so this is the fourth time in the past 2 months that i have found myself awake in the night with a blood sugar of 280. Yesterday, throughout the day, i woke up 99 (yay!) but as the hours passed i was rising and rising. I thought I was just being very insulin resistant because i am getting sick, and it is that time of the month, higher numbers are typical during this time. After a long day of work and school I went to bed at 8pm (super early) with a bs of 215. i made my basals a little higher for over night and i corrected. I slept a full 12 hours and woke up at 280. I am crying while writing this knowing how much damage was done while i was sleeping so soundly. this is the fourth time that my great numbers have been hijacked by problems. i changed my pump as soon as i woke up to find that it, like the other times, had the catheter bent. I feel like calling my dr and moving my appointment up so i can see her next week, without a1c, and figure something else out. I am new to the pump, and loved it at first, i was able to reach an a1c of 6.9 last month, but feel myself slipping far far away from that due to all these miscommunications. not to mention the amount of pumps ive had to discard! any input? have i ruined my a1c? :(
Yikes! What kind of sets are these? I use the Medtronic Silhouettes and don't recall ever having a bent one. I stick them in manually and it's easy to feel it go in and sort of fiddle it to stick it in as much as possible so the sites seem pretty solid.
I read somewhere (FB?) that insertion can cause an infection that interferes with insulin absorption so if my BG runs up after insertion, I'll crank my basal rate up to 200% for a while, usually an hour or so, which seems to fix that.
hey they are quick sets. i partially blame myself for not changing sites right away. but i honestly thought i was just insulin resistant. i have days like that. usually when its bent it is very painful and i know to switch it out ASAP. but this felt fine. i just hope i did not seriously hurt myself.....basically 12 hours of highs.
I had tons of bad sites with Quicksets and kept accidentally pulling them out. Although Silhouettes are a bit daunting to insert manually, I’m with ACidrock that I hardly ever get bad sites. I’m thin and like that I can insert Silhouettes at a very shallow angle and therefore have little or no pain with them.
I guess the only thing you’re doing wrong is to continue to use an infusion set that is not reliable for you. Call Medtronic and get samples jof some other sets. Silhouettes come in two lengths; I use the short ones. There is also a metal set that some people like, but I can’t remember the name. There is also the Mio, but it is very similar to the Quick Set but has a built-in inserter.
Good luck.
Thanks so much for the info. I am still new to the pump. I love it but all of these kinks are turning me off and driving me nuts!! were your numbers like this with the bad quickset sites? i am finally coming down now...slowly but surely.
My sympathies are with you, Andrea; I've been pumping for over a year and a half and I still have too many bent canulas. Mine more often sneak up on me, with the numbers all of a sudden starting to rise after I've been wearing it for awhile. The kind where it hurts right away and you know it's bad are rarer. So what have I done? I re-read my insertion directions and discovered I was holding my hands wrong so I corrected that (which only helped a little; but I think it's good to do periodically so you don't get bad habits.) Recently a couple people mentioned inserting standing up so I try that. Finally, I'm going to consider the manual insertion metal ones as that's what several people said to me when I posted my issues. I got 8 boxes of new sets recently, so there's not much point in even asking for samples until I get closer to needing them.
Good luck, I know it's frustrating.
Call Medtronic and ask for two samples of EACH infusion set they make. The Sure-Ts use a steel canula so it cannot get bent. Also, I had bent canula issues with the Mios, but not as much with the Quicksets. Some folks have better luck with the angled sets, especially if they are lean.
Also, I tend to get more bent canulas when I use a site that has less fat and more muscle. I think the canula can get kinked when it hits muscle tissue. I noticed that my bent canulas were all in my thigh region, which has less fat and way more muscle. Very rarely get kinked canulas in my tummy, which has a more generous layer of fat.
I fully agree with mybustedpancreas - call medtronic and request samples of the other type of infusion sets. Also - do you always have a problem when you insert the set into the same area - i.e. always your thigh, always your buttock? I did and that is when I found out I needed angled sets for my thigh and can use 90 degree for my buttocks. Switched and now order two types, problem solved. Also if you are infusing with the 9mm set and especially if you are on the more slender side and/or somewhat more muscular you may need to switch to the 6mm length. Medtronic will send you different cannula lenghts too, you just have to request them to try. And FYI - don't worry to much about the high numbers - you are working in the right direction to solve the problem, a little patience and trial and error with different sets and you should find a infusion set that is more suitable for you. Good luck!
Yes I use the Silhouettes too, They are the ones to use if you do not have a lot of body fat. They are also nice and long so they are less likely to pull out or bend.
I like that I can look into the set and see that is in or not. It is the only set that you can do that. I have always inserted my sets manually because I don't trust the spring loaded things. Also you will know before you break the skin if you are about to hit a vein and you can abort if you are.
About the sugars, just relax,no one and nothing is perfect. I have had my cannula come out and reached over 400 before I managed to get it sorted out, Now with a CGM I get notice much sooner when there is a problem.
If it is just once in a while, it wont change your a1c much. Concentrate on the normal range and the average and it will be fine.
I wouldn't discount the Silhouettes, even if you are bigger. I asked the doc/ SalesNurse about them when I got my pump (I was a big chunkier then...) and they were like "those are if you are thinner" or something like that but the Quicksets fell out one night at Tae Kwon Do (kids sluggish= 100s of jumping jacks at the end of class...oops!) so I called Medtronic directly and got some to try and liked them a lot.
I had the same problem with quick sets. A few forum members suggested the sure t's and in 4 years, not one problem. The sure ts are so easy to insert manually, and they are painless. I change sets every 3 days, not 2, and have not had any problems with infected sights. Give them a try.