Later On Wizard
Friday, March 4, 2011 at 10:48AM One of the things that came up at my awesome appointment yesterday was a question I could not answer.
"About how many units of insulin do you take at breakfast?"
I thought about this and had no clue. I mean, I know what the carb count of breakfast usually is but I have no clue how much insulin I am taking! That just does not seem right! I should know.
Well one of the big changes to my treatment was shutting off the Bolus Wizard. I am not sure if this is forever or just for the time being but I am game. Seeing how much insulin I am bolusing and looking at each dosage helps me understand more of what I am doing to my body. It makes me feel more in tune.
Here is how I would break it down.
MDI (Multiple Daily Injections) is like driving a manual transmission car. Everyone should know how to drive stick before they move on to an Automatic.
Insulin Pumps are like driving an Automatic. Things are a little easier and less work is needed as far as taking shots all day long.
Bolus Wizards are kind of like an Auto Pilot or at least an Auto Calculator. It allows a little less math and makes it easy to bolus correctly for meals.
I see that it does me no good to use a Auto Pilot when my bg's are all over the place! I need to drop back down a few and really get those numbers a lot closer together. Then I can work on fine tune but major tuning is in order.
That is why my Doctor had me shut it off. We are trying something I have never done before and when I woke up at 98 this morning, I figured something seems to be working.
I have about a million more things I want to tell you about but I am going to save that for some other time. You all know how I can ramble on and on.
Just know that I think I am on the right path with the right coach & pretty soon I am going to be in the best health I can be.
GAME ON!
Reader Comments (8)
I have to admit, the thought of turning off my bolus wizard gives me the sweats. But it sounds like it's working for you! Hooray!
Somehow my comment from yesterday never showed up, so here goes again! I m so proud of you George - for finding a new doctor and being renewed in your goals of being healthier. I admire you for that. The doctor sounds great - someone who listens and understand and wants to have a plan. I love a man with a plan, especially in a doctor!
Good for you! To be honest, I am not fond of Bolus Wizard. On one hand it is good because it makes me enter my glucose levels into my pump but I would rather determine what insulin dose to be taking. My mornings are always high so I usually double the dose. I dislike always having to change the settings around. Nurse's are always stunned when I say I don't use the wizard. I guess as long as my doctor and I are cool with it, that's all that matters. Good luck with your mornings! Thank you for sharing!! :)
G -- I know your "pain" and yet I can do nothing but smile. I quit using the calculator a while back b/c I:C ratios for me vary throughout the day and based on whether I'm sitting at the desk crunching data or tromping through the forest (then add in the variety of activities & "workouts"). Just take good notes. Even if you go back to the calculator later, it's as you said "good to drop down a few [levels]" and check on how dialed in things are from time to time. Keep it up man... you're doing great!
I override my bolus wizard ALOT!!!!
Yay George, you sound so positive! Keep going! I like MDI and think they're easier for me because I tend to easily go into cruise control with the pump and lose touch with what I'm doing. I act mindlessly because pushing buttons is so easy. A little time off of wizard and you'll have your info down once again :)
I always use the bolus wizard. I just don't want to do the mathematics! WIth different I:C and correction factors during the day, I know it would do my head in to have to work it out every time. But I also know my pump settings are pretty much spot-on. I'm certainly doing a heap better this way than on MDI. But I do look at what it's working out and occasionally have a mental guess as to why. It almost always gets me to where I want to be.
I just sometimes have a problem after dinner (depending on what I eat), which I'm working on. I could definitely have answered that "how many units for breakfast" question, despite the bolus wizard - on the Animas, you have to dial in the dose.
Good job, George! That's something we tend to forget nowadays - that pumps are really for fine-tuning and we need to make sure we have a solid foundation or else they can be pointless. I always calculate my boluses and carb counting, but do use my Bolus Wizard... that way I make sure to know how to do the basics in case the tech fails or I just want to disconnect for a bit. Hope it levels out and tightens up for you soon, and you're able to be more fine-tuned to get basal and bolus rates more in order!