Can you have a "sort of bad" infusion site?

Hope everyone is doing well. I’m still fairly new at pumping and I was wondering if you can get an infusion site that is “sort of bad”?

I just put in a new infusion site yesterday afternoon before dinner and my numbers at dinner, 2 hours later, and at my night snack were all in target, 80 to 120. I have been eating the exact same night snack for the past week with stable sugars (same amount of food too). I tested before going to bed and I was a bit higher than usual, 140. So I did a half dose correction and went to bed. I got up to pee in the middle of the night (I know TMI) and tested. I was at 184. Corrected again and woke up a little over target at 133. (My night basals have been good for the past 3 weeks, I just ran basal tests to stop getting night time lows.) So today begins and my numbers were in target until after dinner and I am up again to 198. I ate leftovers from last night’s dinner weighed out on a scale so I know the carbs were the same as last night when I was in target! I am just having diabetic weirdness or could my site just not be 100%? I hate to change it out since I haven’t gone over 200 but I feel crappy when my sugars go over 170 so I don’t want to be stingy and stupid either. My doc says 2 unexplained highs over 240, do a change but I am not going that high! Any ideas?

I replaced it this morning, I couldn’t stand the ups and downs. The cannula looked OK but maybe it was just a bad site for absorption. Who knows? I know it’s not scar tissue since I never took shots in this area and I have maybe had 4 or 5 sites there over the last year…very weird…thanks for the feedback!

This is a late reply but, yes, definitely. Sometimes I can’t seem to get my sugars down, and other times I can’t get them up. And the only thing is to replace and change site. I have even had my diabetes educator agree that sometimes the insulin itself might not be good. Good luck!

Thanks for the feedback, better late than never! It’s good to know I am not the only one who has this stuff happen…

Ive had “half bad” sites before. Usually when I put them in they sting like hell for a while and when i eventually rip them out they bleed, so I assume it was a weird spot to begin with (like maybe i put it through a stretch mark or something dumb like that) I usually just hit the gym a little harder and reduce my carb intake until I change it- the cleo insertions barely stick to me as it is so ripping one out when I dont know if the rest of the box will stick is incomprehensible to me :slight_smile:

It does not take more than an almost imperceptible kink in the cannula to cause problems. I consider half-bad to need replacing just as much as a problem that causes a no delivery alarm. Nothing frustrates me more than inconsistent pump behavior.

I just experienced this problem for the first time (have only been on the MM 722 for 5 months). For the first time in a long time my BG went over 200 . . . didn’t make sense . . . retested and got essentially the same BG. While my reservoir was still 3/4 full, I changed the entire infusion set. Problem solved.

This raises another question . . . in a case like this with the MM 722, how do the rest of you salvage the insulin still in the reservoir . . . just cange the infusion cannula and tubing and connect to the existing reservoir?

Hi know this is kinda of a old trend but still wanna reply to find a common solution for all...

I also experienced such occasion with my Sure-T. Although the needle is pierced underneath the layer of my skin, my blood control level just went erractic for no reasons.

Besides changing the infusion site, are there any other solutions? What about taking a gel and rubbed over the infusion site?

Another yes to add to the pile.
You can give every new site a 1-10 rating. It isn't a situation where they either work or don't.

I've had periods of 2 or 3 days before where I've been chasing down the exact issue. Has it been in too long? Was it too close to another site I recently used? Could it be the infusion set?
I've had leaks from the tubing before that accounted for weird effects.

I've also had sites that weren't really ever quite right, but weren't bad enough to justify putting in a new one.
I used to get sites bleeding a lot, as another person mentioned, but that went away when I stopped using silhouette infusion sets. Something about that super long cannula, even though angled, just used to hit more things more often.

Have to play it by ear.

I'm a big fan of re-using select items of pumping supplies. It saves me an absolute fortune. While I know not recommended by doctors (then again anything short of new everything every single time isn't), I would simply reattach the reservoir back to the plunger and inserter. I'd use a new reservoir or syringe to inject some air into the vial, and top the vial back up with insulin again.

If it was the reservoir itself to blame, I would attach the same items and inject it back into a vial, and then into the new reservoir.
In my experience it's never the reservoir, but the little needle on the tubing top that gets blocked at one end of the tubing or other.

I always have some vials around that have that tiny little amount left that doesn't quite get used somehow. When I have 9 of these I have enough to fill a whole reservoir, so they also serve for this brief holding container method.

Of course you can also just reattach the same reservoir, half-full, and prime it up to the point you were at.

A gel?

Massaging the site can sometimes help with a slugging uptake and increase absorbency. I have no experience with the Sure-T though. I imagine this could be a little different with a needle rather than a plastic and blunt cannula.