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Infusing Insulin
Many people feel that after a short time of actually pumping insulin, they begin to see better blood sugar results in no time at all. Some seem to take a while to see any drastic changes. I personally saw good results the first week after I started pumping insulin.
It's a lot of hard work. I usually see myself testing my blood sugars at least 8 times a day, but there were a few times I tested over 12 times on one day, and over 30 times in a weekend. My poor fingers hurt at times.
Two words of advice when you start infusing insulin:
Test your blood sugars on a regular basis. Just after you wake up, Just before going to bed, before each meal, and at least 2 hours after you eat. You may also want to check your blood sugar at an early morning our such as 3am.
Learn how to count carbohydrates (carbs) so you know you're giving yourself the correct bolus before you eat something. Carry some sort of nutrition book of lists of food and their carb contents. Also carry a calculator so you know exactly how much insulin to give yourself (unless of coarse your a math expert and know how to divide in your head). I for one carry a pocket calculator.
Some other tricks that may come in handy for you are:
Keep a small diabetes kit with you when you are out. This kit should include the following: A bottle of insulin, and a couple of syringes (In case you have some un-explained high blood sugar counts that cannot be controlled by a correction bolus), alcohol swabs, blood glucose meter with test strips, at least one extra infusion set and reservoir, spare batteries for your pump, glucose tablets or some sort of carbohydrate (In case your blood sugars drop), your alarm or error code booklet, the phone number of your doctor and the phone number to your pump maker in case you have questions.
If you don't already own one, buy yourself a medical alert bracelet or necklace. This will insure that if something serious happens to you and you're not with somebody that knows you're a diabetic, the correct treatment will be performed on you.
Teach a family member or loved one how to help you infuse insulin and inject insulin in case you are too ill to help yourself. My wife is now a great nurse for helping me from time to time.
Test your blood sugars before you exercise or drive a car or operate heavy machinery. You don't want to get involved with wrestling with something like that if your sugars should drop un-expectedly.