Insulin Pump vs MDI

It’s been at least a month since I put the pump away in the closet and have been using insulin pens / syringes.  It’s almost time for me to make the decision of which method I want to continue with and obviously, it’s not an easy one.  Living with the pump for about 9 years, it had become just a part of me and it didn’t bother me that I had wires hanging out or that I constantly had something connected to me.  The primary frustration was the fact that over the past couple of months infusion sets were falling off too easily and I was constantly inserting a new one.

Since being back on MDI, I’ve cut out a bit of snacking because I previously would just eat a little unhealthy snack and hit the pump buttons and I received the insulin to cover it.  Now, it’s a bit more than just hitting the buttons, so I’m less tempted to snack because I know it means, stick a needle in myself if I want to eat that.

I have also loved the freedom of not having the pump attached to me.  Like I mentioned earlier, having it attached to me was never a problem, but not having it attached was even better.  Especially during the entire wedding week (photos coming soon), when I was at the pool, going to the beach, wearing a tux, getting pictures with no wires hanging out, etc.

With the addition of Dexcom into the mix from when I was previously on MDI, I am a lot more comfortable with not having an insulin pump attached.  I have been able to still catch lows and highs and correct them just as easily as I have with the pump, except for one particular time of day, and guess what that is?  You guessed it…. morning time.

Even when I was on the pump, my BG was begin to spike as soon as I woke up, before I even ate anything, but my basals with the insulin pump usually kept my BG steady throughout the night.  If I went to bed high, I stayed high, if I went to bed “normal” I stayed “normal, etc.  I am having some serious issues with keeping my BG’s below 250 throughout the night and into the morning while using Levemir.

I’ve discussed in the past that I use a lot of insulin.  I use more insulin in one day then some use in a week or even a month.  My current Levemir dosage is 80 units a day, so I take 40 in the AM and 40 in the PM.  During the day, the Levemir seems to work fine, but during the night, it just seems that I haven’t taken any basal insulin at all.  If I do not wake up in the middle of the night, around 2-4 a.m. and test and correct, then I am consistently waking up to a BG of over 250, usually even over 300.

The past 2-3 weeks are not good test ranges for me to use because I have been eating unhealthier then I have in probably 5 years.  The wedding stress definitely hit and having family from both sides in town did not help.  I have an endo appointment the first week of August and will be doing an intense basal testing in order to figure this problem out.

With all that being said, if I am able to fix these basal issues, then I will be continuing on with MDI.

Stay tuned!