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Blog Entries With Tag: portBlog: Anna's BlogFrom: FatCatAnnaPosted: Mar 7, 2014
It’s been a month now since coming back to Canada from what I think was the best holiday I’ve had in ages. I’m still in the process of getting my thoughts together for a good travel blog on the experience along with going thru’ the 1,000’s of pictures both my DH and I took – but in the meantime – it’s back to business for blogging about what I do the best … diabetes … staying in control with it … using whatever method suits you best. For myself, on this past holiday, I was determined to use the I-Port for all my rapid insulin shots that I take during my waking hours. I average about 6 shots a day when using my rapid insulin for my meals and corrections. The ability to not worry about where I last injected (yes – some people keep charts). I’m lazy – too much work - using the I-Port – which is like an infusion set on an insulin pump (both devices to infuse are very similar) – makes it easier to give time to heal as you move the I-Port/infusion to the next spot. It makes my life easier! If I could have put my long lasting insulin into the same port – that would be great – but you can’t – according to the instructions. It makes sense – since the long lasting insulin (Levemir / Lantus) – work at a different speed – so best to keep them separated. So, for my regime of using Levemir during my holidays (x3 a day) that was fine (though the 6 AM wake up call for 1st of 3 shots – yawwwnnn – did I say I’m not an early morning riser???). Anyway, the jist of my blog here is that … I had to ditch using the I-Ports into the 2nd day of our 14 days of sailing. The reason why?
So, I ditched using the I-Ports for the whole 3 weeks of my holidays. And yes, I am back on the I-Port now back on terra-firma – still enjoying the pump break I’m taking for now. Testing out Levemir once again – but only on 2X a day injections (sorry Doris - the 3X regime was too much like being a slave to insulin - all I did was worry about times, etc. - not my personal style of controlling my diabetes health - too stressful). Sadly I only have 6 I-Ports left – and after talks with Diabetes Express / and Fay at Medtronic Canada – who knows when we’ll be able to obtain more. Discussions are ongoing for distribution since Medtronic took over distribution from Patton Medical Devices in February. It’s also very sad – when I hear from parents of kids who use the I-Port – and their not being able to get what they need (most kids use 6mm – as an adult – I use the 9mm – otherwise – I’d give the I-Ports to those that need them most). Feel like discussing this in the forums? You can go check it out here - where I originally posted about the I-Port back in 2008. It's not new - and many Americans don't know much about it. Meanwhile, back to dreaming I’m still living on water ….
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Tags: infusion (1) port (1) insulin (1) Levemir (1) Patton (1) Medtronic (1) Express (1) Diabetes (1) Related posts:Type 1 vs. Type 2 | In a slump and scared | Surviving the Holocaust with Type 1 diabetes | Eating from the ground - Yuca Fries | My first month with Bowie my Dexcom G4 CGMS | Miss Idaho is Defeating Diabetes | Sugar and Your Health | Crack Free #ShowMeYourPump | Edmonton man denied insulin for 20 hours | Jenna and The Hypo FairyBlog: Anna's BlogFrom: FatCatAnnaPosted: Jan 4, 2014
Remember the movie with Daniel Lewis - My Left Foot? It was based on a true story about Christy Brown, who was born with cerebral palsy. Christy could only control his left foot. As I started to try to figure out a title for this blog - my British sarcastic humour way of thinking brain - did what it always does - whether it's having a hypo or not ... breasts came into play - just like some of my previous blogs have done. So I apologise to anyone who thinks I'm making fun of Christy's situation - and now I'll proceed on with the reason I'm posting this blog. Oh, and the nipple bit in my title is actually my i-port - which I like to play around with at times (does that make me kinky?) . Over the past few weeks at get togethers - I've been asked about "why did you go off the pump, yadda, yadda, yadda". For some reason, I start to feel my "nipple" and tell them the story. I'm always educating EVERYWHERE I go - with abit of humour in it - and at the same time - telling them that without good control - diabetes is a serious condition to have - that has dire consequences if you don't take care of yourself. I am loving my i-port - aka "nipple". Using it for my NovoRapid shots - not worrying about injecting in an area I have already done - and have problems with healing. This little baby solves everything (to read more about my previous trial with two i-ports - check it out here). You can inject ONE insulin only into the port - so with my Lantus - I've been injecting the "old fashioned way" (no biggie with a 32 gauge 6mm pen needle). I have a good fleshy area on my backside which makes for a good dart board practise. After a few weeks of being off the pump (of course - I chose the holiday season - when there is LOTS of good healthy food around) - I thought I'd give Levemir a try again. Why do a trial with Levemir? Well, I did try it a few years ago (back in 2009) – but sadly developed an allergy to it – which caused lumps/bumps in the area injected and swelling in areas I didn't want to swell up! I had horrible BG control - it plain freaked me out with all that happened - due to being a bit of a control freak with my diabetes management. Fast forward to Dec 2013 – a friend of mine who decided she’d had enough of MDI (multiple dosage injecting) –went onto a pump (lucky person has 100% coverage for EVERYTHING) – oh did I mentioned that they’re in their 70’s – and they are uber techno cool? So, they had a box of pen needle vials of Levemir – though I did tell them – keep them incase something goes wrong with your pump. They detested - being a human dart board for the past 20+ years was enough for them - so I took the vials – thinking maybe another diabetic who needed it could use them before they expired in 2015. That person now happens to be me - Ms. Guinea Pig!!
Why did I decide to give Levemir a go again? I have a T1D mate who I lovingly call the "Insulin Guru" who swears (politely) by this insulin regime of 3X a day (every 8 hours) - and they have an A1C of 4.9% (note - a lower A1C is not my goal - just having level BG's - in my happy zone is all that matters the most to me). Because that insulin doesn’t work as long as Lantus – they feel splitting it up into 3 shots instead of the usual 2 (or in some cases – people only take their basal insulin once a day – though I wonder about their BG readings over a 24 hour period – IF they do basal testing that is). The first few days – I was abit unsure if I was doing the right thing. I took my total Lantus amount – and split it up into 3X – similar to Lantus – where I take more for my AM shot – less for PM shot. So far, with my hormonal bursts (menopause / period / stress from holidays) – I’m actually not doing too badly. My corrections with the doses to make sure I’m staying in my happy zone are working out alright. I have tried to allow at least 3 days before I make any changes. The one thing that I’m finding as I enter into my 2nd week experiment with Levemir – my BG’s seem to be doing less of the roller coaster ride. Sadly, Lantus has a reputation of landing those of us who use it – into hypo fairy land – as it has a tendency to peak – and bang – you are low. One of the reasons I had originally gone onto George Michael was because of the hypos I was having overnight and in the mornings. Not conducive to work at all!!! Levemir from the research I’ve done in forums as well as medical discussions with endo’s/CDE’s tends to show that this doesn’t occur with Levemir. Yes, you do have to be abit patient when you try any new regime that you may not be familiar with – I won’t lie to you about this. I won’t lie to you either – that using a pump is way easier as it has the ability to do everything with one insulin – and ability to fine tune your basal requirements. I’m finding the time to “think” about my carb count – despite the use of the InsuLinx (watch for a new blog on this soon). I'm still writing in a log book (the meter sadly doesn’t have ability to do this). So initially, it’s time consuming, but if it’s anything like last years 6 month holiday from the pump – it all becomes easier. It's like tying up your shoe laces (wait – there’s Velcro for that right?). The other aspect of using the Levemir – is being a clock watcher (actually it’s my android that’s my savoir). Timing of the shots – remembering to test my BG’s a few hours later – it’s getting used to this that is bugging me slightly - but I'm determined to make this work - despite getting up at the ungodly hour of 0600 to do my first Levemir shot - that's too early for this little work at home puss cat (my other shots are at 1400 / 2200 - this is the regime that works for ME that I set up for myself). On the other side though – that’s good at least to me –
So, how many of you use Levemir - and find taking 3 shots of it a day work for you as well?
*** For more discussion on the I-port - feel free to check out the forums at this link ***
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Tags: port (1) Patton (1) InsuLinx (1) holiday (1) pump (1) insulin (1) MDI (1) NovoRapid (1) Lantus (1) Levemir (1) Related posts:Type 1 vs. Type 2 | In a slump and scared | Surviving the Holocaust with Type 1 diabetes | Edmonton man denied insulin for 20 hours | Crack Free #ShowMeYourPump | Jenna and The Hypo Fairy | Wearing a dress with medical gadgets | Questioned by my pharmacist on my insulin regime | Pre-op visit with endo at hospital | When You're Hot, You're HotBlog: Anna's BlogFrom: FatCatAnnaPosted: Mar 30, 2013
UPDATE -** NOVEMBER 18TH 2013 ** - I HAVE FINALLY BEEN APPROVED TO USE THE I-PORT! Why it took my insurance company so long is beyond my comprehension - but now I'm so excited - especially when I take my next holiday - where I can't risk having my out of warranty insulin pump go wonky on me - this will make my MDI (multiple dose injection) regime so much easier!!!! ******************* I posted this blog the other day at Blogger - and thought I'd share it here with you at Diabetes1.org!
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Tags: syringe (21) insurance (21) BG (1) control (1) cannula (1) infusion (1) slow (1) rapid (1) coverage (1) Industrial Alliance (1) port (1) Patton (1) pump (1) gauge (1) pen needle (1) injections (1) insulin (1) Diabetes.co.uk (1) Diabetes Express (1) i-port (1) Related posts:Type 1 vs. Type 2 | In a slump and scared | Surviving the Holocaust with Type 1 diabetes | Crack Free #ShowMeYourPump | Edmonton man denied insulin for 20 hours | Jenna and The Hypo Fairy | Wearing a dress with medical gadgets | Pre-op visit with endo at hospital | Low potassium diet | When You're Hot, You're Hot |
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