Quinte Insulin Pumpers- Minutes of the group meeting, May 19, 2004

Quinte Insulin Pumpers- Minutes of the group meeting, May 19, 2004

Wednesday, May 19, 2004, approximately 22 persons concerned with insulin pump therapy met at Holy
Trinity Lutheran church, 516 Victoria Avenue, Belleville, Ontario.

Pumps and Supplies

According to Chair, Nancy Stafford, a representative from the Animas insulin pump supplier plans to
meet with our group when their new pump is available.

Disetronic is about to bring a new infusion set onto the market. There is no word yet of their
pumps returning to the Canadian market.

A representative from Cosmos would like to speak to the group at a future date.

Scholarship

Peter Thorne, a secondary student at Nicholson, Belleville, has been awarded a Diabetes Hope
Foundation Scholarship for future studies.   Appreciation was expressed at seeing some of our local
donations returning to the community.

Group Discussion  

To help each other with diabetes management, participants made suggestions about causes of high and
low blood sugar readings.

Possible Causes of Highs

1. Eating high sugar foods (sweets, goodies, snacks)

2. Sickness

3. Stress (exams, competition, deadlines)

4. Becoming overtired

5. Rainy days (lack of activity)

6. Incorrect bolus (carbohydrates counted incorrectly, portion size wrong, insufficient
information on the  carbohydrate count, incorrect calculation)

7. Exercise (Adrenalin starts the release of sugar.)

8. Slow digestion (Food has a high content of fat, fibre and/or protein. Very large meal.)

9. The pump is out of insulin.

10. There is a kink in the line.

11. There is an air bubble in the line.

12. The canula may be healed over.

13. The insulin may be old.

14. The insulin may have been exposed to extremely hot or cold temperatures (beach, skiing).

15. The vial may have been open for longer than a month.

16. Incorrect concentration of insulin (differs in Europe and the United States)

17. Malfunctioning pump.

18. Dead battery

19. Basal rates are incorrect (seasons, growth spurts, exam times, weekend or shift work change
in schedule, puberty, menstrual cycle)

20. Major change in diet (glucose intolerant, vegetarian)

21. Changes in outside temperature or humidity

22. Change in medications including over-the-counter drugs

23. Motion sickness (car/bus trip)

24. Dawn phenomena (During the process of waking up, the adrenalin response results in more
glucose being released into the blood stream.)

25. In children, growth hormone may have an effect during sleep.

26. Surgery

27. Pregnancy

28. Site in muscle

29. Site in same place too often

30. Strobe lights

31. Glucogon

32. Rebound  

Possible Causes of Lows

1. Stress 2. Incorrect bolus 3. Sickness (vomiting, diarrhea) 4. Overtired 5. Bolus
without eating (interrupted meal) 6. Bolus followed by a large portion of fat, fibre and/or fat
that slow digestion 7. Overbolus 8. Diet 9. Exercise especially cutting grass 10. Cold
11. Alcohol is unpredictable. Test frequently. 12. Sex 13. When calculating bolus, failure
to allow for fibre and maltose (-tose=sugar, -tol=substitute/artificial sugar)

Coming Events

1 Next meeting: Wednesday, June 16, 2004, 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 516 Victoria Avenue, Belleville. Guest speaker: Melanie Hellstern, Disetronic emergency supplies

2. Annual Barbecue, Wednesday, August 18, 200, at the residence of Jill and Bruce Milliken.