A Good Visit
Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 9:38AM Yesterday afternoon I had an appointment with my Endo. It went well as far as I am concerned.
I have seen this Endo twice in one month and have another appointment in 2 weeks.
As soon as I got to the office the nurse took my pump to download my information. A few minutes later the doc came in with a bunch of reports for us to go over and make some adjustments to my basals and bolus wizard amounts.
I have never had a doctor go over this stuff so thoroughly before and also explain everything to me along the way. He noticed that my basal insulin makes up about 35% of my daily insulin intake and my bolus takes up the rest. He said that I should try to be closer to a 50/50% when it comes to my total insulin intake. I have never been told that before.
We made some changes to my target numbers at night, to avoid some lows, and my basals throughout the day. Also had to adjust my sensitivity setting since it seemed corrections were not quite doing the job they should.
Not once did I feel guilty. Not once did I feel dumb. I was open and honest and he was too. He asked, “Do you exercise regularly?” and I said, “no.” He said, “Okay, thank you for being honest.” I like that. No guilt but appreciation for the truth. I like that.
He also upped my blood pressure medicine which I figured since the last few have not been so good.
All and all it was great and go back in two weeks to see how all of this is working.
It makes a huge difference to have an endo that you connect with. I wish it hadn’t taken this long but I am glad I am hear now.
The more we learn the better we can take care of ourselves and that is the point of going to the doc right? So finding a doctor who not only helps but explains is huge.
Reader Comments (9)
I have this book called Pumping Insulin by John Walsh (you can only find it on Amazon I think) that has all these charts and graphs in it that I use to figure out my settings. I photocopied them of course so I could use them more than once. Anyway, in that book, Walsh recommends that basal/bolus be 50/50 or 60/40. That's what I aim for too, but what can I say... I like to eat so it doesn't always happen :)
WOOT!
George- I am happy and excited for you! finding a good endocrinologist is hard to do:) sounds like you've found a great partner.
thats sounds great george.
i had never heard of the 50/50 thing before either.that is something we are still working on.lol
I'm glad to hear everything is starting to work out :) HURRAH for you! :)
I have the opposite basal/bolus issue: I'm at 65% basal and 35% bolus. But, my CDE is happy with my A1c, so she tells me to stick with what works. Everyone's different, right?
SO glad to hear this!!
My Endo mentioned the 50/50 to me last time too....I've never heard it either. But like your Endo, he appreciates the honesty, we discuss, he does not shame or blame.
I'm so glad that you have found a doc that is working closer with you. I saw Molly & Dixie, as well as AuntlyH the other day, and we were all talking about your new endo. Molly said something that was totally perfect. We were talking about how you never really got the education you deserved, and this doctor is "backing the train up".
I thought it was perfect. :-)
Soooo cool! Glad that you had a good endo visit! Is the doctor local?