How do you do it?

[cheryl]

How the heck do you have post meals under 140 without a load of hypo's later on please explain.....I heard it was not healthy to be in hypo land, but when I was on mdi, i was in hypo land, and would freak if my two hour mark was over 130, now, I can be from 130-190 post meal.....same food same diet, just difference the pump......I mean i am enjoying not having to deal with hypo's all the time anymore, but there is not perfect days for me anymore none zero, I can have a good bg day and get screwed up at night, or i can start off miserable sugars, and by the evening be all good again, I have no patterns, no nothing to go by, it all is different, I guess reading all these perfect bg's that people have is makin me quite jealous, should i go back to eating like **** food inorder to have good bg's cause that is the only time i can seriously....i can eat icecream, mm's potato chips and have good 2hr four hour readings......healthy diet **** no....wtf am i just weird, i give up......i guess I am forced to suffer an inpending death, because I cannot get a balance period.....or I am just done worrying about it....


Well here is the deal, basal rate's are right tons of testing starving the works, the rate's I am on is perfect, very very level....Ok we got that out of the water, I get these post reading after breakfast which are the worst, I only have two good post meals.....so I guess it would be safe to change ratio, I know my problem with lunch, if I am not lazy am fine......and dinner well I am ok with dinner as long as I don't screw up I guess.....ughh the torture....

Cheryl

[xMenace]

Breakfasts are **** with me too. I'm leaning more and more towards the Injecto Method: not eating them at all. What I find that does work is

- bolus early, at least a half an hour
- super bolusing, borrow my next 3 hours of basal and bolus it for breakfast
- very low GI meal, but that sucks
- spread out my breakfast, eating a cinnamon bun over 45 minutes works much better for me than hoovering low GI toast.

[cheryl]

you know what is really funny when I used to drink reg. soda or coffee loaded with sugar that had the same carb count as soda LOL.....I had beautiful numbers no matter what I ate for breakfast. I'll admit the first couple of days on the pump, I had the sugar fied coffee, or a coke with my oatmeal and only spiked to 140ish, now without all my lovely sugar in the morning...anymore, I can rarely get it to 140 I can count on my hands only 180 is the avg.....hmmm maybe I will try coffee with my loads of sugar and milk in the morning probably all that insulin lol...helps I don't know....


I am glad in a way i am not the only one that has this difficulty with breakfast.....oh yea I do better with a donut believe it or not...
Cheryl

[xMenace]

Apparently some people experience better numbers with caffeine.
Morning Madness - Those Darn Phenomenons! Complied by Barb Chafe (http://www.insulin-pumpers.ca/darnphenomenons.html)

See if you can prove it.

[LancetChick]

I get the best results when I consume an obscene number of carbs (150g or more). In that case, I have no spike whatsoever. I attribute it to the fact that the sheer quantity of carbs stretches the digestion over a longer period of time (I have to double bolus or take Regular), and the large volume of insulin needed handles the glucose surge very nicely. The only spikes I get are with fewer carbs because the insulin needed isn't enough to handle the spike. Still, I don't really get bad spikes, even when eating fewer carbs. If I see a reading of 120, for example, I know I haven't taken enough insulin (I don't count carbs anymore, so this happens umm...... not infrequently). When I have bad blood sugar, it isn't because of food, it's because of hormones.

[TenderVittleS]

I seem to have about the same post-meal readings as you and I feel fine most times. As long as you have a good A1c you should be good. Also I don't take diabetes so hard, for example I know some people have smoked for a long time that are old and don't have cancer, same with any other disease, I try my hardest but I don't get upset anymore because overall I'm healthy, just try your best.

[cheryl]

I get the best results when I consume an obscene number of carbs (150g or more). In that case, I have no spike whatsoever. I attribute it to the fact that the sheer quantity of carbs stretches the digestion over a longer period of time (I have to double bolus or take Regular), and the large volume of insulin needed handles the glucose surge very nicely. The only spikes I get are with fewer carbs because the insulin needed isn't enough to handle the spike. Still, I don't really get bad spikes, even when eating fewer carbs. If I see a reading of 120, for example, I know I haven't taken enough insulin (I don't count carbs anymore, so this happens umm...... not infrequently). When I have bad blood sugar, it isn't because of food, it's because of hormones.

you know what that is so true for me.....if i eat less then 40 carbs a meal this is what happens to me, unless it is a little 5 carb salad or whatever LOL, last night I ate spaghetti, 2 hrs 130, 4hrs....103 yippee lol.....spaghetti is good good for my body...

Cheryl

[cheryl]

I am upping the carbs for breakfast lol,,,, big time, i will see, i might just drink a darn coke or coffee, one or the other, not sure yet, what i'll be in the mood for tomorrow...

Cheryl

[June91]

There's a very similar thread here: http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum/type-1/18573-any-clue.html.

It might be about wrong basals being covered by large boluses. From all that's been said, I don't think it's a DP issue.

[cheryl]

I dunno, I decided to lower my carb ratio, ummmm went to 217 2hrs later and plummited to 67 4 hours later.....grrrrrrrrr........I have not ate breakfast before tons of times, and have stayed very level only 10pts higher lower the whole time till lunch so my conclusion is breakfast sucks, I am going to try high fatty breakfast tomorrow, I am eating eggs, and putting loads of cream cheese on my toast.....see if that works with original ratio......I had a feeling it wasn't my ratio, but had to make sure....cause I always go back to range 4hrs later, well If breakfast would only cause me to go to 180 then go back down I really won't sweat it, but god I don't like when it goes over....and then if I do skip breakfast though, I am always higher after lunch.....so I a screwed no matter which way I go......I am going the high fat route tomorrow.....see where it leads me...

Cheryl

[txrdr75765]

Hey Cheryl, I just went on a pump 3 weeks ago. I don't mind fasting, so I did that until my numbers were < 30 all day/night. The carb counting helped after I started eating again.
Larry

[ant hill]

(I don't count carbs anymore, so this happens umm...... not infrequently). When I have bad blood sugar, it isn't because of food, it's because of hormones.

Meh, I have a genaral idea of what is low GI and continue to lern new trends but then i don't count carbs ither and go buy what you about to eat and bolus on that and test test test thoughout the day!!!! :T I like to have a test 2 hours after a meal and then take some action if need be and so buy being proactive in knowing your BGL you have then the ability to have better control. ;)
So i'm not fussed on counting carbs and it is a rollercoaster ride no matter what you eat :confused: Anyway take in exersize as apart of your balancing technique as well ;)

[cheryl]

Well the loads of fat helped me just go to 180 ughhh, and then i was back down to 115 by lunch, I started breakfast at 121 so not so shabby LOL....but still no matter what I do, I rarely rarely have a bg under 180 always around 180 oh well such is life, but i guess, the only time i am able to have a decent bg 2 hrs later is if i am low...LOL....if I am in the 60's I will be in the 140's 2 hrs later hey that's an idea, have a hypo and eat and you'll do good at breakfast there, ok i win lol, so what is my prize.....I am actually thinking of borrowing my basal rates, but umm well ok, i dunno will that screw up my four hour reading, hmmm I dunno.

Cheryl

[rzrbks]

I bolus at 1:15 for anything except breakfast. Breakfast is 1:5 and even then I often run high, 150/8.3 +. However this has been going on for over 2 years and I've still not had A1c over 5.9(the 5.9 happened once, all the rest have been 5.4 --5.1)------I think that's due the fact that I Fanatically do correction boluses.

[duck]

If I eat breakfast, I'm high all morning into the afternoon, taking lots of insulin, (and that's on top of the tons of insulin I have to inject just in an attempt to be "normal")...and lethargic. And if I eat it consistently, I literally get fat. So why bother? I've gone injecto and stopped eating breakfast as of six weeks ago as well, and am no worse for the wear.

"Most important meal of the day"--my butt. I guess milk, egg and cereal makers came up with that one.

[Cyborg]

How the heck do you have post meals under 140 without a load of hypo's later on please explain.....

Be one with your pump...

You must know your body, it's reaction to foods, insulin (and a half dozen other things), then take control of your pump. You must do the tests and get the ratios down exactly correct.

For example... If my bg is 110, I know my ISF is ~18. If my bg is 160, my ISF is closer to 14. If my bg is 400 (God forbid), my ISF is probably around 5...

Know your ISF, your I:C ratio(s) and your BG:Carb ratios. Keep them memorized and with proper basal testing, your pump will be your best friend. Fine tuning your pump is difficult and time-consuming, but well worth the effort... IMO