My previous blogpost about my Lantus experiment ended with a hint that the story was not over when I returned to a pump-only regimen. So what happened?

A week and a half after quitting Lantus, I had one of those middle-of-the-night diabetes fiascoes that we all hate. My Dexcom CGM buzzed me at about midnight and I corrected a high that seemed odd but not unprecedented. 3 hours later Dex screamed that my BG was 381. After confirming the number with my meter, I gave a correction bolus by syringe. Exhausted and nauseous, I filled a new reservoir and inserted a new infusion set. Mind you, this was all happening at 3:00AM.

Upon priming the tubing, I saw insulin flood out of the plastic connector piece rather than drip from the metal needle. I had accidentally attached the old tubing and immediately understood my sky-high BG. I attached the correct tubing, primed, and went back to sleep. As is typical after correcting Himalayan highs, I woke up to a low of 51 at 7:00AM.

I was mad. I was frustrated. I was angry at myself and exasperated with the devil that we call Type 1 diabetes. I decided to go back to the untethered regimen. Big deal if I was stressed by cell phone alarms. It was time to suck it up and use an insulin regimen that would protect me from “not my fault” pump problems.

I reactivated the cell phone alarms for 7:30AM and 8:30PM. To correct the problems that I had with only infusing 0.1 units per hour by pump, I doubled the pump basal rate to an average of 0.2 units per hour. Using the original Lantus doses from late November, I was taking a much larger amount of basal than in recent years. Because it was holiday time with lots of food, alcohol, and stress, the higher basal worked fine. Some people believe that there is one “nirvana” basal rate. My opinion is that it just needs to be in the ballpark because every day is different and my ideal insulin dose is always a moving target.

So I was back on Lantus. Blood sugars were fine, but not spectacular. I tend to do really great at first whenever I make a major change in my insulin regimen. If I switch insulin brands, I often go low as though the new insulin is magically potent. Then after a week or two, things get back to normal. Similarly the addition of Lantus initially made my morning numbers incredibly stable, but during this second experiment I began seeing the return of a few unpredictable BG excursions.

I always wonder if my body actually reacts to changes in insulin or hardware in a physical, measurable way. Or is it all psychological and I just get better results because I pay more attention to my diabetes and make better choices on food and other controllable factors? Either way I will always be optimistic that there is something better out there and I will always keep trying new things. If nothing else, these experiments alleviate some of the daily boredom of living with diabetes.

Ten days ago I ditched Lantus again. I hated the cell phone alarms and was actually waking up in the night concerned that I would miss the morning alarm. After pumping for ten years, I had no confidence that I would remember two injections a day without reminders. In general on Lantus I had pretty good numbers except for poor food/drink decisions and a couple of “WTF” BG excursions. But in the end it wasn’t hugely different from a pump regimen.

Summary: I am back on my pump 100%. As outlined in My Lantus Experiment Part 1, there are many advantages to using Lantus or Levemir with a pump. However, at the moment I just can’t live in that world. That doesn’t mean that I won’t try it again someday. I will definitely continue to use Lantus as a pump supplement on beach and lake vacations as I have in the past. But for now the mental stress and “diabetes burden” of using Lantus are just not worth the slight improvement in my BG numbers.

*****

Disclaimer: Nothing I say here should be construed as medical advice and please do not change your insulin regimen without consulting your medical team. At the same time remember that diabetes is a life-long science experiment (Thank-you Ginger Viera!). When things aren’t going well, take some time to investigate different diet plans and alternative ways of dosing your insulin. And no matter what, test your blood sugar often and always carry glucose tabs:-)