Last Thursday I went to see my endo after wearing an old Guardian Gold system. It's the diabetes equivalant of a Ford Pinto. The nurse gave me my readings that resembled a map of ski trails. Very random, I thought. That's about right.
Then the endo comes in and looks at the readings.
"Looks pretty random, huh?" I offered.
"No." He said?
"You're kidding!"
"Yes."
"Ha ha."
They were random. No rhyme or reason to them. He went on to explain, as he has many times before, that we needed to get the variances under control, and he began to talk about adjusting basal rates. He then looked at a couple of days and asked why one was so different from another.
Well, on Monday I went to the gym early in the morning, and was on a temp basal, then had a post-exercise spike which I did not correct because I knew it would come down on its own. Then there was a gradual increase all the way until lunchtime where there was a dramatic drop that lasted the rest of the afternoon. I explained that the car washes had gotten very busy, and I spent the afternoon washing cars on a temp basal.
It's like that with me, you see. Some days I am very busy assisting the staffs at the car washes in a very hands-on way. On those days, keeping my BG up is a struggle. On other days, it may be raining or I am cooped up in the office doing paperwork. On those days I have to fight to keep my numbers down. Many days are half of each. There's just no telling.
But he doesn't seem to get it. It's all very straight-forward to him. If you are running high over a particular period, you raise basals. But what happens when you can't narrow it down to a particular period? I use lots and lots of temp basals. I use so many that my standard basal patterns are almost useless as a tool for measuring insulin sensitivities.
I like my endo very much. He's not especially nice, but he's not rude either. He's very efficient for sure, and if you're ever in the hospital, he's a great doc to have. True story, I was once in the hospital with a severe stomach bug and told him I had a bad headache. So he gave me Demorol. Gotta love him.
How do you all interact with your endos?
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My endo is a bit controlling, perhaps she just cares. She demands a log every week to every month. With an A1c of 6.2% I explained that I didnt see that necessary right now, and a pain in the A$$. She told me to send it in anyway, if not, I should find a new Endo!! WHAT?!
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