bummed

[type1since82]

I'm feeling a little bummed about my 'pumping skills'. It's been a week and a day now since I started pumping and I don't seem to be having good numbers. I was having a lot of lows at first so I reduced my 12am-7am basal by .1 and that seemed to give me consistent night time readings which was great! But now there doesn't seem to be a pattern any other time during the day. Some days I'll do the exact same thing, be fine 1 and 2 hrs after lunch and then I'll start rising before dinner and won't go down w/out insulin. Then the next day, it will be just the opposite - I'll go low before dinner after being fine 1-2 hrs after lunch. :banghead:
How long are you supposed to wait to see trends? I think 3 days of the same trending of bs seems like a good number. I'm just getting frustrated because I want to get my numbers under control and they're no different than what they were before the pump.
Just needed to whine... thanks :( The good thing is that I'm not bummed about the pump - I definitely like the benefits of being on it, but I just wish I could figure these nubmers out. At least if I had a pattern/trend during a certain time of day, i could take some action and go from there.
Should I eat the exact same food every day of the week?:confused:

[duck]

I was kind of fortunate--my pump team (a team of CDE's from Inova Fairfax Hospital in Fairfax, VA) and my endo put me through the ringer trying to get a feel for my basal variations before I even got the pump...Once I got the pump, it was apparent that I was very much a .1 unit per hour kinda guy with some variation overnight and late AM...But still, it was about three weeks or a month before I felt I had my basals dialed-in.

It takes time. Try and eliminate ALL variables, including exercise, foods, snacks...and as much as you can, stress. If you can, try to eat the exact same thing for a few days--it sucks, but you are literally trying to establish a baseline for life. So a week of the same lunch (preferably, one you prepare since you can weigh/measure it all) and dinner will be a small price to pay for long-term success...and flexibility.

Don't give up. It's almost supposed to be this way; It'll make you appreciate it more in the end.

[notme]

For awhile it might be helpful to you if you have some consistancy in your diet. It is hard to see a trend if you are eating different foods with different carb and fat values.

I would try to eat some basic foods for breakfast lunch and dinner and maybe eat foods that you are certain of the carb content with little fats.

[type1since82]

I will try the same food for a week thing. I have been eating 30 carbs for each meal and not snacking at all. I'm good sticking to a plan like that until it seems that my efforts are getting me no where.. if that makes any sense. I have oatmeal for breakfast - I might get a week's worth of south beach diet wraps for lunch and maybe a can of soup for dinner.
I'm not exercising at all - which is even more of a motivator for me to get this figured out so I CAN start exercising again. Stress I probably have the hardest time controlling. My job has not been so great lately and I'm applying for another job elsewhere, my job has been crazy busy and I don't enjoy it anymore and the frustrations behind my numbers not being consistent - all of that is stressing me out. Thanks for the ideas!

[Injecto]

type1since82, don't give up hope (and this coming from me???)..follow duck's advice, he's pretty awesome at this stuff. I'm rooting for you.

[Shotokan]

If it's any consolation, it took me about 6 weeks to get things pretty well nailed down. I had to get my basal settings right (six change-points) before I could work on my Insulin to Carb ratio and my sensitivity. If your basal rates are off then it messes up eveything else.

I agree that 3 days is usually enough to show a trend. Be patient. You'll get there.

[Lilly164]

and the adjustments have been a challange! I don't know if this applies to you but the endo said I was stacking boluses. I keep written records and when lined up end to end, a high sugar reading that trended down the next two times would lead to a low after the third reading. The third reading was often normal or close to it. In "Pumping Insulin" the author says that insulin lasts six hours in the tissues. Yes, it is a declining amount, may be insignficant for some, not for me. So can any of your numbers be attributed to the tail of a bolus added onto the basal?
I hope this makes sense.

Lilly

[RLK]

What do your current basal rates look like?
If it makes you feel any better, it definitely took me longer than a week to get things ironed out. Like the others have said, eating similar foods and having similar activity levels each day will help you pick up on patterns.
Good luck and hang in there- it's worth it in the end!

[JJeenn]

I can totally relate. I've been pumping 10 days now and things are pretty much the same as when I was on shots, with the exception of my morning readings which are always much better. But when I hear about people who had things figured out in a matter of days it makes me wonder if I'm doing something wrong. I see my endo on Friday so I'll see what he says. Just wanted to say you're not alone!

[Gordonm]

I would highly doubt if most had it figured out in a few days. I was in the 4 to 6 week range before it all came into a good range. The first week I felt the worst I had felt in 10 years. I was ready to throw the pump out the window and thought I had made a big mistake. After two weeks it was getting better and at about 4 to 5 weeks I was in good control. I am still tweaking for some foods and activities but I am not a sedintary person. I am always doing something different. I have been on the pump for 3 1/2 months and the last month has been great. My results have been great. I will on occasion have a bad couple of hours but I am able to correct for this pretty easy. Give it some time and be very honest with yourself on the readings. The pump is not perfect but it is as close as we can get right now.

[type1since82]

Thanks for the words of advice and encouragment everyone. I had lost my information log so that was even more frustrating. I found it today and did my color coded highliting to show where I've been going high and low.
RLK - you asked what my current basal rates looked like.
They were:
12a .5
7a .6
And then my dietician suggested going to .5 at 4pm and reducing my carbs to 1:9 from 1:10. That was based on one day's worth of numbers that I told her so I didn't really like the advice, but I tried it.
So last night I reduced my sensitivity to 40 from the 50 they had put me at because corrections didn't seem to be helping quite as much as they should have. They had also made my range 100-140 so I reduced that to 100-120 during the day and 100-130 after 8pm to prevent me from going low.
Then today I changed my basals to:

12 a .5
7a .6
8a .7
7p - .6

Based on some consistent highs that I had over the past 3 days that started after 7am and lasted pretty much until 7pm. I think these seem like reasonable changes - I'm not going to mess myself up too much just changing .1 I don't think. Plus I'm still doing a blood test about every hour or two so I should catch any lows if I don't feel them coming on for some reason.

I have been eating the same amount of carbs w/ every meal, but have not been eating the same food. I don't want to start the same food/times thing unitl Monday - it's alot easier to regulate at work for me than at home. But I'll see how these numbers do over the next 3 days. I haven't been exercising which is the biggest motivation for me to get everything figured out - so I can start exercising again.
Seeing that it's taken everyone else a few weeks+ to get things right, I'll try to be patient and look forward to the end reward when I get it straight.

[Cyborg]

Besides this forum, two good sources for fine tuning your pump are the Pumping Insulin book by Walsh and this (http://www.insulin-pumpers.org/howto.shtml) website. Good luck...

[type1since82]

I made some changes to my basal and carb ratio today after really taking a close look at my blood sugars and so far so good - only 2 meals, but my numbers are looking better.
I've heard people saying that they are carb sensitive because of their carb ratio being like 1:4. I started w/ 1:10 and switched it down to 1:8 today. I had a slight low an hour after each meal so I think I should probably make it 1:9 because after 2 glucose tabs (8 carbs) I was in good numbers again and stayed there. What does it mean if I'm sensitive - good/bad/indifferent? 1:10 worked out so well for me before and it just seems weird to switch from it but seems to be working well so far.