Type 1 Diabetics Super Mega Thread

I’m still new to all this, but have had some great help from a couple guys I went to school with who got diagnosed at 8 months old. They’ve seen pretty much all the tech and options out there, but they also don’t know any other way to live- whereas I had a solid 29 years being a normal person haha. My brother and his wife are both MDs, but not endos so they help as much as they can.

 

I just calibrated a bad dexcom reading this morning. Usually I have no issues, but maybe since I’m putting it on a site I usually pump it’s giving me issues. Dexcom said 80, but my hands were shaking so I finger tested and it was 55

When I have a good sensor and infusion site at the same time it’s like I’ve hit the jackpot

 

Another random thing I'll throw out there for those that regularly test on the fingers: Use the day of the month for a specific finger to avoid overusing any single finger.

Aka the 1st, 11th, 21st of the month are the first little finger. The 2nd, 12th, and 22nd are the first ring finger. 7th, 17th, 27th are the second index finger. Rotating them through every 10 days. I think you get the point..

I picked that up a long time ago and its definitely saved my fingers a lot. Without some sort of system I found that I always favored a few specific fingers over all the rest.

 

I'm a type 1 since 6yrs old. I'm lucky that my insurance from the hospital covers all my diabetic supplies at no cost(well, after a $150 yearly copay). I've been on an insulin pump since I was 18. I have just started using the libra 24/7 continuous monitoring.

 

howdy fellow Alabamian haha. Are you in the 600-1/2 group thing too? Thought I recognized your picture.

 

I am

 

Question for you guys. What’s a normal spike for you after a meal? I have tried everything I know to not go over 200, but pretty much every meal I do. If I dose more, I just go low later and it has minimal if any effect on the spike. I’ve tried dosing earlier, but it doesn’t seem to have much effect. It doesn’t stay over 200 but for a max of like two hours, but I just don’t know if I’m totally missing the concept or if this is acceptable? Sometimes I barely go up 20 after a meal and I haven’t done anything different.

I’m on Novolog and using a Tandem pump, by the way.

 

Oh and this one is the ole fake out too apparently haha maybe the fat content in the steak? Who knows...this doesn’t happen often, but the above I talked about does.

 

Minimed 670G, On fiasp currently. had been on Humalog forever, just made the switch in January this year I think it was. I usually eat the same dam thing for lunch most days, I pack my lunch, to try to maintain some normalcy. Basically a sammich and a protein bar. I used to spike over 250 while on Humalog, sometimes up to 300, after lunch, usually 2-3 hours post meal. Now, I rarely go over 250 after lunch. Usually 200-230 spike post lunch. The fiasp is a quicker onset than humalog, I think it has helped me. I go see my endo tomorrow, hopefully my A1C is down over last time. Everybody is different and reacts to food and meds differently.......blah blah blah......

 

I set up an appointment with my endo, so hopefully I can get some answers. Maybe I would benefit from a faster acting insulin. I ended up tanking down in the fifties (pump even showed no insulin on board) after that high yesterday. Something ain’t right. I could see that happening if I had an empty stomach and drank a coke or something, but a decent meal? It can’t all be bad timing and not a high enough carb ratio. It’s like I would have to take insulin, wait until I hit a forty and then start eating in order to not spike haha.

 

do you or have you used east Alabama’s endo? That’s where I’m going now, just wanted to get your opinion on it/them.

 

Sounds like same issue I have with my pump and CGM, still, even with the fiasp. I routinely go low in the late afternoon, sometimes into the 50's. And every time this happens, I attempt a calibration, and always it wont accept the calibration, says wait 15 minutes and try again. By this time, my sugar is already back on the uptick. I think this is a conspiracy by minimed to not allow super low readings to get logged in to the system, there ends up being no record of it. So, when doc looks at my past history he does not see the really low numbers. I have somewhat learned to deal with this by activating temp target mid morning, until dinner time. The temp target is auto set at 150, and I cannot change the target. It helps somewhat, but I still have to be aware that I am likely going to be low around 5 PM.

 

I see Dr. Schaffner's NP Lynn. I dealt with her when she was at the Diabetes Treatment Center.
Dr. Schaffner is a high energy guy. First time I met him, he popped up on the counter and started chatting

 

If any of you have an iPhone and are on pump vacation/use pens I modified an existing shortcut to calculate doses. Obviously you’ll need to put in your ratios, but I thought it would be an easier way to switch back to pens. Plus it’s nice to ask Siri haha


https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/660fa40dae4d42fd960b9712607502b4

 

So I ditched the insulin pump and went back to MDI about two months ago. Last A1C was 5.4...the pump did not agree with me...

 

That's great. I just got on the Libre 14 day 24/7 BS monitoring. My hospital now covers those under out DTC. It's been great.

 

If anyone else was curious, this was the pump’s fault- more specifically the infusion sets. I was either having allergic reactions or some other sort of infusion site failure causing slow absorption. Once I went back to MDI I didn’t have these issues at all.

 

That’s awesome. I started with their 14 day scan sensor, but didn’t have much luck with it. I definitely like the Dexcom notifying me of lows when I’m asleep. I think it’s saved my life a few times already. How’s the new Libre CGM? Did you ever have the one you scanned?

 

I had the one that was synced to my insulin pump, but it wasn't covered at my hospital and it was just too expensive. The Libre has been great. I just scan it with my phone and done. Checking my BS was always the worst part for me. It's so much quicker to just scan and go.

 

I haven’t been diagnosed long, but it didn’t take long for finger sticks to get old haha.