Just wanted to join with all of you who have recently felt
AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
about the ridiculousness of your D.
I've been having a few unexpected low-level 'dips' recently. Not really hypos exactly, just a few readings under 4 where I wouldn't expect them. And the more of those I have, the more highs I seem to have too. Not ideal. Figured it was probably basal/warmer weather related, so thought I would do some basal tests.
First day I tried to do 'lunch - eve meal'. But I had a 3.7 mid morning after a gym visit so scrapped that idea.
Second day I thought I'd do 'breakfast - lunch'. Woke up to a 3.4. Hopeless.
On Monday evening this week I took the bull by the horns and took my entire basal pattern down by '1 notch' just so I could get some basal tests in.
I've spent Tuesday and Wednesday battling relentless highs. I did manage to get a semi-basal test in yesterday afternoon, which was inconclusive. I've gone from 'a bit too low' to 'pretty much continually too high'.
Woke to 10.8 this morning having gone to bed with what Artoo assured me was exactly the right amount of IOB to deal with my 10.6 at bedtime.
So now I'm back to where I started - basal back down again.
The really annoying thing is that I have two basic basal 'patterns' running. One for weekdays, the other for weekends. Initially this was just to account for waking up a bit later on Saturdays/Sundays, but 'weekend weirdness' soon meant that the weekend pattern was tweaked down and is now regularly only 80-90% of the weekday one. Even when activity levels seem identical I just seem to need less basal on weekends.
It's incredibly frustrating to have to fight relentless highs with a basal of 11.8u a day on Tuesday, when 10.6u on (Bank Holiday) Monday didn't result in those stubborn highs at all.
Less insulin = lower levels. More insulin = higher levels. Madness.
I think this is what grinds me down most about living with diabetes. Where on one week you put the effort in, count carbs, make corrections and levels behave themselves really nicely. But then another week you put in exactly the same amount of effort and use exactly the same approaches for the same meals that you know work well (because you experimented for ages to get to that point) - except that this time it just doesn't work.
And I pretty much know that my basal being 'out' causes this. And trying to fix it so that I can actually test basal has given me the high BG grumps.
Deep breath. Try again.
Thursday, 9 May 2013 | by Mike K
Friday, 3 May 2013 | by Mike K
Running. Battles.
It's been a busy old time recently, and updates on the blog have taken rather a back seat. Sorry about that!
I realised this week (on Monday in fact) that I had not yet even managed to post an update following my Half Marathon shenanigans in Bath exactly two months ago today. Shocking!
Part of the reason for this post is to say an ENORMOUS thank you to everyone who donated so very generously in support of my race charity Diabetes UK, in fact your generosity was so apparent that I was also able to donate to Medical Detection Dogs (the tiny charity that is able to specially train clever pooches to sniff out hypos and hypers). In total you raised the mighty sum of £685.50, you should feel very proud of yourselves, you rock!
Ready for the off at the Bath Half 2013I had a great time on the day itself. It was bitterly cold at the start where everyone stood shivering for about an hour, but the mood was very cheery nevertheless. It was my first distance race of any kind, and I think I had naively underestimated the experience of running among something like 11,000 other people. It took much longer than I'd thought to find space enough to run at my 'own' pace. I was able to finish the 21km (13ish miles) in 1hr 46 mins, which is just about as fast as I ever thought I'd be able to do it.
I think the D fairy must have been having a day off that day, as my levels were bewilderingly good. The race started at 11am, but even so I reduced my breakfast dose to 90% of normal. Thanks to Artoo I was able to set a TBR which took my basal down to 10% an hour before the start and throughout the run. My levels on the day looked a little like this:
3.00am - 7.3
8.00am - 7.5 Breakfast
9.30am - 7.9 waiting to start
1.00pm - 7.0 Finish! I downed a 60g CHO bottle of lucozade on the way round
2.51pm - 6.8 Lunch
To say I was pleased with those is a bit of an understatement! I wondered at the time if perhaps I should run a half marathon every day?
As is the way of things, it has taken me a fair old while to get the last few donations collected, but the cheques are now on their way to the respective charities. Immediately after the race I'd found myself reflecting on the unexpected enjoyment I'd found in the training, but thought I wouldn't hurry to take part in another event. Then a *very* odd thing happened. Last Sunday was the London Marathon, and I actually found myself thinking, "Well... I wonder if I could...". Encouraged by Dave and his tangerine enthusiasm I have unexpectedly put my name forward for the 2014 ballot. The chances of making it into the event are pretty slim - but it would be an interesting challenge!
The rest of March and April have been a bit of a mixed-bag levels wise. March, and Easter in particular involved quite a few family get togethers and celebration meals which are always fraught with guesswork and wild stab-in-the-dark boluses with all the (lack of) success you might expect. April looked to be a little more settled in patches, but by the end of it a few chaotic days had worn me down, wrecked my averages and SD and I ended the month feeling quite grumpy about the whole unrelentingly inconsistent business.
Part of me thinks I am pushing myself too hard and need to learn to be happier with the successes I am seeing rather than contantly reaching for those elusive 'perfect' days. Many people who have lived with Type 1 Diabetes for any length of time will be familiar with that feeling I think.
I've decided it's time to run a few basal tests during the day just to make sure there is nothing obviously wonky on that score. A tiny dip below 4.0 after the gym has put paid to that for today. Ah well.
Enjoy your Bank Holiday everyone!
I realised this week (on Monday in fact) that I had not yet even managed to post an update following my Half Marathon shenanigans in Bath exactly two months ago today. Shocking!
Part of the reason for this post is to say an ENORMOUS thank you to everyone who donated so very generously in support of my race charity Diabetes UK, in fact your generosity was so apparent that I was also able to donate to Medical Detection Dogs (the tiny charity that is able to specially train clever pooches to sniff out hypos and hypers). In total you raised the mighty sum of £685.50, you should feel very proud of yourselves, you rock!
Ready for the off at the Bath Half 2013I had a great time on the day itself. It was bitterly cold at the start where everyone stood shivering for about an hour, but the mood was very cheery nevertheless. It was my first distance race of any kind, and I think I had naively underestimated the experience of running among something like 11,000 other people. It took much longer than I'd thought to find space enough to run at my 'own' pace. I was able to finish the 21km (13ish miles) in 1hr 46 mins, which is just about as fast as I ever thought I'd be able to do it.
I think the D fairy must have been having a day off that day, as my levels were bewilderingly good. The race started at 11am, but even so I reduced my breakfast dose to 90% of normal. Thanks to Artoo I was able to set a TBR which took my basal down to 10% an hour before the start and throughout the run. My levels on the day looked a little like this:
3.00am - 7.3
8.00am - 7.5 Breakfast
9.30am - 7.9 waiting to start
1.00pm - 7.0 Finish! I downed a 60g CHO bottle of lucozade on the way round
2.51pm - 6.8 Lunch
To say I was pleased with those is a bit of an understatement! I wondered at the time if perhaps I should run a half marathon every day?
As is the way of things, it has taken me a fair old while to get the last few donations collected, but the cheques are now on their way to the respective charities. Immediately after the race I'd found myself reflecting on the unexpected enjoyment I'd found in the training, but thought I wouldn't hurry to take part in another event. Then a *very* odd thing happened. Last Sunday was the London Marathon, and I actually found myself thinking, "Well... I wonder if I could...". Encouraged by Dave and his tangerine enthusiasm I have unexpectedly put my name forward for the 2014 ballot. The chances of making it into the event are pretty slim - but it would be an interesting challenge!
The rest of March and April have been a bit of a mixed-bag levels wise. March, and Easter in particular involved quite a few family get togethers and celebration meals which are always fraught with guesswork and wild stab-in-the-dark boluses with all the (lack of) success you might expect. April looked to be a little more settled in patches, but by the end of it a few chaotic days had worn me down, wrecked my averages and SD and I ended the month feeling quite grumpy about the whole unrelentingly inconsistent business.
Part of me thinks I am pushing myself too hard and need to learn to be happier with the successes I am seeing rather than contantly reaching for those elusive 'perfect' days. Many people who have lived with Type 1 Diabetes for any length of time will be familiar with that feeling I think.
I've decided it's time to run a few basal tests during the day just to make sure there is nothing obviously wonky on that score. A tiny dip below 4.0 after the gym has put paid to that for today. Ah well.
Enjoy your Bank Holiday everyone!
Monday, 11 March 2013 | by Mike K
That 'biohub' thinghy...
I don't think this caused quite such a stir over here as it did with people living with type 1 diabetes in the states, but if you'd like to know a bit more about the spongey thing that might make insulin on demand in realtime and the hoo hah it caused you should probably read this post:
http://typicaltype1.com/2013/03/11/the-biohub-brouhaha-of-2013-an-animated-retrospective/
It will make you smile.
5-10 years eh? Sounds quite familiar.
http://typicaltype1.com/2013/03/11/the-biohub-brouhaha-of-2013-an-animated-retrospective/
It will make you smile.
5-10 years eh? Sounds quite familiar.
Thursday, 31 January 2013 | by Mike K
The Einstein Principle
"I had it coming"... "Pride comes before a fall"... "Sod's Law"... "I brought it on myself"...
So hands up who thinks they know what has happened just as I posted something about how well things have been going recently. Right. So that's pretty everyone with diabetes reading this, every parent of a child with D, or anyone who lives with someone 'pancreatically challenged' then. Thought so. OK you can put your hands down now. Don't want your arms getting tired.
Yup. As you would all expect, immediately after I allowed myself a little glimmer of diabetic self-satisfaction the other day, things have well and truly gone 'off the rails'. In no small part self inflicted (a family birthday celebration with not quite enough self-control on my part). Partly stupidity - I forgot to press the final 'confirm' to administer a lunchtime bolus, cue stratospheric BG mid afternoon. A suspected big fat tubing bubble overnight (I know!). And also partly a little basal-tweaking needed as my half marathon training has started to kick in. What was looking to be a pretty decent set of figures for the month are suddenly looking decidedly ropey.
It's like that moment when [insert the name of your favourite sports star or team here] has put in all the hard work throughout the [season/game] and looks on course for glorious victory only to throw it all away with an errant putt on the 18th green, a missed double 16, by spinning out on the corner, conceding a sloppy goal in the 89th minute, or double-faulting the set away with a catastrophic loss of concentration.
It hasn't helped that I had a letter today from the fine folks at the mobile eye screening service today to say that they had spotted some 'background changes' in my eyes again. They said that once before a few years back, but I have to confess I far prefer the letters since then where they had been saying, "Nope, nothing to see here matey". No treatment needed, just another 12 month check. But not ideal news in a week where on-target readings have been a bit thin on the ground.
And of course (crassly stupid mistakes aside) those days when the wind is behind me and my pancreas-impersonating-guesses all come together with effortless perfection rarely 'feel' that different to the days when every reading seems determined to skip over that ever-so narrow target range that we all try to aim for. Days when meter and pump are constantly warbling warnings of imminent doom for being too high or too low. This is particularly the case when, like now, my basal profile needs a little tweaking. Tried and tested approaches, ratios and meal choices lose all reliability. Corrections and doses either seem to disappear entirely or hit home like a sledgehammer. And all the time I'm trying to just do the 'normal' things that I know work.
Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said that:
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
Well I don't know about insanity, but that's a pretty darned good description of living with type 1 diabetes.
Saturday, 26 January 2013 | by Mike K
Bubble, bubble, tubing trouble
Looking at my stats it seems Artoo has been having a bit of a run of form recently. Not without a wobble here and there obviously (let's not be silly) but certainly a decent punt at things on the whole, and far fewer eye watering levels in the 20s than in any of the months since I started on an insulin pump (which were never really part of my MDI experience). According to the funky monthly reports on my current BG logging app of choice (the excellent mySugr - 'making diabetes suck slightly less') my purple patch seems to date back to October. I even seemed to manage Christmas with fewer Quality Street induced gaffes than I would normally expect. Generally average BG in the high 6's low 7's (108-126), with an SD around the mid 2's (36). This makes me happy.
Aside from me taking a *very* long time to get used to the whole pumping business (Artoo was very patient with me) I believe there are a couple of changes which have helped me, so I'm posting this insufferably smug blog entry just in case there are any frustrated insulin pumpers who stumble upon it that are putting in all the effort but not seeing the results they are hoping for.
Firstly, September was the time that I switched infusion sets. I'd been having a fair few failures for some months, but only in amongst a majority of set changes that worked perfectly. At the time it was less obvious, but looking back, a readings/recoveries from mid 20s almost every month were messing things up for me. If you are getting set failures/site issues more than a couple of times a year it could well be worth asking your clinic/DSN/endo what alternative lengths and types of infusion sets are available to you. I've not had *one* site failure in the past four months - and aside from the lack of eye-frying levels, it also makes me feel a lot better about the whole business of diabetes day to day (as hard as I try not to part of me always takes these out of range disasters as a sort of personal failure).
Secondly, and my initial reason for writing this post, I think I have cracked the 'bubbles in the tubing' problem. Maybe not 100%, but pretty darned close. I'm not sure how common this is, but throughout my first year on a pump I was occasionally victim of a 'phantom bubble of doom'™. I'd fill the reservoir with room-temperature insulin as advised, having first moved the plunger up and down to lubricate the inside of the reservoir. I'd flick and jiggle for all I was worth until I was absolutely sure that there were no bubbles in the insulin. Fit the reservoir to the pump, and prime with the pump vertical, tapping all the while to ensure that any rogue bubble-ettes got expelled in the priming, and then connect everything up happy in the knowledge that I had achieved the perfect bubble-free set change. BUT. The next day, look at the reservoir and BAM, there it was a big, fat, lurking, bubble of doom. Ready and waiting to find its way into the tubing at some inconvenient moment and then effectively deprive me of basal for an hour or two. Or mess up a meal bolus. Or both. I do try to check my tubing a few times a day but these suckers are hard to spot. And just as frustrating as the high BGs they caused - was not knowing where they were coming from! I was as sure as I can be that they were not there when I changed the set. They just seemed to be emerging out of nowhere with an evil glint in their eye overnight.
I did discover a suggestion on You Tube, which I won't link here as it was a complete disaster for me. The technique (described as something like 'degassing the reservoir') involved creating a fairly strong vacuum in the insulin vial by repeatedly drawing air out of it until you could do no more. Do not try this! My experience is that reservoirs are just not designed to operate under that kind of pressure. On more than one occasion (and I only tried it about 3 times!) the o-rings failed and insulin began to leak 'behind' the plunger while the reservoir was in use. Complete BG chaos. But it did get me thinking...
If you too suffer from occasional 'phantom bubbles of doom' - here's what seems to be working for me. When you draw up the insulin into the reservoir it is usual to first inject air into the vial, equivalent to the insulin you are about to withdraw, to equalise the pressure. Instead of this only inject half of the air into the vial. Additionally you should make sure that you inject the air with the vial downward, then invert the whole caboodle to draw up the full insulin amount. Then flick and jiggle any bubbles that have crept in as normal. Disconnect the reservoir first, to allow the air pressure in the vial to normalise again. It seems that the very slight vacuum created is not enough to worry the o-rings, but is sufficient to make the insulin less 'aerated' in the reservoir. Or something. Anyhow, it seems to be working!
Obviously... Disclaimer, disclaimer. Not medical advice. Consult a qualified person. Don't try this at home. Read the documentation supplied with your pump. Simply reading this blog post may void your warranty etc etc.
If you have any top tips that you have discovered for yourself - please share them below :)
Aside from me taking a *very* long time to get used to the whole pumping business (Artoo was very patient with me) I believe there are a couple of changes which have helped me, so I'm posting this insufferably smug blog entry just in case there are any frustrated insulin pumpers who stumble upon it that are putting in all the effort but not seeing the results they are hoping for.
Firstly, September was the time that I switched infusion sets. I'd been having a fair few failures for some months, but only in amongst a majority of set changes that worked perfectly. At the time it was less obvious, but looking back, a readings/recoveries from mid 20s almost every month were messing things up for me. If you are getting set failures/site issues more than a couple of times a year it could well be worth asking your clinic/DSN/endo what alternative lengths and types of infusion sets are available to you. I've not had *one* site failure in the past four months - and aside from the lack of eye-frying levels, it also makes me feel a lot better about the whole business of diabetes day to day (as hard as I try not to part of me always takes these out of range disasters as a sort of personal failure).
Secondly, and my initial reason for writing this post, I think I have cracked the 'bubbles in the tubing' problem. Maybe not 100%, but pretty darned close. I'm not sure how common this is, but throughout my first year on a pump I was occasionally victim of a 'phantom bubble of doom'™. I'd fill the reservoir with room-temperature insulin as advised, having first moved the plunger up and down to lubricate the inside of the reservoir. I'd flick and jiggle for all I was worth until I was absolutely sure that there were no bubbles in the insulin. Fit the reservoir to the pump, and prime with the pump vertical, tapping all the while to ensure that any rogue bubble-ettes got expelled in the priming, and then connect everything up happy in the knowledge that I had achieved the perfect bubble-free set change. BUT. The next day, look at the reservoir and BAM, there it was a big, fat, lurking, bubble of doom. Ready and waiting to find its way into the tubing at some inconvenient moment and then effectively deprive me of basal for an hour or two. Or mess up a meal bolus. Or both. I do try to check my tubing a few times a day but these suckers are hard to spot. And just as frustrating as the high BGs they caused - was not knowing where they were coming from! I was as sure as I can be that they were not there when I changed the set. They just seemed to be emerging out of nowhere with an evil glint in their eye overnight.
I did discover a suggestion on You Tube, which I won't link here as it was a complete disaster for me. The technique (described as something like 'degassing the reservoir') involved creating a fairly strong vacuum in the insulin vial by repeatedly drawing air out of it until you could do no more. Do not try this! My experience is that reservoirs are just not designed to operate under that kind of pressure. On more than one occasion (and I only tried it about 3 times!) the o-rings failed and insulin began to leak 'behind' the plunger while the reservoir was in use. Complete BG chaos. But it did get me thinking...
If you too suffer from occasional 'phantom bubbles of doom' - here's what seems to be working for me. When you draw up the insulin into the reservoir it is usual to first inject air into the vial, equivalent to the insulin you are about to withdraw, to equalise the pressure. Instead of this only inject half of the air into the vial. Additionally you should make sure that you inject the air with the vial downward, then invert the whole caboodle to draw up the full insulin amount. Then flick and jiggle any bubbles that have crept in as normal. Disconnect the reservoir first, to allow the air pressure in the vial to normalise again. It seems that the very slight vacuum created is not enough to worry the o-rings, but is sufficient to make the insulin less 'aerated' in the reservoir. Or something. Anyhow, it seems to be working!
Obviously... Disclaimer, disclaimer. Not medical advice. Consult a qualified person. Don't try this at home. Read the documentation supplied with your pump. Simply reading this blog post may void your warranty etc etc.
If you have any top tips that you have discovered for yourself - please share them below :)
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