Hello again!

Well, things have happened since my last post. I have recently seen the DSN and had a good chat. At the moment I am trying to sort out my over night basal and that means the dreaded three o'clock in the morning test. What fun. Last night revealed I was at 11.0 mmol/L and I'd gone to sleep on a blood glucose of 8.6 mmol/L. This tells me that changes are needed but I think I need to do a few more of these spurious tests before I make any changes.
A few weeks ago I was having trouble with my post meal readings. That to me suggested that I was not getting enough insulin with my meals. So it's time to change and I have changed from one unit of Novorapid to every ten grammes of carbohydrate to one unit for every seven and a half grammes of carbohydrate and thus far it's been working well.
Summer has arrived. That means changes to insulin regimes which for me are an absolute pain in the arse. It seems, unlike most diabetics, I need more insulin in the heat as opposed to less. Shame that as I want to see how long I can make a reservoir last. The current is about three days but in reality I change every two days as I use alot owing to the fact I eat alot! That and my basal rates use a fair old bit. I like to change cannulas every two days because after that amount of time, depending on where I have put them, they get uncomfortable to have.

Until next time!

Time to dust off this old tome again...

Well, we haven't quite reached the proportions of what I would imagine a tome to be but it's an intelligent sounding word so I'll run with that for the moment.

It's exam season at university so there is stress by the tonne. Thankfully I have my pump to help deal with this and the temporary basal rate function is quite something. The fact I can also give corrections as and when I need without having to ram a piece of surgical steel into me is quite something too. The bloods have been all over the place since going back to university for several reasons. Firstly there is the odd bout of the lurgie that I have had to contend with; a cold gets around a flat or even a block in halls quicker than a dose of dysentry does the rounds in an African village. Then there is that wonderful substance know as alcohol, arguably the cause and solution to all of life's problems. When I was on MDI I had pretty much sussed how to deal with the effects of a piss up. Now I'm on a pump it's all changed. I can feel a series of nights out on the lash coming up as a series of experiments to determine what is the best way to manage my pump and booze. Note to self: only visit RFC if absolutely essential, you DO NOT want a repeat of the last adventure...
Here's comes the point in time where I've lost my original train of thought. Not something too uncommon for me, it happens all of the time. I have been known to look at my passport before giving my name to someone as I even forget that from time to time. I jest. Ah, just caught onto the original train of thought. Food has something to do with how bizarre my bloods have been. The student diet as I know it (beer, pizza, beer, chips) is not what you'd call diabetic friendly. Oh well, I must do what I can. I think my basals still need a little work as summer has now arrived and that means it's now time to crack out the shorts. When I buy these things now I seem to look for pockets that are now large enough to accomodate my pump and all the other diabetes related crap I lug around with me.
I think I must draw this post to a close as I haven't a bloody inkling of what to write about any more. Well, until the next time we draw this somewhat untouched volume down from the shelves of the interweb!

Almost a month in...

So it's been nearly a month since I started pumping. Only another two days to go but still, I can't be bothered to write this post in two days time as by then I will have forgotten it.
Since I began I've had a fair few trials and tribulations that have included being ill and going back to university. Illness on a pump is easier to manage than on MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) by quite a way. I managed to have a fair few decent bloods despite having the lurgie! Basal rates are the next issue. I am getting closer to the bull now. Just a few more tweaks and basal tests will see me on the home straight as far as the basal goes. It's quite incredible the difference that 0.05 of a unit will make. It's quite the tool this pump and I will be able to achieve much better control with this than I ever could with MDI.
If I didn't mention in my last post, I've had an HbA1C done. In effect that's a long term blood glucose reading to gauge how well I've been looking after myself in the past few months. Pre pump it was 8.3%, after three weeks of pumping it had dropped to 7.8%. Quite the change. I've never been able to get my HbA1C below 8% on MDI. I just never did happen.
Every day I learn a little bit more about pumping and the little tricks you need to use to make everything just so. For one I have had a few issues with bubbles when I've been drawing up my reservoirs. On a wonderful message board (http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/index.php) I use I was given the excellent tip of letting them stand over night before I load them into my pump. The rationale behind this is that the bubbles will, over night, rise to the top of the reservoir and form one larger one which can easily be expelled when you prime the pump. Another tip was to use insulin that had been out for a few hours to get it to room temperature. All nice and easy after a few goes.
For today the BG's have been near perfect. I woke up on a 5.4, then before breakfast got a 4.4, before lunch I was 5.2. I still need to tweak the basal a little, the need for that is demonstrated by the 4.4 at about eight in the morning when I had breakfast. Still, I'm nearly there which is good!
Until next time...

Where I go I do onot know, I only know the places I've been...

Well, I do believe that I have banished the lurgie from my system. Just in time for the visit to my lovely DSN tomorrow. The only reason I know it's gone is because the bloods are back to what I would consider normal. I was awoken at about half four feeling a little bizzare today. Checked the blood, lo and behold I was hypo. A lovelt 2.4 mmol/L to kick of the day with. Treated and in the process I demolished the biscuit box. Then went back to bed and slep until nine ish... When I arose for the second time my blood was at 11.9 mmol/L. Oh bugger. Apart from that and one other hypo the bloods have been quite good this fine day! Been employed at the family home painting my old room and shifting stuff around. What joys.

Now to update the blood glucose diary for the lovley DSN who is also a type one. What's even better is he uses a pump. I even work in the same hospital that I'm treated at so all is pretty fine and dandy at the moment...

Beware the evils of cheese on toast...

What is says in the title. I had an out break of a craving for cheese on toast just after I got into bed last night. So I gave in a made some. Bloods were 7.8 mmol/L before bed. I woke up at half six this morning with bloods of fifteen. Where's the damn justice?! It's not as if I didn't take insulin for it. Anyhow I corrected and went back to sleep until half ten. Enough time for the insulin to do it's job. When I re emerged I had a blood glucose of 8 mmol/L. Not bad. I've corrected that as I want to get it down to six before I go and stuff my face with a pie at lunch.

I might just go and do some work now...

The dreaded lurgie!

Well, over the past few days I've had the lurgie. It's brought about massive raises in blood glucoses and some cravings for cheese on toast. Yes, you heard me, cheese on toast. With ketchup. I think I'm over the worst of it and the lurgie is getting to being out of my system. Tonight won't involve staying up until one in the morning to chase down a high blood glucose. That's for two reasons; primarily the last time I looked my blood glucose was near ten millimoles per litre and was dropping. Secondly and, more importantly, I can't be arsed. Oh the joys of living with diabetes. At least things are getting back to normal, well as near normal as I think they can be at the moment. Time to get some shut eye before I head home tomorrow for the bank holiday weekend and hopefully no more lurgie! Roll on home cooking...

What a night...

Well, last night wasn't pleasant. Two hours after stopping snacking (for which I had bolused appropriately) my blood has rocketed to twenty point one millimoles per litre. Disaster. I shot in seven units with my pump and sat up until one in the morning waiting for it to come down. By one I has dropped to nine point two millimoles per litre. Within two hours I was hypo. Oh the joys. So I do my usual thing of destroying the fridge, again I bolus for all the unnecessary stuff I ate. I woke up at eight this morning to a bloods of fifteen millimoles per litre. What fun. So I've jammed in a correction and put on a temporary basal of a hundred and thirty percent. I wish whatever it was would hurry up and get out of my system or get it all over and done with. Maybe I need to change my insulin to carbohydrate ratios. I don't know. This is all really getting to me.

Tom