My Blessing in Disguise

I had been due for a new insulin pump since last fall but approval was rejected by my insurance.
I just couldn't understand why this was happening to me. It's hard enough to live with
diabetes without your insurance company fighting you over what you KNOW you must have to control it. I was angry, yet it seemed there was nothing I could do. I had hit a brick wall in dealing with these people (insurance company) and the pump company I was trying to get a new pump through had had no better luck with them either. No matter that we had the letter of medical necessity and all the other paperwork we were told to get to them. Finally I just threw my hands up and said to myself that I would just leave it in God's hands and if I don't get a pump then so be it. If something happens to mine that is out of warranty, I would just have to go back to injections of humalog and lantus. Now I didn't want to do this because the shots I didn't mind, it's just that multiple daily injections did NOT control my diabetes like the insulin pump did.
Fast forward to August of this year. I had my endocrinologist appointment and was asked if I had a new pump yet. I once again told the story to my doctor about being denied one by our insurance and he said that he would take care of things. Within 2 days I received a call from Animas and was told that they were going to be faxing the forms for me to fill out. I got that done the same day. Within a week I was told the good news that I had finally been approved for my new pump.

There is a moral to this story. Had I been approved for a new pump last fall, I would have not been able to get the new "One Touch Ping" insulin pump from Animas. This pump only was only released to the public this year and only started shipping in mid August. So sometimes when it seems like all we have in front of us is obstacles that keep us from what we think we need, it is really just a blessing in disguise. I am living proof :)

New "One Touch Ping" Insulin Pump Finally Arrived!

Well I've been a little busy since my new pump arrived last week. It was like Christmas for me! I unloaded everything, watched the DVD on my computer and read the information booklet over and over. This thing is so very neat! The Animas rep told me I could choose either black, blue, green, pink, or silver. I chose the black because hey- black goes with anything.
I've included a few pics for now of the ping. I took these the day of delivery. The one thing I noticed right away was that the size of this pump is not really much bigger than my old minimed pump. Think I'll take a pic of them both side by side for comparison. I had heard the ping pump was considerably larger than the paradigm but sure doesn't seem like it to me. Another big plus is the screen- it's so neat to be able to see the screen without having to push a light button. The screen wakes up immediately when you push any of the up/down buttons or the "OK" button. I'll post more on how I like this pump in the upcoming weeks and months.

Sugar-Free Red Bull

Woke up this morning and blood sugar was 135. That's pretty darn good for me. I suffer from waking HIGH blood sugars half the time so 135 I will not gripe about for now. I hope to get some help with my basal rates once the pump trainer visits me this week. Anyhow, I ate breakfast a few hours afterward and had my usual which is low sugar oatmeal and 2 slices of toast *always my toast consists of low carb bread*. Approximately 28 carbs and for that I took exactly 2 units of Humalog through my pump. An hour later I had a sugar-free Red Bull energy drink. I started feeling like crap around 30 minutes later and so took my blood sugar, it was a whopping 288! Now I am blaming it on the Red Bull but what gives because it's sugar free? The only thing I can think that might bring my sugars up so high is the aspartame in that drink. But I had no knowledge that aspartame would drive sugars up. I think I will do some research on this in my spare time if I can find any. One thing is for sure, Red Bull is a no-no for me from now on.
Looking on the list of ingredients for this sugar-free Red Bull, I see something boldly listed as "phenylketonurics" what the heck are those?

Hb1ac Is Going Down!

I've been trying for over a month to lower my glucose levels. I've been eating right except for the occasional slice of cake or cup of ice cream. I find that when I do eat something sweet, even though I take the correct amount of insulin, my numbers will go into the 200's and stay that way for 3-4 hours. The same thing seems to happen with milk and also with breads (except for low-carb or sugar free brands). These spikes really irritate me because it shows me there are just some foods I can never indulge in. Why am I trying so hard to get my sugars down? That would be because my Hb1ac taken in August was a whopping 8.7! The one before that was 6.9. I am a nighttime snacker and that is to blame for some of these skyrocketing levels but more than that I just know that I have had tons of stress in the past 6 months so that's probably it. Another problem I have that might be the blame is that I do not drink enough water. I love coffee and I can drink that all the time if I let myself. And what does coffee do? It dehydrates us. Is coffee safe? Well, the jury may still be out on that because I heard a news report that stated that coffee was actually good for you! This news after hearing over a year ago that it was harmful. Watch the news and something that harms you one week is beneficial the next, go figure.
I'll be reporting some of my blood sugar numbers on this blog and maybe some of you more experienced diabetics maybe can give me some tips. I've only had diabetes for 5 years so I figure there is still lots for me to learn. The pump has truly helped me I admit and I am so looking forward to getting my new Animas Ping this week.

Hello Folks!

Well this first post will be short and sweet because I have to go get housework done. Don't you just love housework? This blog will essentially be about me (a 42 year old female) and my life with type 1 diabetes. More coming very soon!