My tech stared at a computer screen and muttered something about “overachiever” during our Zoom consult a few days ago. She had me make a slight change to my settings but then sent me over to the endocrinologist, saying my glucose has been, over the last two weeks, within healthy limits 81 per cent of the time. The base-line goal is 70 per cent.
The endo’s beaming face flashed up on my screen: “You’re a super star! I want you to say out loud, ‘I’m a super star!’”
A few weeks ago I started with a program that ties my insulin pump to my Dexcom sensor. When my glucose rises, the pump heads off a high by injecting insulin. When I go low, the insulin shuts off.
Going too low has been a problem the last few days since, with my newfound glucose control, I want to get back to fasting. All this insulin-induced weight gain has got to go. The tech had me set up a program that cuts my normal basal insulin back by 70% so I can stop eating and endure a drop in glucose without getting hypoglycaemia. And dang it, that’s perfect ratio to keep me from crashing out of a fast. All I have to do is hit the preset FAST setting and it keeps my insulin levels at an appropriate range.
I try not to think about why the heck I had to get to absolute desperation before they realized I should go on a pump. No wonder I was going nuts, trying to manage wildly fluctuating glucose with many, many injections a day. It was always going to be impossible, especially with the fact I have night-time highs. I was so, so frustrated and, as the diabetic educator put it, burnt out. She’s the one who called the pump reps and got the ball rolling. The reps drew up the paperwork done and sent it to my endo. All he had to do was sign it. That seemed to get the ball rolling, and suddenly my endo was on board. I got hooked up with an insulin pump, and then a looping app that makes the pump work with my insulin sensor like an external pancreas. It’s almost perfect.
I fasted two days last week. I’ll shoot for three or more days this coming week. It’s too difficult to fast on a weekend, when I focus on relaxing at home. Once I’m back at work, I get distracted by other things and have no time to think about eating. I’m never hungry in the evening. Fasting is really like a muscle you develop, and it gets easier over time. One of the mind tricks I use is to remember my goal, and picture what I want to look like. I remind myself that I’ve fasted off 30 pounds before, and I can do it again.
I am, after all, a Super Star.
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