I’m new to both the dexcom and Omnipod. I previously was on a minimed for 10 years and then took a year and a half break from pumping. I find the pod quite comfortable and love not having tubing. But good god - my sugars are all over the place!
What I’ve suspected, and I’m seeing others talk about on here, is that when I’m high I’m much more insulin resistant. I’ve been running in the 200’s a lot and I get nervous it’s the pod not interacting well with me. I’ve only had one failure. How far in advance are you all blouson for a meal? (I’m using Humalog). I feel like I’m using crazy amounts of insulin to get highs to come down, and they’re taking forever. I’m really frustrated and don’t feel great.
The CGM is going great and I love it. I’m so glad I have it while going through all this and adapting to the new pump.
Hi @Hudson, welcome to the community! you can use the little magnifying glass symbol to search for topics of interest, like timing of bolusing. It sounds like to me you need ome adjusting of your basals and possibly your I:C ratio.
and regarding that failed image upload, you might want to try it again and perhaps use a smaller size image if possible.
Hi @Hudson – I think watching your Dexcom CGM can help inform you about your own personal patterns. I have a few points to make. First, insulin pump therapy is a combination of the continuous drip basal insulin along with the addition of mealtime boluses. If your basal rates are set too low then when you eat, your mealtime insulin can not metabolize all your food since some of it is trying to backfill the shortage of basal insulin.
Have you ever done any basal testing? Gary Scheiner’s Integrated Diabetes website has a good protocol for adjusting basal rates. It takes some persistence to get this done but it is well worth it. Knowing how to successfully adjust basal rates is an essential skill for using a pump well. Do not be alarmed if this takes a week or two to finish.
Many of us know that it takes more insulin to bring down a +200 mg/dl high than it does something in the mid 100’s. For example, when my BG is under 200, I can usually correct with 1 unit of insulin for every 50 points I want to drop. If I’m over 200 then I correct based on the formula that 1 unit of insulin will drop me only 40 points.
When I used the Omnipod a few years ago I experienced high BGs after every pod change. I tried lots of troubleshooting but I was never able to figure out why this happened to me. Are your highs particularly after pod changes?
If you haven’t already read these books, I encourage you to give them a read. They are Think Like a Pancreas by Scheiner and Pumping Insulin by Walsh. I’m also admire the techniques in Sugar Surfing by Ponder.
Hang in there! Your CGM is revealing patterns that you’ve probably long lived with but was unaware of them. This is a long-term project. You have the rest of your life to figure it out. Good luck.
I have noticed the same–as have many others–and I may have one possible answer.
Air bubbles.
Even when you carefully aspirate insulin into the syringe–there are tiny air bubbles. I know that initiating a new pod will go through a prime protocol–but just for testing purposes I tested out a few boluses without being attached and noticed that nothing came out (In some cases it took several small boluses to visually see insulin coming out). This is variable–as sometime it does without a problem. I now make sure to leave a small amount of insulin in the syringe when dispensing into the pod–as most air bubbles congregate at the end. I have found large success when doing this and suspect that the variability of the site also plays a role.
I like the tip about leaving a little insulin. Better to “waste” a bit of insulin and have lower numbers. I have noticed that I have better insulin receptivity (?) when the pod is on my legs. When it is on my arms, I have to be a little more aggressive about bolusing.
Thank you for all the replies and great advice. I still stand strong in my belief other type 1’s are the best thing when you need answers at a time when when managing my life as a T1D can feel more like abstract art than a science.
A lot of that I am familiar with, as I’ve been diabetic 17 years and been pumping for 11. This feeling of suddenly being insulin resistant is frustrating and scary, but I’m hoping not to give up on the Omnipod.
Last night I took a break and took a injection of lantus instead of applying a new pod. Levels were on average 100 points lower today, but still hovered close to 170 a lot of the day, even with injecting fresh Humalog. I’m going to give it another day to get my sugars to where they should be before I attempt a new pod, keeping all the advice in mind.
Does anyone have any experience with Humalog resistance as they live with T1 longer? I do 15-23k steps a day, and walk 5-10 miles, so it’s hard to think I don’t move enough, but I definitely need to loose weight and do more high intensity cardio before I make any assumptions.
Thanks for being here with me!
ATM I’m 182 and just took a 3 unit adjustment. Also, long live the CGM! How did I ever get along without it?!
@Hudson – The best way for me to break the back of ongoing insulin resistance is to fast. I like a 24-hour fast. It always works for me and has a sustained settling effect on my BGs. Your experience may vary but fasting is a proven and safe tool for me.
Update - I put the pod back on yesterday and I’m having success so far. I worked hard on the bubble issue and left some insulin in the syringe. I also took the chance of doing a bonus as soon as I out it on, to move some possibly unseen bubbles through before I actually needed a real bonus. I figured I’d just eat if I got low. It worked out perfectly.
The TUD comments system gives you that little upload option but I think it has all kinds of problems and limits built into it that actually prevent it from functioning most of the time. Never works for me. But this does:
Just upload your image there, copy the link and paste it here.
there is a size restriction. I’m not exactly sure what it is, but I know if I try to upload an image from my phone that wasn’t downloaded as medium or less, it won’t upload.
but try uploading again, if it still doesn’t work we can report to our developers
Makes sense that there would be. It would be preferable if the site would respond with “Sorry, images can’t be larger than 100Kb” or whatever instead of just spinning the status wheel. But a lot of sites have similar issues which is why that postimage.org site is so handy.
I do the same. I also flick all the bubbles in the syringe to the top and then push the bubbles back into the insulin bottle then I take the syringe out and flick the last remaining bubble to the end of the plunger and put in the pod with leaving the bubble and some insulin in the syringe. I’ve had no problems with bubbles in a long time. Hope this makes sense. Good Luck.
