So it's only been a day, but I already love pumping.
I have had some pretty good numbers too. I had a low last night, so I lowered my nighttime basal rate, but not by much. I have to test again at 4AM.
I have pretty much been told to be in control of my diabetes (self manage), so I have no problems with adjusting my basal, especially to avoid a low. Also I have another appointment (follow up) on Thursday, so i can go over my numbers and rates with my nurse then.
Do a lot of you adjust your basal rates? Or do a lot of you have your doctors/nurses adjust the numbers for you? Just curious...
i have a nurse educator that i fax all my numbers to and she and i will change things up when it needs to be changed which is like twice a month. i am in really good control, but my body just does not like to stay in one range for long.
by the way i just got my pump in november so i'm no where near a pro at pumping, but every so often i just change my basal when it's consistently too high or too low. that's on my own, but i always inform the nurse educator.
My nurse educator said she would be comfortable with me if I felt a need to change my basal, since I seemed to have a clue. But if it was something drastic she wanted to know about it. So if I was moving my 7:00 AM - 9:00 AM basal from 1.05 to 2.05 she would want to know, but otherwise I am in the clear to mess around, as long as I know what I am doing and can back to change up with numerical proof and not a whim. I am only a few months older than Mel on the pump and again not a pro. Usually it does take a few days to sort things out.
Do a lot of you adjust your basal rates? Or do a lot of you have your doctors/nurses adjust the numbers for you? Just curious...
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maybe I am a control freak, but I would never let anyone near my settings =) I do my own, they are not hard to figure out but can take time to get right. do you have the basal protocol? the "skip a meal" thing works pg but I have found it isn't perfect.
With me, it just depends. If I am having trouble with my numbers and I am going to the doctor within like a week, then I will wait about adjusting them, and get my doctors opinion. But if I am having problems (highs, lows) and it's going to be a while before I my next appointment, I will look over my numbers and adjust them myself. But even with the doctors opinion, I adjust them. They never take my pump and do it for me, they make the suggestion, and I go in and change it.
I adjust my daughter's basals unless somethings really wacky that I feel I need the center's help (i.e. she's really sick or something). I was told that once you make a change though to wait 2-3 days to watch for a pattern before adjusting something else. Sometimes one day is just a fluke and things straighten out by themselves by the next day.. perhaps a change in weather, diet, exercise.. etc. Good luck.
Glad to hear you love it! After one and a half years I make small adjustments if necessary, but I usually talk to my diabetes educator beforehand just to make sure we're on the same page. But I dont' adjust my basals all that much, usually I try to adjust my ratios instead.
My 8 year old has been pumping for 18 months now. She's a growing child... so we have constantly changing basal rates & carb ratios. We change them ourselves, and our endocrinologist (who is famous) supports it. We feel we understand her body better than anyone else, including any doctors. We're confident about this, good at math, and fully understand the nuances of our pump (ie: on the mini-med, increasing the carb ratio will decrease the insulin provided - not intuitive). With these tools, we feel we make good choices in the changes. So far, it's working for us.
i think what he's talking about is the basal testing, where you have to skip a meal to see where your basal levels are and if there needs to be any changes in them. i too find it not reliable because once i try to do a basal test something goes wrong with my BG so i can never do it.