Day 38 of Qivana Therapy

So, I wasn't intending on blogging every single day....

But, this is absolutely amazing & I wanted to share.

Now, keep in mind. Over the last 10 days, I have decreased my basal rate on my pump twice.
The first time it went from 1.025 to .975 & now, it is currently set as follows:

midnight: .925
1:00 am  1.00
3:00 am  .850

Now, just for those of you who don't know much about diabetes or an insulin pump, I feel I need to explain a couple of things.

1) Each of the settings above is how many units your pump delivers in an hours time. It is your basal (also known as your baseline). This is the amount of insulin your body needs to process the sugar you naturally produce just to function daily. **of course, this is a seriously simplified explanation**

Your brain is the only organ in your body that requires glucose to function. So, your body MUST naturally provide for what I consider a tier one organ. The brain, heart, and lungs being the tier one organs. VERY IMPORTANT. These are imperative. 

If you've ever experienced low blood sugar, you know that all of a sudden simple things, can not be done. You may be reading something, and you don't understand what it is that you are reading, the words may swim. You may be shopping in the mall & all of a sudden, you have no CLUE where you are at & you find yourself doing circles in one of those hallways that is only 5 feet deep & leads to a huge double door (yes, I once did this!) You may get up from a nap and go out into the street outside of your house & lay down in the middle of your cul de sac. And, yes, I've done this also.  **I consider myself a very lucky diabetic, watched by angels**

2) The time period between 1 AM & 3 AM is known as Dawn Phenomenon. Everyone (for some reason) produces more sugar which dumps into their system during these hours. If you are on a pump & you don't have a basal increase at this time, wake up a few nights around 2 or 3 AM & give yourself a finger stick. Chances are, you need a little bit of an increase in your basal rate.

Okay, so back to the important information. When I woke up this morning, my bloodsugar was 159. Not bad, but not where it has been recently, definitely. I took a correction bolus of  .9 to bring my bloodsugar down. Then, by breakfast time, my blood sugar had come down to 53!!  For breakfast, I had 25 grams of carbs. I took NO insulin. An hour after breakfast, my blood sugar was 93. Two hours later, it was 201. So, I definitely needed some for my meal, but I'm not sure how much.

The result of this morning? I think I need to change my correction bolus amounts. It is called your insulin sensitivity factor. Basically, how many points will your blood sugar come down for each unit you take? Currently, mine is set for 75. Each unit I take, brings my blood sugar down 75 points. That is why I took .9 at 159. .9 will lower my bloodsugar by 67 points. Which would put it in the perfect range, 80-100.
159-67 = 92. It's not an exact science. Your body has all kinds of things going on inside of it. But, it's as perfect as we can get it. Now, .9 lowered my blood sugar basically 100 points. So, my new insulin sensitivity factor would be 111.

Or, it could be that my basal rate is still too high.....My basal rate starting at 3 AM is .850, which is pretty low....Plus, I remember what happened yesterday with regards to my bloodsugar dropping after a meal.....So, I wonder which it could be. I'm going to go with the insulin sensitivity factor & I'm going to adjust it.

So, now, my insulin sensitivity factor is no longer 75. It is now 111 for 4 AM - 12 noon. The thing about ISF is that you get to set it diffferently for each four hour period, all day. Your body could react differently at different times of the day to its insulin, so you get to set it specific for that time of day. I'm not going to touch it for other times of the day, because I don't know (yet!) if it has changed.

This is an interesting trip I'm taking with the Qivana. I really did not expect it to have this huge of an impact on me, but the numbers speak for themselves.
Coming up in September, I have an appt with my endocrinologist. I think I'm going to send him a letter here in a couple of days, explaining everything going on & with the ingredient list for what I'm taking and ask him to explain it.

Have a great day!!