.)
Wednesday, out of nowhere, I'm having lows (48, 43, etc.). Lows again Thursday and today. Same food, same sleep, same activity level - just less stress maybe? Stress seems to really drive my numbers up, but it seems there is something really stressful going on in my life, more often than not. Six deaths in the family in the last 10 months, including helping with hospice care for my step-mom, an unsettling office move, a job where the political realities shape the "correct" actions to take in resolving problems and your PC has to be on its last legs before it gets replaced. My endo and my CDE tell me I need to quit being so stressed and to take more insulin. I think this latest round of adjustments has put me back where I was on MDI, too much insulin and being unaware of lows. The only way to catch them is to test every half hour, which I just can't seem to remember to do. I get busy, and testing between meals goes out the window.
The only thing I can figure is to go low carb to minimize the effect of eating as a major factor that's possibly obscuring results of basal changes. Today, I went out and bought a carload of low-carb groceries. I am rereading my low-carb books (South Beach, Dr. B, etc.) for guidance on what to avoid (almost anything white - bread, potatos, rice; peas; corn).
Well, this was probably way too long, but it was hard to stop once I got started, so thanks for letting me vent.
j
I think I'm just really struggling with depression and frustration right now. Funny how those two seem to feed into each other. The more frustrated I get about not managing this better, the more depressed I get that maybe I never will. I was glad to start pumping in February, and that did solve one problem. I'm not having the monster lows I used to sleep through with Lantus almost every night around 1:00 AM (found by CGMS) with massive highs by 5:00 AM. Being able to have a variable basal rate has eliminated the horrible rebound headaches on wake-up. I definitely need less basal insulin at night than during the day.
However, as any number of people have wisely pointed out, a pump is not a magic wand. My latest A1C (8.8 three weeks ago) is better than what it was (9.4), but not even close to what it should be. I'm glad I got the Animas because increasing my overnight basal by .05 too much causes the lows again, but it seems like my insulin needs change from week to week, and sometimes from day to day.
My endo gave me some new daytime basal settings at the last visit, and for the first two weeks, I was still running high. Then the last few days, I have been low, low, and low again. The first week I was out-of-state for a family funeral (hubby's cousin, annual check-ups for sheriff's dept, healthy, active - heart attack @ 52). So then the next week, my inlaws came to visit. More stress - they didn't ask if this would be a good week (it wasn't), they just said we're coming up. Then this week, my monthly period started. (Sorry if that's TMI for all you guys.)
Wednesday, out of nowhere, I'm having lows (48, 43, etc.). Lows again Thursday and today. Same food, same sleep, same activity level - just less stress maybe? Stress seems to really drive my numbers up, but it seems there is something really stressful going on in my life, more often than not. Six deaths in the family in the last 10 months, including helping with hospice care for my step-mom, an unsettling office move, a job where the political realities shape the "correct" actions to take in resolving problems and your PC has to be on its last legs before it gets replaced. My endo and my CDE tell me I need to quit being so stressed and to take more insulin. I think this latest round of adjustments has put me back where I was on MDI, too much insulin and being unaware of lows. The only way to catch them is to test every half hour, which I just can't seem to remember to do. I get busy, and testing between meals goes out the window.
The only thing I can figure is to go low carb to minimize the effect of eating as a major factor that's possibly obscuring results of basal changes. Today, I went out and bought a carload of low-carb groceries. I am rereading my low-carb books (South Beach, Dr. B, etc.) for guidance on what to avoid (almost anything white - bread, potatos, rice; peas; corn).
Well, this was probably way too long, but it was hard to stop once I got started, so thanks for letting me vent.
j