So I'm still learning whats okay and not so okay with pump normalities. I located an infusion set near my backside the other day and an hour ago I noticed that there was some blood around the cloth band aid part, but no blood in the tubing on either side of connection.
Is this okay? Should I change my site? I still seem to be getting insulin effectively (so far, but like I said I've only noticed it in the past hour or two in the span of a day and a half of it being located there).
I'm going to try to include a picture, the blood you see directly under the actual connection area is NOT in the plastic. It is just located directly under it (for clarification).
I would change that site...but if you are as you say still getting insulin effectively and it is not causing any discomfort I suppose you could let that ride. I personally have never had a site look like that. Keep an eye on it (like I needed to tell you that, right LOL!!). May I ask what kind of infusion set that is?
I’m on the accu-chek combo pump. The infusion set is the Ultraflex I infusion set; it’s a 90 degree “basic” set with a flexible cannula. I guess it’s important to add I use to bleed a fair bit with manual needle injections as well. So I’m not too sure how to handle this one! I’m staying awake for a few more hours just to watch my BG.
I'll stay up for a bit as well, and good for you for keeping an eye. If you have a history of bleeding and it's not bothering you then what the heck - keep it going as long as it is working.
Thanks for the info on the set. While you are watching your BG I will push some well site wishing in here for you.
I've had bleeders like this and they almost always mean BG trouble for me. There have been exceptions, though. Like your current site, I've had good insulin absorption from some bleeders. It's possible that you've just nicked a very small blood vessel near the surface and the cannula tip area is uncontaminated with blood. You won't know for sure but your BGs will tell the story.
If it were me, I would change it out. If you want to save your insulin, cartridge, and infusion set, you could just use the cannula/bandage portion of a new set and plug your existing infusion set into the new site portion. Remember to prime the new site with whatever your small priming amount is.
I avoid doing this right before bedtime, if I can. If I can't then I sometimes set an alarm for two hours post insertion to make sure the BGs are OK. In fact, if you decide to watch this and ride it out, I would recommend setting an alarm to wake you up during the night just so you can avoid possibly going without any insulin absorption for the entire night.
Your vigilant observation is a valuable asset! Good luck.
Yeah I’m not really too sure what happened. Everything has been fine for the day and a half I’ve had this site it; then I took a nap on the couch and woke up with this! My sugars are a little high, but I decided to have a cheat day from my diabetes and diet and eat some pizza which is always an irregular mess for my body to absorb! So it’s hard to tell if the BG is from the site or from the pizza! I gave a correction dose for my BG I’ve dropped about 30 points in an hour, so once again, I’m just not too sure.
Your 30 point drop means you're getting insulin from the site. Pizza's a big challenge for most T1Ds. I've tried it many times with many different insulin tactics. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't perfect it and finally just gave up pizza. The biggest challenge for me was controlling BGs 4-8 hours after I ate the pizza. I have the same problem with burritos.
It sounds like your site is working, which is a plus. Keep your eye on it.
I get those and don't worry about them. They don't seem to affect my BG all that much so I test and keep an eye on my CGM. If it doesn't go up, I just let them ride and it usually goes away.
Ugh. Stupid iPhone. I typed out a reply and it apparently didn’t post. So sorry if this is a repeat!
I haven’t had pizza in around 4 months but man did I have a craving for it today and I just went with it! Pizza and French fries are impossible to calculate for me so I generally avoid them too (plus their not really good for you in any sense, so no worries really!). The weird thing is for the first 4.5 hours after eating the pizza I was in a 90-110 range the whole time! It was after the 4.5 hours that my sugars started to go crazy! Pizza and diabetes combo is just so weird!
I get them running sometimes, it'll bounce or something and ooze a bit but, as long as my BG is ok, I don't worry about it. I have a maroon polo shirt to wear on bloody days. I hate wasting sites too, and have probably not wasted more than 5 or 6 since 2008...
Do you take any anticoagulants regularly? This would include regular use of aspirin or ibuprofen.
This would make you bleed easily from both injections and infusion sets.
Second question: Do you get cold really easily? For example, are you always the cold one in the group, needing a sweater/sweatshirt/long sleeves when most everyone else is doing just fine? If so, you may simply be someone with very well perfused adipose/dermal tissue, in which case you would throw off heat easily, and bleed more when injured.
In the latter case the best thing you can do, it seems to me, is be very very choosey in sites. Find the "fattest" places on your body, inspect them carefully to make sure you're no where near a surface vein.
I do take a lot of anticoagulants. I have constant headaches and have yet to get a real prescription, so I just use OTC stuff..multiple times a day...probably way more than I should :P This is an interesting point though that I've never really put together! I'm very rarely cold, so that ones out.
I'm still in that phase of figuring out which areas have the best absorption/preference. This was the first time I tried that specific location. It worked out well, but it just seemed to bleed really, really easily.
that's probably part of it. I'll bet your fingersticks take a bit longer than "normal" to seal back up too -- like you can still squeeze blood without too much effort a minute or two after the stick...
It's more like: take BG, see result, wipe blood off of finger, go on to do something else, get blood all over hand/whatever I'm touching, THEN realize I'm still bleeding xD
I just want good BGs too!