what great stuff!
You guys, this digest is like a lifeline! I’m printing out the whole
thing to keep me going over the weekend…
>I messed up the tape at first, too. I was so frustrated and ticked off.
Okay, so it’s not just me….big relief! Today I finally extracted the
Sof-Set needle (or whatever the thing that sticks in is called) because
it was hurting like crazy, and it seemed pointless to put up with it when
I don’t NEED the saline. But I’ve got to re-insert another one tonight,
and practice a bunch more inserts over the weekend.
>let the tape lie sticky side up // remove the two end pieces.
This’ll help…the tape is such a mess, and I sure don’t have it figured
out yet. The MiniMed instructions don’t cover this at ALL — in fact,
their whole book seems woefully incomplete. What I’m hoping is that once
I’m doing this for real, all the aggravation will be worthwhile (and also
I’ll get better at it).
>Rapids are a needle that is inserted straight in.
>You can call Disetronic and get a few samples
Disetronic won’t give me samples for a MiniMed pump, will they? If so,
that might be good!
I was reading the Starter instructions the CDE left (she’s gone for the
weekend), and it mentions doing BG checks at midnight and 3am….does
anybody know if that’s an everyday event? Or is it just while working
out the kinks? I know they said pumping involves a lot more checks, but
I sure didn’t plan on doing midnight and 3am’s every night.
Thanks for all the information and reassurance…if I get through this,
it’ll definitely be because of you egroup people!
Laurie
August 8th, 2004 at 9:35 am
Laurie,
The 3 AM checks are to get you basal rates for that time of day. It is not
something you will do indefinitely.
I have been pumping for 19 yrs and I still get my tape messed up some
times. Especially since I am legally blind. And this really sets me off
too. But I love pumping and IT WILL BECOME EASIER. Like anything in life,
it takes longer till you learn. But the pain was not normal for me. Trying
different sets should solve that. It you use the soft set there is no
needle left in and it doesn’t usually hurt.
Gail
August 8th, 2004 at 10:18 pm
sorry, but I believe in 3 am checks all the time.
I do it routinely, just to be sure things are OK. And, maybe one time out
of five, things are NOT ok, and a fine tuning is necessary (sometimes up,
sometimes down).
I average 8 tests/day.
3 before meals
3 two hours after meals
1 bedtime
1 middle of night
David
August 10th, 2004 at 2:14 am
I have never tested after meals and rarely at 3 AM. Only when setting up my
basal rate and only if I am having trouble with my morning BG.
I admire someone that dedicated and think it is great.
I have trouble sleeping and sometimes just get to sleep around midnight or
one, so at three I am usually sleeping good and hate to make myself get up.
Also I cannot hear an alarm and hubby would not like setting his and
getting me up since he gets up at 4:30 AM every morning.
Gail
August 11th, 2004 at 10:45 am
Jan,
If I felt I had to, or my endo requested it, I would. I feel I am having
good control now with what I am doing.
I feel as I am getting older some of my bouncing has settled down and my
BGs are much more stable then when younger.
How about you?
Gail
August 14th, 2004 at 12:16 am
<< I sure didn’t plan on doing midnight and 3am’s every night >>
<<This’ll help…the tape is such a mess>>
When I first started on the pump (which has only been around one yr ago) they
had me do the testing at those inconvienient times. I was told that even
when you are on the pump for a while that every now and then its good to
check then. I rarely do, but thats just me. I do pretty good on the pump in
fact very good. I’ve had to make a few changes in my basel rate but its not
hard. At first I would call my diabetic nurse and say help what do I do.
Luckily she was on the pump herself so she understood completely.
As far as the tape thing goes I use the silloutte so I don’t have to mess
w/any tape. It has its own self adhesive thing thats only about as big
around as a 50 cent piece. The only thing I dont like about the silloutte is
putting the long needle in. But I put up w/it. I hope this helps a little.
Chrissy
August 14th, 2004 at 8:24 am
<< Probably the best thing to do is to go on the continuous Glucose Monitor
for
72 hours it will give you a great idea what goes on at night.
>>
What is the continuous Glucose Monitor? Chrissy
August 14th, 2004 at 6:25 pm
The Monitor is made by Minimed but has only been approved for doctors
offices at this time or hospitals. I was on it last week and I’m going on it
again in 6 weeks.
It measures your blood sugar every 5 minutes for 3 days. It is a little
bigger then the Insulin pump. You wear it just like the pump. When you go
back to the doctor or hospital they will download all the information from
those 3 days from their computer and it will give you about a 60 page
printout. Complete with graphs and you will be able to make some good
adjustments to your basil rates based on these readings.
I have some more information on it, I will post it in the files section of
the club. When I have a chance to scan it.
Frank
August 15th, 2004 at 12:36 am
Frank,
Did you learn anything you didn’t know about yourself of significance after
doing the 72 hour test?
David
August 15th, 2004 at 8:47 am
<< I have some more information on it, I will post it in the files section of
the club. When I have a chance to scan it.
>>
Thanks so much Frank! Chrissy
August 15th, 2004 at 6:48 pm
Well I always knew that I was sensitive to slight changes. The first night
while sleeping I dropped down to 40 around 5 am and then woke up soaked at
6:30 am and was at 60 then. I actually nose dived from about 180 at 3:40 am
to about 40 at 5am. This was on a .8 basil rate. I also woke up low the
night before so I adjust my basil to .7 from 3 am to 7 am. The next night I
road high the whole night but woke up normal in the morning. It was the same
pattern the next night at .7. I road high during the night but woke up in
normal range. Right now I’m addressing this issue first before making any
other changes in my basil rate. I have to test a few times during the night
and see what is going on . Then I’m going to wear the monitor again.
I also learned that the Glucose meter I’m using was right on with my blood
sugar a large majority of the time. I use an accucheck complete. The other
meter I have now a Precision extra was always reading way lower then what my
blood sugar was showing on the CGM. In some cases it was off by 30 to 40
points.
Part of the procedure is to manual take at least 4 blood test a day and
enter them into the CGM to make sure the test is accurate. You also have to
enter in when you eat, when u take insulin, when you exercise, anytime you
feel hypo, it sounds complicated but it is done by event markers.
I also learned that when I hit low during the night my lunch time reading
were high but when I did not hit bottom during the night my lunch time
readings were fine.
I also learned I have a lot of work to be done.
August 18th, 2004 at 1:44 am
Laurie:
pump ends for tubing are universal so they can be used with either pump.
Just ask for samples, you don’t have to say which pump you are on…JOan:)