Anyway! Point of today's post: my journey to getting a pump.
I didn't blog about this, as I was too upset at the time. On June 8th, I saw my DSN, Becky, to discuss going onto a pump. Becky is very pro-pump, but unless the consultant says I need one, Becky basically can't swing anything. Long story short: she said she understands why I want one and thinks it would be good for me psychologically, but in terms of clinical need (brief rundown for non-UKers: over here you have to get approved by your consultant to get one, and this goes according to the NICE guideines [click 'read full summary] being as it is all paid for by the NHS) I didn't stand a chance. I accepted this, shed a few tears over it, but moved on.
Today I saw the consultant, aka the guy I need to convince that I need a pump. He looked at my logs and said "I think you may need one, but you're not at that stage just yet" which almost had me jumping up and down with excitement. He didn't rule out the possibility that it could be an option!
Basically, he wants me to tweak my overnight basal (background insulin, I take 2 injections of it a day), and see what happens with that, as I'm hypoing every morning. He said if that doesn't work, he'll get me in to have a talk about pumping. Again, nothing definite...but I'm on the right road now.
I'm not overly convinced tweaking my basal any more is going to do anything, as I suspect it will leave me high all night and then drop me down to 'normal' numbers instead of a hypo. However - I won't know until I try, so tonight is night #1 of 10u Lantus. I'll be logging EVERYTHING.
I have another appointment to see him in 6 months, but he has said he wants me to see the DSN every 8 weeks, and if she thinks I'm still having issues, I can get an appointment to see him sooner than that.
My hab1c is 7.1% which he was VERY impressed with, but I pointed out for the past 6 months I have basically been able to sit around and entirely focus on the d, but now with working shifts and actually having a life, I suspect things will go pear shaped. Again, time will tell. He did seem to take it into account when I pointed out for the past 2 years I have had hba1cs in the 8s and 9s, it's only the past 6 months it has come down.
So. Whilst I expect this to all take some time, I am happy that I am on the right path.
Just for the record, I have my heart set on a purple Paradigm Veo. Fingers crossed one day it will become a reality.
4 comments:
yaaaaaay you can doooo it! Remember, just keep pushing!
I love the purple paradigm. Gutted that b-dec won't let me have one :( Instead I'll have to get a pink skin for my Roche one :(
You're not the only one wrestling with a nagging 'Lantus morning hypo' problem. I've spent the last 4 months experimenting/tweaking/fixing mine and have made real progress.
Slightly annoying that a few weeks after I got it sorted my basal need changed but hey-ho that's the ole D for ya!
Good luck with yours and hope you get good news on your pump too :)
M
Excellent news! Before I got my pump, they wanted to try a couple of things to see if they could solve my hypo problem, I think basically so they could say they had tried it before moving onto the pump. I'm sure you'll get there! :D
I hope it works out for you. When I was still on shots, I was taking Lantus as my basal and I was hypo EVERY SINGLE MORNING. One time it even led to an ER visit while I was keeping my baby sister (who was 7 yrs old) overnight. That was scary for me and for her. And for my mom, who was an hour away.
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