Hey, a couple of other things to mention, that can be added to the ones above.
In general, Levemir sucks with pens. I have pens of everything, and some of them stay in the fridge for weeks between uses, and there is no problem. But Levemir crystallizes in the pen needle, and will clog it. After only 24 hours, sometimes I can’t get it to come out of the pen. So be very disciplined in your pen needle changing. And prime every time, to make sure you see it come out. Do not be lazy with needle exchanges with Levemir. For this reason, I mostly use syringes with Levemir. Consider this a strong warning!
Do you have a way of dosing 1/2 units with Levemir? I know you have 1/2 unit syringes, because some crazy talked you into that. So you could withdraw Levemir from a pen with the 1/2 unit syringes if you need to. When you get down to fine tuning, you really need to be able to do 1/2 unit doses.
Make sure you read through the other warnings I gave you.
I’ll need to go look at my pens to see the dosing, but … yeah, I’ll have to go look. I can’t remember. And I’ll have to go pull out my boxes of needles. Because I have them and have no idea where. But I’ve just gotten kids to sleep so now I’ll go prepare stuff…
11.0 units in the morning, and 9.0 units in the evening.
Conservative starting number to keep you from plummeting.
Based on your existing basal profiles - don’t know if those numbers are right!
Try to hit them about 12 hours apart. 13 hours is fine. 14 if you have to, but please try not to go beyond 14 hours between shots. Generally early morning and evening, around 8am and 8pm, or something in that time-frame.
Yes… but now I’m going to go back to the top of everything and read it all in a nice quiet room. Actually… I’ll just do this from the kitchen so I can gather stuff while I read.
I saw back there you mentioned my continuing to use my CGM for a couple of days… or something like that. I’ll go back and read it again, but I was HOPING to be able to use my Guardian while I’m off. I can do that, right?? It would be a little annoying to keep my pump nearby, but I could do that for the meantime… right? And then I could use it for my calibration factor, too… which is really what I want it for.
You’re absolutely right that this would be a good retreat, but I’ve actually been in manual mode for many months now. I think I just want to take it off. I’d like to take it off and put it in a cabinet for a week, but it looks like I’m going to be keeping it around… just not on me.
This is what I am anticipating. All day today I’ve been pushing my pump buttons… lovingly. Like this isn’t goodbye… I promise to see you soon. It’s going to be 10 or more shots a day, this I know, and the control… I have no real confidence in my ability to not lose all of it within a matter of hours. I still think this is good for me, and I’m always up for a good challenge.
And I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for this line right here… because in case I come crawling back to my pump after a day, I’d like to not ALSO have to hate myself for it. I’ll just repeat to myself, “if it can happen to Jen, it can happen to anyone.”
I’m setting an alarm. I’m leaving myself notes. I’m maybe sending myself pictures. I’m nervous I’m going to forget… but I never actually forget the things I’m this nervous about forgetting. I’m gonna be fine.
Yes. Perfect.
My plan is ridiculous, but I think so. I have no idea what this is going to look like until I actually start taking stuff off, and then I guess I’ll see…
No, no you can’t. But you also have to start laying out the jokes in case you really don’t make it 18 hours… because then it was all in good fun ha ha. If i start getting all serious and for real and not make it more than 6 hours, then i’m a wimp…
I’m going to last more than a day, Eric. Dang, have some faith…
I’ll consider myself warned. Thank you. The good news is this was the ONLY good habit I ever had in my early years… I’m not sure why, but I changed those needles every time. I should be good with this, too.
After midnight and after a pitcher of margaritas is not going to get you a quality answer. Post a topic on this - proper priming techniques. You will get much more quality. Or wait until the morning.
Briefly:
Prime with the needle pointing down, not up!
Prime until you see drops come out.
Sorry, you get crappy half-answers until the sun comes up.
Oh lord… did you nail down my settings BEFORE or AFTER the margarita pitcher began???
Okay. You’ve been great. You should’ve told me earlier you were celebrating your Thursday, and I would’ve left you alone and bought myself another day. But go lie down before you fall down.
Oh! But I did have the one question about how to time disconnecting my pump and doing my levemir. Do I do these at the same time??
Bubba from Forest Gump has some suggestions for ya.
“Anyway, like I was sayin’, Craptronic 670G is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, 670G-kabobs, 670G creole, 670G gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There’s pineapple 670G, lemon 670G, coconut 670G, pepper 670G, 670G soup, 670G stew, 670G salad, 670G and potatoes, 670G burger, 670G sandwich. That- that’s about it.”
In the good old days, we used the Diabetes Exchange Diet !!!
You would be given a specific number of each exchange (meat, bread, fruit,etc). You were expected to eat the same number every day, to go along with the FIXED insulin dosing. Only the Dr could prescribe for you to change your dose, when you brought in your log of urine tests, and later your BG logs. In 1985, the only adjusting I was taught, was if pre meal BG was over 200, then add 1-2 units to Regular insulin before meal injection. But NPH covered my lunch, so never extra insulin then. Before 1985, I had single injection of Lente!
Carb counting became popular when the pumps came out, and that is when I got advised to use it (1997).
I used syringe injections until starting pump. I think pens came out after my pump start, so never used them. I keep syringes on hand for backup.
I’m guessing some folks like Eric didn’t quite follow doctors orders as well as I did back then. And some doctors kept more current than the ones I went to.
Oh lord… did you nail down my settings BEFORE or AFTER the margarita pitcher began???
