Another post and my daughter's numbers lately have caused me to ask this question. I will ask (again) at our pediatric endocrinology office too.
What are your thoughts on changing your own dosage? My daughter has only been doing the Diabetes thing for 8 1/2 months now, but we now are so good at looking at numbers, watching for patterns, noticing highs and lows, understanding what the insulin does and how bolus and basal rates work... I'm wondering how much I can make decisions myself about how much insulin to give (what settings to put into the pump) and how much I need to rely on the clinic?
I usually get great response from the educators and the endo, but sometimes I feel like I could have made the decision on my own.
Do you make your own decisions and just record them? Or do you always get "permission" to change things?
My endo seems to think I should be able to change my carb ratio as needed..without apparently realizing that in the 16years since I was dx'ed..no one has every taught me HOW to figure out changing doses, and I've only been carb counting for almost 2years..and that's still hell for me. I usually leave it up to him when I see him or adjust it with my family doctor, who used to share an office with my endo and is allowed to touch those matters. When I was little, my mom would usually call the diabetic clinic, who would deal with my A1Cs and all of that, to discuss changing my rates over the phone but we never did it ourselves without getting them to approve it. if i do it myself without help from him or my family doc, i usually call his office and let him know though.
For the first few months, my mother called the clinic every week, and they adjusted, but as soon as we predicted what they would change, before we called, we stopped calling so regularly.
When I see a pattern of highs or lows I make the adjustments myself. If I can't get it right I will call the team. I always keep a record so if, God forbid, anything happens to me someone can start where I left off.