Since switching back to taking shots from a syringe, I was using Levemir that was being provided by my endo since I couldn’t get the insulin through insurance. I went a few days without any basal insulin and was tracking my blood sugar a lot closer than normal. What did I find? My control was a lot better than it was on the pump and with using basal insulin. How can this be? This goes against everything that I’ve learned about diabetes in my almost 10 years of living with it. Basal rates with the pump and basal insulin when on MDI.
I decided to continue down that path for a while. It’s now been about 3 weeks since I have gone without any Levemir or Lantus and usingly Humalog only. I have had more lows during this time because I take a few extra units at meal time to cover for the “basal”, but these lows are tending to occur right around the next meal time. How perfect is that? You’re blood sugar gets a little low right before you eat your next meal. I tried to do that while I was on the pump all the time and I just couldn’t get it to work.
There’s always a lot of talk about YDMV, Your Diabetes May Vary, and this is definitely a way that my diabetes has varied. In fact, I do not recommend trying this at home, or work, or anywhere, especially without talking to your doctor about it. My doctor is not thrilled about this decision I made, but she has said, “if your numbers are in range, then it’s a good, working plan”.
I have some travel plans coming up soon, my honeymoon, and I’m curious to see how this plan is going to work in vacation mode. Vacation mode means, over-eating at every meal, and adding a few extra meals during the day, no exercise, alcohol and fun.
If this is a way for me to better control my blood sugar, then I’m in!