July 14, 2001
Hypoglycemia, Insulin Pumps
Question from Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
I have been doing a lot of thinking lately and am wondering if someone uses insulin pump therapy to control their diabetes, could they ultimately eliminate the hypoglycemic episodes? I think that if they had the basal rate set to a level that kept their blood sugars around 7-8 mmol/L [126-144mg/dl] and knew the proper insulin to carb ratio, that they would be able to do so. Is this true? Can you explain why they would not if that is the case?
Answer:
It sounds great in theory, but when you factor in exercise, emotions, and hormone fluctuations, it makes the diabetes more of a challenge. Also, if you ate the exact same thing every day and did the exact same exercise every day, I think life would become quite boring. So, although we do the best we can to have good blood glucose control via use of insulin pumps or certain insulin regimens, there will be the ups and downs in life.
LSF
