“Burnt Out on Testing My Blood Level Several Times a Day”
Well anyone know test and re testing you blood level every time you eat is a down right chore. I can test any were form 3 times a day to 8. I cannot follow a when to test guideline. My life schedule is not consistent of when I eat, or do activities. I cannot do a schedule and sometimes I may not have my glucometer on me at the time I need it or when I want to check my blood. I have two meters and I still have problem testing. But if you want to pop a small morsel of something like a strawberry, or a carrot, a piece of mint or even a piece of gum; you would have to test unless you know how to regulate your insulin intake. Food is one of Diabetics best friend and worst enemy. I have brought up that I juice and blend just about every day of the week for work when time permits and I have the ingredients to do so. If I do not juice I pack small meals for my breakfast, snack and lunch. I am still trying to figure out when I am drinking my meals how to calculate it with my insulin pump. I mean I take a bolus on my pump when I test my blood and it will give me an amount of what the pump will inject into me. But that is for a meal not for a drink that I continue to drink throughout the morning and throughout the afternoon for lunch. I will give myself and exaggerated amount of carbs just to make sure I will have enough insulin when I drink. I do not know how long it will take me to drink. I usually finish my drink in the morning just before lunch and that could be four hours. And on top of that I will eat a midday snack of a protein and a complex carb. So if I give my calculated carb, should I include the drink as well? But how much carbs am I drinking now? My protein and homemade juice I give myself around 55-58, (I use equal amount of low glycemic fruit to vegetable) depending if I consume 1 whole wheat toast with no butter and 2 tablespoons of yogurt in my drink for protein. My blood level can go way up, or stay at a decent steady level, regardless if I check by blood level at the right time.
Nurse Jenning To my Rescue
I always had trouble figuring out my Bolus. I thought the more carb ratio you program into the insulin pump the more insulin will be delivered. Nurse Jenning was a Nurse who helped me when I need my pump adjusted. I do not have her as my Nurse for my doctor retired and I have a new Endocrinologist. I gave her a call and she helped me figure out my Bolus, Basal and setting up a Dual Bolus for my meals. The Nurse told me it is the opposite. I was taking 1 unit of insulin for every 14 carbs I was going to eat. So if I had a piece of bread which will have at least 15 grams of carbs my pump would calculate about 1.2 units for that carb. So if I changed my unit to every 20 grams carbs per 1 unit of insulin I would take less because my blood level would be sensitive to 20 grams of carb per 1 unit of insulin.
Another example; I changed my carb ratio from 14 grams of carbs to 12 grams of carbs per 1 unit of insulin. So the ratio would be 1:12 in the morning. The insulin pump tells me when I want to set the time of when it will delivery my insulin. I set it to 7:30am because I will be drinking my protein juice smoothie early in the morning. So I should take my insulin at least 15 minutes before I drink. I tell the pump my juice will have about 55 grams of carbs and the pump would calculate about 4.0 units of insulin.
Or in algebraic:
12x=56
(56/12)=4.7
X=4.7 units of insulin I would take if I consumed 56 carbs in one meal
If I took the 14 units I would only take 4.0 units of insulin.
After Nurse Jenning helped me figure my Bolus I felt more in control. So I will keep an update on my intake of my insulin. She also stated I may need to adjust my Basal. The Basal help tell my pump how much insulin with in a giving time throughout the day to continuously inject me my medicine. For example; at midnight I programmed the pump to give me .25 units every 30 minutes until the morning. I changed my Basal in the morning to inject me with .6 units at 7:30 until midnight. So my insulin pump will go back to .25 units of insulin at midnight. I will adjust if my blood level drops like crazy.
She also help me set up a Dual Bolus on my pump to give me my bolus and correction throughout the time I need to finish my juice drink. I think I can lower my intake of my insulin in a week. I have to check and watch my blood level for now closely.
If anyone is juicing and is on insulin pump how do you bolus? I want to keep my insulin a normal level and a steady level. I called my old Nurse Practitioner for her advice she delivered. I thank God for having her call me or I will be setting myself up with an AC1 of 7 or higher. But if anyone has a clue on how to regulate your pump during and in between bolusing when you are still consuming your juice drink please leave me a commit. Thank you.
Nurse Jenning To my Rescue
I always had trouble figuring out my Bolus. I thought the more carb ratio you program into the insulin pump the more insulin will be delivered. Nurse Jenning was a Nurse who helped me when I need my pump adjusted. I do not have her as my Nurse for my doctor retired and I have a new Endocrinologist. I gave her a call and she helped me figure out my Bolus, Basal and setting up a Dual Bolus for my meals. The Nurse told me it is the opposite. I was taking 1 unit of insulin for every 14 carbs I was going to eat. So if I had a piece of bread which will have at least 15 grams of carbs my pump would calculate about 1.2 units for that carb. So if I changed my unit to every 20 grams carbs per 1 unit of insulin I would take less because my blood level would be sensitive to 20 grams of carb per 1 unit of insulin.
Another example; I changed my carb ratio from 14 grams of carbs to 12 grams of carbs per 1 unit of insulin. So the ratio would be 1:12 in the morning. The insulin pump tells me when I want to set the time of when it will delivery my insulin. I set it to 7:30am because I will be drinking my protein juice smoothie early in the morning. So I should take my insulin at least 15 minutes before I drink. I tell the pump my juice will have about 55 grams of carbs and the pump would calculate about 4.0 units of insulin.
Or in algebraic:
12x=56
(56/12)=4.7
X=4.7 units of insulin I would take if I consumed 56 carbs in one meal
If I took the 14 units I would only take 4.0 units of insulin.
After Nurse Jenning helped me figure my Bolus I felt more in control. So I will keep an update on my intake of my insulin. She also stated I may need to adjust my Basal. The Basal help tell my pump how much insulin with in a giving time throughout the day to continuously inject me my medicine. For example; at midnight I programmed the pump to give me .25 units every 30 minutes until the morning. I changed my Basal in the morning to inject me with .6 units at 7:30 until midnight. So my insulin pump will go back to .25 units of insulin at midnight. I will adjust if my blood level drops like crazy.
She also help me set up a Dual Bolus on my pump to give me my bolus and correction throughout the time I need to finish my juice drink. I think I can lower my intake of my insulin in a week. I have to check and watch my blood level for now closely.
If anyone is juicing and is on insulin pump how do you bolus? I want to keep my insulin a normal level and a steady level. I called my old Nurse Practitioner for her advice she delivered. I thank God for having her call me or I will be setting myself up with an AC1 of 7 or higher. But if anyone has a clue on how to regulate your pump during and in between bolusing when you are still consuming your juice drink please leave me a commit. Thank you.