I Made Some Progress

I know I woke up to my Dexcom going off at around 12:30pm. I tested and it read 34 which is not a great number. I know I had made adjustments because of the past two days of being late for work. I was even running a temp basal and still ended up low. Thankfully I was able to hear my Dexcom and treat it promptly. The good part of hearing the Dexcom go off I was able to decrease the temporary basal further and was able to get up when my alarm sounded this morning. It was such a great thing to be up on time and not rush around like a crazy person because I am running late. It makes for a rough start to the day. I did discuss some recent issues with a higher up who arranged for me not to have to work weekends because it is not necessary. Plus they thought I needed to rest and not push my body any further at this point.

After I reduced the basal I could drift back to sleep and surprisingly I did not feel exhausted when I got up this morning. I know I thankful that my blood sugars seem to be adjusting to me being back on Humalog and most of the pump site issues have stopped. If they do start up again I do have Apidra with me which actually does not occlude as much as Humalog or Novolog which is good to know. So I am feeling very ready for my trip to Orlando now that things have started to calm down again so I can enjoy my trip. I find pump site, insulin issues to be very stressful when they do pop up. I guess I know my Diabetes will always be difficult but honestly it seems to get even more challenging for me over the past couple of years.

Duchess is bringing her rain jacket for our trip to Orlando. Surprise showers are not fun.

One of Those Days

I am officially way beyond stressed and I have been late to work the past two days because of bad overnight highs then a bad low following after. I know I am also so excited by my upcoming vacation but working 6 days a week has proven to be more than I can handle right now. I know last week I hit 18 hours of overtime and that is way too much because I am paying for it this week. I know I need to talk with my boss that I need to stay with in a reasonable amount of time to where I am not having a great deal of bad lows. I know I don't enjoy waking up to Duchess sitting on my head because that is the only thing that would get me out of my fog. Thankfully she is creative and comes up with new ways of getting me to pay attention.

I know now I am trying to complete what I can but honestly I am not sure what to do. During my run to get lunch I ran into my manager's new manager. Who I have a great working relationship with so far. She told me that I will not be working this weekend. After my issues the past two days. She decided it is in my interest to pack for my trip and rest not come in for overtime. It can wait is what she told me so it looks like I don't have to stress too much for now. I am really needed a break so thankfully it showed up. Now onto to getting through today. I know I will be doing a temp basal tonight as well to try and drop the lows I am experiencing.

Back to Using Novolog

Well last night was not good I had two bad infusion sets and they were extremely bloody. I can tell the Humalog was not doing well. I also had another occlusion as well. So overall very little sleep because of these issues. Luckily I have switched over to my Novolog and I have letter in hand from my insurance stating for the next year they will allow me to use Novolog due to my pump site issues I am currently experiencing. I did notice this morning when I woke up that my chest had a rash which is strange. I know things have been incredibly off since starting back on Humalog. I know things would have spiraled further out of control had I waited longer to contact my Endocrinologist office.

I just can't say enough about my Endocrinologist office they had this take care of so quickly and made sure I was safe and that I had what I needed to keep on going. They gave me extra bottles above what they were originally going to give me because I had mentioned I would be traveling next week and they wanted me to have several bottle on hand for emergency. They went above and beyond in my mind. This office has helped me solve difficult issues and helped keep me on track. I am thankful because they have squeezed me in during bad times where i needed help right away. I know I feel fortunate to be a patient where they work so hard to take care of the patients.

I have doing so great once I was back to using Novolog. I feel better and and my pump is not going crazy because bad sites and occlusions. I know I am hoping to avoid the bleeding from changing of pump sites which is very rare for me except for when I am on Humalog. I am so glad I won't have to deal with this for at least another year.

Filling Appeal

Good news my Dr. has several routes we can take they are filing an appeal to get me the correct insulin. I might be switched to Apidra with the increase of occlusions in the past couple of months. Which can be insulin related. My Endocrinologist office has been wonderful they are giving me one bottle of Apidra and Novolog while I appeal to get the Insulin that will work for me. I know insurance determines which prescription brands they cover by the lowest contract bids. This sadly leaves me with little to no options. I know the person making this decision obviously has not idea what it is like to be a Diabetic and to get to the point where an insulin that once work so well for you no longer does.

I know the Dr.'s office submitted the appeal yesterday and we will keep trying. I know the good thing about my condition be difficult to deal with they will have a little more of a push to get them to allow the insulin. I know I will have to figure out quickly which insulin I will want to continue with the Novolog or Apidra. I open to which ever will be the easiest to use for me. I know I am looking forward to getting my bottle of insulin today. Will be nice not to have my blood sugars bouncing around because my body does not asborb it as well. I have noticed that at times it takes a great deal longer for the Humalog to work. I am now waiting over 20 minutes after I bolus for it to start working which is quite a while. Normally I would wait ten minutes.

I am so thankful that my Endocrinologist office is so great they have taken care of me when ever anything comes up and not having to pay for more insulin is a blessing now I have 5 or 6 bottles of Humalog I won't be using so not having to buys some now is great. I know with my trip to Friends for Life Conference in Orlando Florida next week I needed this all addressed before I leave because I don't want to change my infusion set and worry about if my Insulin is working or not. I am happy to be able to get back to my normal but hoping that they accept the appeal and just allow me to use an insulin that will work for me.

Insulin Issues

I have been noticing some issue recently quite a few bad pump sites and weird numbers. My insurance had some changes which took effect in March of this year. They now only cove one type of Insulin which is Humalog and they only cover One Touch test strips as well. They cut all the Type 2 drugs down to one brand as well. I have a feeling they made a contract with certain groups for a discount on the costs. My issues now is that I am going to go through pump supplies and higher blood sugars with Humalog. I know two years ago I was having issues with my pump supplies lasting more than a couple hours at a time. I know the solution turned out to be changing insulin to Novolog because of the length of time I was on Humalog it was not effective and also was causing issues with the pump sites as well. I also had to use Hydrocortison cream several days in advance and use of IV 3000 to protect my skin. I was having rashes from the pump sites as well.

So it looks like I am going to have to fight with my insurance company about covering Novolog but I doubt they will. I wish they would stop messing with coverage especially when they only leave you with one option like it will work for every Diabetic is really ridiculous. I know it will be a tough battle but I am not doing as well on the Humalog I was on that insulin I think over 10 years straight. I am not sure why one day it just decided to not work well anymore. I also have been having a great deal of occlusions once I changed over to Humalog as well. I do make sure I get all air bubbles out and such to prevent that from happening. So I was not expecting the same issue again because I have been on Novolog for a year now I was hoping that was enough of a break from it. I was wrong I was trying to be optimistic.

I am not sure what I am going to be able to do if they won't cover the insulin I need. I know paying for it out of pocket monthly would add up quickly with not insurance coverage. I am not sure if I can pull that off. I know that this weekend alone I went through three pump site changes. I did test to see if it was the pump site and not something else. I had not eaten anything and it kept rising. So I pulled the site and sure enough it worked. So now I am left trying to figure out what I can do. I know I preferred it when my insurance gave me options not a one size fits all preference.

Running out of Real Estate

I have been using my legs as my recent spot for Dexcom sites but the longer I am using my legs the more erratic my graphs have been I know I am still on Predison this month but I am not sure it that is causing the issue or not. So I am waiting to see if my Dexcom will be more accurate one going off of the Predisone. If not I have to go back to using my arms or stomach but I am not sure if my stomach has had enough time to be a good site for my Dexcom sites. I will only know until I try but last time I attempted to use my stomach I had a great deal of issues.

So I am hoping and praying that my legs sites will work better once off the Predisone. Otherwise I am going to have to hope I can find some decent real estate for my Dexcom sites. Right now it seem like most of my originally good sites are not working as well as they were when I first started on the Dexcom. I have been using my Dexcom especially when I am exercising because it does seem accurate if it is moving up or down but can be off still. I do rely on this information when exercising to decide what i need to do next. I do test but I know the arrows are priceless when exercising. I have found that when using the legs during exercise that it tends to delay catching the lows as quickly as it normally would. I thankfully have Duchess alerting early which helps as well.

I know between my pump site issues and then Dexcom issues I have determined that my body is not a fan of sites in general. I am hoping to see where I can place my Dexcom next because I am finding it more difficult as time goes on in general to find either good pump sites or Dexcom. I think I am tending to scar up. I guess that is a consequence of using so many devices.

One Day at a Time

I am feeling a little more optimistic after being able to work out yesterday without a low again. It felt like I won a prize and I only had my normal low several hours after working out which I am still working on how to deal with. I know pre Hypoglycemia Unawareness exercise was a breeze I did not have to plan and continually re-evaluate how to keep from going low. I just had to have some glucose tabs and eaten before I exercised but now I feel like I need a handbook on how to avoid lows while exercising. I know I am learning a great deal but it has become such a chore to constantly see what I did right that day and what I could change next time and hope that it works. I know everyone goes through some trial and errors when it comes to exercise and keeping from going low and we all go low at times during exercise.

I know I never thought it would become such a challenge to avoid lows but I did know it would be difficult and I know that is why I had normally just walked several miles or would run a short run and other exercise that would not drop my blood sugar dramatically. I know I have been feeling not so great because I am on Predisone and thankfully with the more strenuous exercise I have been able to feel more like me again. Overall the whole time I have been working out I have had little pain which is great considering I am only in week 3 of going to they gym and I have stuck with it even when I am tired.

I am thankful that Duchess has been here to help because without here I would not be going to the gym because I would not be feeling the lows at all which is scary. I know she has kept me incredibly safe by catching the fast moving lows and alerting me aggressively when I was trying to ignore her. Here persistence is important because I can get a little resistant when my blood sugar is moving down quickly. She thankfully knows that and just increases her persistence. I am always trying to work on improving my responsiveness when ever I can. I am getting closer to avoiding more lows if I keep at it. I am going to take it one day at a time.

Overwhelmed by Exercise and Lows

I have been so focused on reducing lows recently and have been feeling very over whelmed by it all. I know with my Hypoglycemia Unawareness I am more prone to lows that I ever have been in my life. I have to be careful that even when cleaning my house that I can go low pretty easy. Thankfully my pump temp basals come in handy in great deal of situations so I can avoid more lows when I am on top of it.

I have been trying everything to keep from going low during and after exercise. I have made more progress than I ever have in the past. I know previously I would exercise and not worry about the lows because I found it very daunting to continually try new thing to find what would work for me. I have made more progress the longer I continually exercise the past couple of weeks. I know I have found that temp basasl on pump, Cliff Shot Bloks, and snacks before hand have helped tremendously. I am trying to play around more with the temp basals to see if I can avoid lows completely while working out if at all possible.

I know after reviewing CGM graphs and blood sugars constantly I am just irritated by it all. I know I used to be able to work out back in the day with not nearly as many issues. I know when I walk I tend not to have the dramatic drops that I get from more strenuous exercise. I know I feel even better now that I am doing my new routine but I also am finding it all very overwhelming trying to figure it out on my own. I spend so much time these days with just trying to keep myself safe and avoid complications. I know I am feeling ugh about the whole Diabetes things today and this week in general. I know at times everything just is too much.