Tight Control?
Last night around 9:00PM I got out my Levemir pen and prepared for my biggest shot of basal for the day. Suddenly the dogs began to bark. This is a major distraction: so Dogs, What's up? We have a fence between the kitchen and the living room; they wanted to switch sides. When all was calm, I thought, What did I do? I remembered priming and shooting myself. What I didn't remember is whether or not I dialed up any insulin. So from 9 PM until 1:00 AM I tested every hour or half-hour to see whether my BG was going up or staying stable. First it's dealing with the rise caused by slow digestion (following the low, of course) with teeny amounts, then watching for signs of whether or not I had given myself insulin. Finally I decided that I had indeed taken the Levemir, and my BG was great all night and the next morning. That leaves me wondering, Is all this testing a good thing for every night? You get to read, watch TV, lurk at TuD... Anybody actually spend their evenings this way on purpose?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kelly WPA on -
I don't do it very often Trudy, just when things are not working out. My changing usually happens in winter & spring. Fall doesn't bother me for some reason.
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Permalink Reply by Terry Keelan on -
I know if I took my pills because I use a weekly pill organizer. Maybe keeping a checklist and a pen with your Levemir would help prevent this from happening again?
Just a thought.
Terry
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on -
Hi, Emmy, are you ever organized! That pentip is a great idea, I'm absolutely going to try it for my nightly Levemir. I'm just getting good at writing down my basals, have little hope that I could remember to write the Apidras down. Maybe I'll get more sleep at night with the security of a waiting pentip (and quiet dogs).
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on
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I woke up this morning to find a troll lurking about my discussion. Here's wishing said troll good luck on her memory and bg's. Cheers!
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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on -
My Novolog is in a pen, but my Lantus is in vials and it's hard for me to see whether there's air in there or insulin once it's been drawn down into the syringe (I have four different issues with my eyes.) I must have been very distracted during one shot as I'm pretty sure I injected just AIR. Eeek. I'd caught myself just before injecting air a couple of other times, but this time I'm 99% sure that's what I did.
Now I try to shut out any and all distractions during my injections.
I also try very hard to log everything immediately.
I like the idea of counting out syringes and into a ziploc for the week to prevent double-dosing, but so far keeping my log has been working OK.
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Permalink Reply by Trudy on
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Hi JeanV. At my pharmacy, I've seen little magnifying gadgets to use with syringes. Maybe one of those would help? It must be frustrating to pay attention and still get a shot of air instead of insulin. I admire anyone who can actually keep a log. I did so for years and it was leading to burn out, so I've settled on just recording basals, and also keeping track when I'm having trouble with bringing down highs and don't want to lose track of IOB.
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Permalink Reply by LaGuitariste on
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Hi Trudy,
Yes, logging can be a burn-out endeavor. I am better at it now after a couple of scary hypos last year. I want to know what happened, and my doctor always seems to think it's my fault so I like to have evidence of what exactly I was doing the 48 hours before I crashed (as a type II, I haven't been used to crashing -- my first bad hypo was a 36 last summer and at first I had no idea what was going on -- and I didn't have any fast-acting carbs in the house, either. Eeek.)
I can see where it would be tempting to just log the minimum, but I can't tell you how many times I've sat there thinking, "Did I do my Lantus or not?" The log is easier than the anxiety/stress of not being able to remember. I use a big, clunky pill case for the same reason: if the pills are gone, I must have taken them. ;0)
The repetitive nature of all this is what drives me mad...one injection, one pill, one BG test just sort of blends into the next like an endless heartbeat...lub-dub...lub-dub...lub-dub...
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