Howdy,
My name is Pierre and I am new to this forum. I’m looking to bend your ears on something- any feeback is greatly appreciated.
I am a 22 year old male in decent health. I have been living with type 1 for over 8 years now and have had so far had acceptable (or better) control over my blood sugars. I use a minimed insulin pump.
Anyhow, for the past 2 or 3 days my BG’s have averaged between 200 and 400. This will happen to any diabetic , of course, but it has been consistently high with insulin providing a sluggish response at best. I changed my pump site, and used a new vial of insulin. The issue continued. Changed my site again , the issue continued. Last night I opted for a dose via syringe to go with the new pump site. Woke up early today with a low blood sugar ( 59), ate some food ( perhaps too much- got back my appetite) and awoke again with a BG of 507!
Well, I am quite frustrated.
Have any of you dealt with highs that seem unresponsive to insulin. Insulin resistance? At this rate, i am considering that the insulin pump may NOT be the greatest tool for insulin delivery. I have scar tissue on my upper ■■■ ( the only place I put sites on) and I find the stomach to be an uncomfortable place for a pump, and the arm or elsewhere to be grossly impractical.
Could be I am have issues with insulin absorbtion from years of site usage?
What are your experiences with pump sites and incorrigible highs?
The information that correcting with a syringe brought your blood sugar promptly down suggests that it isn’t the insulin. Changing the site and the insulin would suggest that you have ruled those out, but I wouldn’t totally exclude things. You mentioned scar tissue, that can repeatedly mess up a site and new insulin from the same batch could also be bad (although if you corrected with that it would rule it out).
Would you be willing to try a site different than your rear to see if that helps? You may just have to bite the bullet and get more expansive in your pump site rotation plan.
ps. It could also be that your pump is messed up. You may have polymerized insulin leading to clogs or even a pump failure. When you prime, are you seeing insulin come out?
I am fairly sure that the issue isnt the insulin ( humalog) itself. I have rotated between my last three vials and haven’t noticed a difference. The previous five vials from the same shipment worked as usually. However, its hard to say for sure. I have new insulin on the way.
I believe you are correct. I need to rotate my sites. I haven’t used the stomach much since I don’y have alot of fat there. But if that works, it certainly beats subsisting at 450 mg/dl while working outside in 97 F weather.
I look forward to reading your comments in this forum.
Thanks again !
hi Pierre, welcome to the community. I joined here in 2008, and scar tissue was a big deal for me. I too was hesitant to try new places, and other TuD members encouraged me and gave me the courage to try.
For a while I even wrote down where I put the sets, just so I wouldn’t go anywhere near in a 30 day period. It really helped.
if you need a little assistance, ask your doctor to order you a prescription of EMLA cream, you won’t feel anything from the inserter needle. another suggestion is if you use a insertion device and have a partner to help you, you can ask them to do it just a bit father away from where you can reach.
I agree with @Brian_BSC , I think you should disconnect and prime the tubing without it being connected to make sure insulin is coming out. It could be somethign wrong with the pump (such as the motor not working. If it were me, I’d rely on injections in the meantime until the cuase of the problem was sorted out.
If in fact you have been using two spots for 8 years, I would assume that they are pretty beat up. I was wearing out four sights for about ten years and started having similar issues. I’ve since gone to an eight site rotation and that gives enough time in between, about 3 weeks, for site to heal up a bit. Left and right of each, Rear end, upper thigh, stomach and triceps.
The first thing I would do is disconnect from my infusion set and bolus 0.2U. If you get a little drop of insulin, then your pump’s probably okay. Next, I would strongly consider giving an IM shot to bring down those high BGs more rapidly. Then, I would find some new real estate to land your infusion set.
Scar tissue is a scary thing (oh, no pun intended there!), because you suddenly can’t use the most effective tool available and OY(!) those numbers! For me, when I run in the 300+ range for more than about 12 hours, I start feeling pretty woozy and like I’m swimming in a giant bowl of split pea soup.
As a side note Pierre, I use different infusion sets for different sites, 90 degree (mio or quickset) for buttocks, triceps (quickset for longer tubing) and then the silouette’s for the stomach and leg that are more comfortable in those areas as they don’t go straight in and canula does not usually rub muscle which becomes uncomfortable quickly. I also realize that because of your age you might be inclined to have less visible sites on body and rearend is the best to hide when getting busy so it is understood, yet you may have to make some concessions.
