New pumping adventures

drummingfool · #1 (**permalink**) 06-13-2009, 10:05 AM

As many of you know, I've just started on a pump. So I'm going to utilize this thread to post my daily goings-on of pumping.

I went to bed last night @ 150, but didnt correct just in case I dropped low again (I dropped into the 50s 3 times yesterday)... then woke up at 148. Talk about stable!

I still need to work on my morning basals because my levels went up and then back down... 181 - 88 in an hour. I'll have to see whats up with that. On MDI I took a bolus in the morning of 6 units because my sugar would sky rocket as soon as I got up... Im thinking maybe I can just adjust my morning basal to accomodate. I usually wake up around 7, so maybe I can just set a basal from 7am to 8am of a regular basal plus that bolus, and then from 8am until the next basal go back to a normal rate... does that make sense to anyone?

And if anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share.

poodlebone · #2 (**permalink**) 06-13-2009, 11:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummingfool

I went to bed last night @ 150, but didnt correct just in case I dropped low again (I dropped into the 50s 3 times yesterday)... then woke up at 148. Talk about stable!

I know that's only one night of data but if that continues it means your overnight basal rates are set properly, which is great. Do you set an alarm to test during the night? That's always recommended when you first start pumping.

Quote:

I still need to work on my morning basals because my levels went up and then back down... 181 - 88 in an hour. I'll have to see whats up with that. On MDI I took a bolus in the morning of 6 units because my sugar would sky rocket as soon as I got up... Im thinking maybe I can just adjust my morning basal to accomodate. I usually wake up around 7, so maybe I can just set a basal from 7am to 8am of a regular basal plus that bolus, and then from 8am until the next basal go back to a normal rate... does that make sense to anyone?

My BG also goes up once I get out of bed unless I immediately bolus & eat breakfast. If I delay it by an hour, I go high. I always thought I was weird but after readings forums like these I see it's very common. Kind of like a delayed dawn phenomenon. It doesn't matter what time I wake up. I can wake at 7:00am with a normal BG and it goes up. I can stay in bed until 10:00am and my BG will remain normal until I get up. I just try to eat breakfast soon after getting up and find that I don't need extra insulin because the rise won't happen.

I'd be careful about increasing the basal for that one hour to include your old MDI correction because that might cause problems if you sleep late. You can always just give yourself the extra bolus with the pump when you first get up.

kgm0612 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 12:09 PM

I test my morning BS when I first get out of the shower, which is around 6:15. I then take 1 unit of insulin, which will cover the small cup of coffee I drink while getting ready and the DP which starts to set in. By 8am, I'm testing at my desk before I eat something for breakfast, and if all has gone right, I'm good to go!

Karen

RayDS · #4 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 01:06 PM

Are you saying Coffee raises BS?

RWright · #5 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 01:20 PM

Coffee does raise BS. My endo said it was the caffiene in the coffee. There was an article on this in the March 2009 Diabetes Forecast, pg 49. Plain Decaf has no effect.

drummingfool · #6 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 01:28 PM

Strange... coffee actually has a tendancy to LOWER my BS.

Subby · #7 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 01:36 PM

Caffeine = adrenalin = glucagon. Internal sugar hit, mmmm.

Not sure how it might send some low, probably a similar difference in other events and blood mechanics that sends some people low with stress while others sky high.

Subby · #8 (**permalink**) 06-15-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by drummingfool

I still need to work on my morning basals because my levels went up and then back down... 181 - 88 in an hour. I'll have to see whats up with that. On MDI I took a bolus in the morning of 6 units because my sugar would sky rocket as soon as I got up... Im thinking maybe I can just adjust my morning basal to accomodate. I usually wake up around 7, so maybe I can just set a basal from 7am to 8am of a regular basal plus that bolus, and then from 8am until the next basal go back to a normal rate... does that make sense to anyone?

I'd tend to agree with Liz, wait and see what your new "BG picture" looks like before emulating your MDI tricks. It may be that with the pump and good basal rates through the night/morning, you have better levels of insulin in you at that time, reducing or even changing this old event around. Only way is to observe what's going on now and adapting to that.

I'd say if your resistance still does kick in at that time, you should have a good chance to solve it just with the right basal rates, along with other practices like a smaller I:C ratio if food spikes, or even avoiding spiking foods altogether.

kgm0612 · #9 (**permalink**) 06-16-2009, 06:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RayDS

Are you saying Coffee raises BS?

I drink my coffee with Equal and light cream, so for me, coffee raises my BS upwards of 20 points.

Karen

drummingfool · #10 (**permalink**) 06-16-2009, 08:12 AM

I drink mine with sweet&low and powdered creamer. total of 1G CHO per cup.

DCaplinger · #11 (**permalink**) 06-17-2009, 07:23 AM

Coffee (or rather caffeine) is a stimulant. As with any stimulant, the body can respond by putting out a liver dump. I don't respond so badly to coffee as some diabetics. I do see a rise of about 10 points, however the biggest impact is how long it takes for that to come back down. Usually, it won't. I end up having to give a 2 - 3 unit correction bolus by mid morning to bring my sugars down to around 80 - 90 before I eat lunch.

I've gotten this correction bolus thing down to a science!

Regards,

D