Gary's blood sugar

JJJ · 10-05-2010, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gja1000

Well, I figured out what is wrong with Gary's blood sugar. We saw the diabetes doctor and nurse today. The nurse adjusted his insulin pump because, as I mentioned earlier his blood sugar has been running too high. He is supposed to be getting 1 unit of insulin for every 7 grams of carbs he eats.

So, tonight he had a pancake, with peanut butter and syrup. I measured it out and it was 100 grams of carbs. So, by hand calculations he should have gotten 14.2 units of insulin. But when I put the carbs into his pump, I noticed it delivered 11.11 units of insulin. I thought, "Hmmm, that's not right". Sure enough it wasnt' right. The pump says it is set on 1:7, but it delivered 1:9 (one unit of insulin for every 9 grams of carbs). For the last 3 months we thought it was delivering 1 unit of insulin for every 8 grams of carbs. We lowered it from 1:9 3 months ago - but I guess it never changed!!! That's what you get for relying on a machine and not doing the calculations yourself!!!

So, this is what is wrong with Gary's blood sugar - the pump is delivering the wrong dosage and has been delivering the wrong dosage for the past 3 months. I called the nurse and left a message on her phone to call Gary tomorrow. I hope she can check the pump and see if it can be set correctly. If not, he'll have to get a new pump because this one is out of warranty. Sigh. One more thing to hassle with!

So sorry to hear that. But atleast you got to the bottom of the issue. He better be glad he has such a smart women on his side. (I'm sure he feels very lucky)

judy · 10-05-2010, 04:55 PM

Wow! It is a good thing you caught this! At least it's not something wrong with Gary, just his pump!

We all do expect our machines to work properly, especially when they have to do with health.

gja1000 · 10-05-2010, 05:22 PM

HI Guys! I am so relieved - the pump is OK, it was actually a programming error. It's hard to explain, but the pump did change to the appropriate insulin to carb ratio - BUT - we have several preset buttons - that's the part that is hard to explain but here goes.

For example, when you dial in the number of carbohydrates that you eat, the pump goes up in increments of 5's. So if you ate 70 grams of carbs, you push a button that goes to 5, then you push it again and it goes to 10, again to 15, again to 20, again to 25, and so on all the way to 70. It is tiring to push the button all the way up to 70 and you can just imagine how annoying the button pushing is when you eat 150 carbs (which isn't very often, but if you have pancakes with syrup, it will be 150 carbs). So, there are some preset buttons on the pump. There is a 50 preset and a 75 preset - so that you go up from there, e.g., if you eat 75 carbs, you only push the one preset 75 carb button. If you eat 80 carbs, you push the 75 preset button and only have to push the button once more to go up from 75 to 80. He also has a "cookie" button, where you just hit cookie and it dials in 25 carbs, which is the average carbs in a regular sized cookie. There are a few other present buttons for other things. OK, so here's what happened.

We changed the insulin to carb ratio on the pump - but we didn't change the ratio on all the preset buttons. Now, I can plead ignorance, I thought if you changed the ratio on the overall pump settings, it changed it on the presets too - but it does not, you have to change the insulin to carb ratio on all the individual presets also. Yes, the nurse 3 months ago and the nurse yesterday should have done this - but they didn't. I'm glad I figured out the problem and I'm glad it is fixed now!

The moral to the story - don't rely exclusively on machines. If I had just once, in the last 3 months, hand calculated his insulin to carb ratio, I would have caught this error before yesterday.

Oh well, it's fixed now. YAY!

DianaB · 10-06-2010, 07:21 AM

Oh good.....I'm glad that you got that all straightened out!!! Gary's in good hands!!!

Blueyes · 10-06-2010, 01:19 PM

I would have thought the preset buttons changed automatically, too. There's no way we can know EVERYTHING, though, lol! I'm so glad it was just the machine and not the man

gja1000 · 10-08-2010, 04:14 PM

Gary's blood sugar is doing MUCH better!!!

Blueyes · 10-09-2010, 08:09 AM

Glad you got it straightened out before your trip!

10-05-2010, 04:55 PM	#2
judy Donating 4WT Yakker Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Denver, NY Posts: 8,097	Wow! It is a good thing you caught this! At least it's not something wrong with Gary, just his pump! We all do expect our machines to work properly, especially when they have to do with health. __________________ *Judy*

10-05-2010, 05:22 PM	#3
gja1000 Donating 4WT Yakker Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Central Texas Posts: 5,717	HI Guys! I am so relieved - the pump is OK, it was actually a programming error. It's hard to explain, but the pump did change to the appropriate insulin to carb ratio - BUT - we have several preset buttons - that's the part that is hard to explain but here goes. For example, when you dial in the number of carbohydrates that you eat, the pump goes up in increments of 5's. So if you ate 70 grams of carbs, you push a button that goes to 5, then you push it again and it goes to 10, again to 15, again to 20, again to 25, and so on all the way to 70. It is tiring to push the button all the way up to 70 and you can just imagine how annoying the button pushing is when you eat 150 carbs (which isn't very often, but if you have pancakes with syrup, it will be 150 carbs). So, there are some preset buttons on the pump. There is a 50 preset and a 75 preset - so that you go up from there, e.g., if you eat 75 carbs, you only push the one preset 75 carb button. If you eat 80 carbs, you push the 75 preset button and only have to push the button once more to go up from 75 to 80. He also has a "cookie" button, where you just hit cookie and it dials in 25 carbs, which is the average carbs in a regular sized cookie. There are a few other present buttons for other things. OK, so here's what happened. We changed the insulin to carb ratio on the pump - but we didn't change the ratio on all the preset buttons. Now, I can plead ignorance, I thought if you changed the ratio on the overall pump settings, it changed it on the presets too - but it does not, you have to change the insulin to carb ratio on all the individual presets also. Yes, the nurse 3 months ago and the nurse yesterday should have done this - but they didn't. I'm glad I figured out the problem and I'm glad it is fixed now! The moral to the story - don't rely exclusively on machines. If I had just once, in the last 3 months, hand calculated his insulin to carb ratio, I would have caught this error before yesterday. Oh well, it's fixed now. YAY! __________________ Gayle

10-06-2010, 01:19 PM	#5
Blueyes Donating 4WT Talker Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 2,119	I would have thought the preset buttons changed automatically, too. There's no way we can know EVERYTHING, though, lol! I'm so glad it was just the machine and not the man __________________ Betsi

10-08-2010, 04:14 PM	#6
gja1000 Donating 4WT Yakker Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Central Texas Posts: 5,717	Gary's blood sugar is doing MUCH better!!! __________________ Gayle

10-09-2010, 08:09 AM	#7
Blueyes Donating 4WT Talker Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 2,119	Glad you got it straightened out before your trip! __________________ Betsi

10-06-2010, 07:21 AM	#4
DianaB Moderator Donating 4WT 13K Club Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Kansas Posts: 16,069	Oh good.....I'm glad that you got that all straightened out!!! Gary's in good hands!!!

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