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Saturday, November 10, 2007

Serious Symlin Scare--It all worked out, but carry Glucose Tablets!

Oh! My! Last night I was rushing around to get dinner on the table, getting my daughter ready for a sleep over, sending my hubby off to work. I made a HUGE regular pasta (vs. Dreamfields) dinner and took my Symlin, but FORGOT to take half my insulin; I took the whole dosage with a 60g carb bolus.

About 20 minutes after I ate I realized what I did, so I grabbed a 30g carb instant breakfast and got my daughter out the door for her sleep over. As soon as I made it to my friends door I felt myself slipping.

We were touring around her new home, admiring this and that when we made it to her bedroom and I plopped down on the bed. I felt awash in fuzz. I pulled out my pump/CGM and I was 70 with a down arrow 30 minutes after eating. I KNEW I was in trouble, so I immediate drank 30g carb of OJ. I slipped to 60 in five minutes.

My friends were talking about shopping for houses and I just blurted out that I couldn't listen to anything anyone had to say and promptly planted my butt on the sofa. My friends looked at me and I was not all there. I was glassy eyed and pale. I looked at the CGM again, 52! Yikes! I drank almost another full 8 oz of OJ when I realized my Symlin was preventing me from absorbing the OJ properly. It wasn't working!

I remembered (some how in my twirly/speedy low mind) a discussion of serious lows with Symlin from a Diabetes CGMS group, or perhaps from TuDiabetes.com, but someone mentioned that Glucose tablets were about the only thing that worked with these severe lows because they could be absorbed into the blood stream even as you chewed and as they made their way to your stomach.

I ACTUALLY had a Ziploc baggies filled with about 15 glucose tablets and I started eating. Did I mention my CGM was showing a drop so fast it couldn't even alarm. I was 40 with a down arrow and and I know I was MUCH lower. I sat on the sofa and my friends are like, "Hey, whats the worst case scenario here?"

I realized that this situation COULD get bad; this kind of thing hasn't happened to me in seven years, so I asked my friend to go to my house and get my Glucagon kit. She was gone 15 minutes and just as she walked in the door, my blood sugar went to 42. YEA! This is after the whole bag of glucose tablets--maybe 15 or so.

It took me almost 30 minutes to climb over 100. I hit 198 as a high afterward, which was AMAZING as I probably consumed 300g carb. Ok, I exaggerate, but who really knows.

Scary! Mom's, don't let your guard down when you are struggling to get everyone else's life inorder. A valuable lesson for me to slow down and be more caring of my own diabetes needs.

MY CGM saved my life. I would have totally flipped out without SEEing what was happening as it happened. I didn't have my BG kit, so I am unsure of accuracy, but I AM certain that it was incredibly helpful. I was able to keep my cool KNOWING what was going on.

Another thing--I will always have glucose tablets in my purse!

Tuesday, November 6, 2007

Minimed Sensor Backorder --four business days. Thoughts on CGM and my kid.

I ordered my Sensors for my Minimed Real-time CGM on Halloween, Wednesday,October 31 and got notification today that they were being overnighted. That was less than one week and I ordered a box of ten.

I'm pretty happy about this. Life without readings is basically life, but with no idea what your blood sugar is. Yes, I am supposed to be taking it, but I have gotten so comfortable wearing the sensor all the time, I just can't get back to my meter.

I had a sensor that was really rough on me as my last sensor. I bled like HELL and hurt when I put it in. I read on a forum that the ones that tend to bleed have had longer life, so I crossed my fingers and hoped, but it failed after four days and I wasn't going to mess with it. I just wanted it OUT!

I am still bruised and I took it out almost two weeks ago.

Not sure why this happened, but thankfully is was the first in 30 sensors to do this kind of damage.

I've decided to wait on the CGM for my seven year-old girl. I have come to find out that it isn't the insertion that worries her most (although it absolutely does), but it is the alarms going off all the time. You know what? That happens frequently. It will really extend the amount of time she is thinking or being reminded about diabetes, which is a lot and for right now, in this first generation of devices, I am willing to let her have some space with it.

Also, when the CGM is made so that I get the alarms on my mobile device, that will be a whole other story. It is a lot of responsibility for a seven year old to deal with the various alarms. Trust me I TOTALLY understand the benefits for her and me, but for now...we are going to wait.