thanks for the bday wishes...love your valentine page!

I don't want to go too crazy with stuff but I think incremental progress is the way to go. Diabetes is very challenging and, as you poke it, it pokes you back so make changes in very small increments too. That is another valuable lesson from the pump. When I was shooting R/N, I'd pound out huge CB that would, in turn crash me out, then I'd overcarb the other way and all that so the "average" was ok but the #s were all over the place. W/ the pump, I can use very small increments and that's all I would recommend, don't take an extra 'unit or two' but just push your carb ratio or TDD of basal, maybe splitting doses if you haven't tried that? Good luck!!

And by spiking, I'm sort of referring to pretty fine control like 130s instead of 110-120 after lunch or the 70s instead of the 60s when it runs low? I'll adjust for that stuff, try it for 3 days and, if it works, I lock it in until the next time I need a change. I don't get a lot of input on this but it's sort of from my wild days, if you are getting hammered and are really hammered, you don't need whiskey, switch to beer and you will get a better (non-puking...) result. W/ insulin if I'm close to where I want to be, a nudge whether carbs or a small CB will get me closer?
For me, it wasn't a huge decision but just sort of what we studied in martial arts, to always work to improve in small, manageable increments. If, for example, you have problems w/ DP? Spend a week eating very conservatively (dinner---bedtime in the night before and then in the AM, not just low carb but the same carbs every day, which can sort of suck so maybe make like a big pot of your favorite thing, even a double order?) and use the data to make sure your doses are correct? If you can tell there's DP on, I found it *very* difficult to fix with N but w/ Lantus/ Levemir, you can try splitting your shots to maybe find a peak. This isn't a guaranteed fix but one thing you can try. For me, when I beat up DP w/ the pump (a .2U/ hr increase in basal, which I've cut back a bit these days and moved to a different time...), it really helped me get more consistent as I didn't have to 'clean up' a big BG mess every morning. If you can fix that, it might be helpful? That's just a suggestion but maybe you have fixed that or whatever and need to pick another meal or another time or another activity. I think that the docs are making a pitch for stability and, if you can get more stable, they probably won't agree you should aim for a lower A1C but you may find yourself there anyway, simply by getting rid of the highs?

Re improving control, I actually did pretty well higher 5s and low 6s for a lot of my career, except for a brief period after I started working out a lot but before I got the pump when it drifted up into the 7s, this concerned my doctor and me too but eventually I talked to a friend's wife who had a pump and sold me on it over the course of dinner (Mexican, of course...). Then the pump was sort of strange because I had a string of 5.8s until last whenever it was (6 months ago, August-ish? First A1C w/ the CGM...) and got it down to the 5.4.

Part of what I've been doing is sort of philosophical in that I try to 'win' every test. If it's the result I want, which can vary depending on the situation, that's great, if it's not, I fix it to get where I need to be. I have a CGM too, which helps but is not perfect. The number I look in addition to BG and A1C is the Standard Deviation, that tells you sort of how smooth your curves (on the CGM...) are? If you have a smarter meter, I think most of them calculate this and the CGM/ MiniMed data package will give me that number. That keeps track of how stable you are which is really important to be able to sail along in the 70s all the time? If you are in the 70s and have a bump in your basal, *blooey* there goes your BG, unless you really need the bump? Stability is very useful for control as, if my BG is stable, like in some of my better shots on the Flatliner's Club site, it's easier to avoid swings/ crashes/ spikes, etc. If it gets a little out of line, I sort of give it a couple of days and watch it and adjust something, just a little bit to get back to a more stable thing.
(continued....sorry!)

I'm READY for Spring, NOT Summer but Spring! I got rid of all but 1 g-kid. Wouldn't you know it would be the TALEITIVE 4 year old and not the quiet 1 year old! LOL!

Your weather sounds like what we had last week here! Depressing isn't it?

Love that cat!!!!! Sounds like me! LOL! I just GOTTA clean this house today what with it surviving 3 g-kids under the age of 5 for a few days! LOL!

I have been a type two diabetes for a long time ,However my wife is a type one and that is one of the reasons I have join. It is sometimes so very hard to tried to control her highs and the people do not seems to work with me you see my wife also suffer from dementia . They will call and she forgets to tell who calls. I have asked them to e-mail me so that way I will not miss anything.

Hey Lots! How you this beatiful day? The suns shiningand we're going into the lower 60's today (bets the heck out of all that snow and COLD last week) Love your page!

Hi Lots. Your page--and your comment on My Page--are very pretty and seasonal! Thanks. I'm about to launch into some chocolate baking. I've been reading your Jobs discussion--I hope things are settling down at work in a healthy way for you. I also hope you and Suri are having a really good weekend. We're having a thaw right now, all those inches of snow and icicles melting--nice by muckety-muck. Three sets of four paws bringing in muckety-muck!

Thankyou for the welcome xx.

I don't look at it as 'good' control, it's always working to have better control?

Lots,
That video was a nightmare for me. Things have to be better than that, at least for part of the day.
Don

oh, that's good because when I wore one it was like a football mouth guard.

nice new wallpaper! maybe I should update my page, haven't done it for years.

We got 50's now. That snow was from Monday then we got another Thursday but all but a little bit is gone now. It went from 9 to the upper 50's in 3 days. TN what can I say?

Babysitting? What else do I do? LOL!

well the mouth guard would be impossible to deal with during the day, it's bad enough at night. I've heard of people who grind so bad they whittle their teeth away to nubs. thnks btw, for all the lovely welcomes and notes of cheer here.

I don't know how people live without dogs! When I had breast cancer 5 years ago I was never without a companion in bed during chemo. BTW, my DM is a result of loads of prednisone for radiation pneumoia right after chemo. Chemo weakened basal cells, steroids finished them off. I kept being told the high bg would go away. Sometimes it doesn't. I've found 2 other people who took the same path to T1.

Thanks for the welcome! I've had Jack Russells for 17 years, do performance events with them. Since my husband passed away 2 1/2 years ago they are my caretakers :) I was once napping and they began jumping all over the bed and nuzzling me - NOT allowed to wake me up!!! I was hypo, and somehow they sensed it.

I've been lurking for a while - what a great community!

hi Ellen, thanks for the message. If I lived in NoVa right now I'd love to meet bsc and try his group. Have you gotten your mouth guard yet? I had one. I used polident to clean it. your page looks all decked out for Valentine's Day, cute!

Thank you for the welcome message.

Katey :D