Hello everyone. It's been a while sense I’ve asked a question but I am at my wits end! So how long do you wait when you think something is wrong before you give it up? My situation comes from high BG and what is the culprit. So I put on a new pump and shortly after my first meal with the new site my BG is 295. SO I do a correction bolus and it comes back down into range. Then the entire night I am running ok, wake up eat breakfast BG skyrockets again. Wait and take correction but it never really comes down to an acceptable level. (Staying on the high side of 170) then I spend the entire night with Dexcom hollering and correction bolus every three hours to NEVER have BG come down at all! Usually I am pretty sensitive to corrections and it works most of the time. So by this time I am thinking I have a bad site and change it the following morning. So now I’ve gone through another 24 hour period of dealing with the same crap I just described above. With a new pump in a new location! So now what? Rip it off and trash a pump full of good insulin? Or keep trying to correct? Did I get two bad sites in a row? I used a location that usually provides very good adsorption? So I guess my question is how long do you guys put up with this stuff? At the high cost of the pumps and insulin is it worth it to feel bad and just deal with it. Or do you immediately take action to solve the high BG and feeling bad that comes along with it? What if any methods or ideas do you use to try to narrow down what the problem might be? Is it possible for ones insulin need to change that drastically over night? I am just looking for any advice that might point me in the right direction. Thank you in advance!
Have you tried giving yourself a manual correction (syringe or pen)? If that works then it would be an indication that the site is bad. If a manual correction using the using the same bottle of insulin doesn't work, I'd try one from a fresh bottle. I pump with a tubed pump and would probably switch out the site again but that wouldn't force me to throw out the insulin. Could it be that you're coming down with something?
Not being able to get under 170 with constant corrections would have me pulling my hair out.
Good luck,
Maurie
Maurie,
Thanks for the prompt reply. Yes I did do a meal time bolus with a pen. So it wasn't using the same insulin and my BG acted ok. Now it was a SWAG on the carb count because of not being as precise as the pump, but BG did return to normal for a little bit. But I figured if the site was compromised maybe basal would be out of whack as well and therefore meal time blous would be off also? I'll try it again with a correction and see? If i was getting sick would everything (basal and bolus) need to be increased to deal with it? The only way I finally got my BG to come down was to excersice vigorously for an hour. But after that it begin to rise again! Yea it's driving me crazy barely being able to get to 170 with constant corrections mostly running above 200 which is out of the norm for me!
Hi Will, it sounds like you're an OmniPod user. I started the OmniPod a couple of months ago and had similar questions. How do I know if it's an absorption problem at the site or the pod itself or female hormones gone crazy?
When I've asked a couple of the OmniPod reps these questions, they suggest that you not wait any longer than 4 hours to pull the pod. Call customer service and they will replace the pod when this happens - they ask you to give them the lot and reference number from the pod. They also suggest that you replace the pod with a pod from another box (or lot number) if you have one and maybe try a site you've never used before (to minimize chance of scar tissue).
I hope this helps a little bit. I like to know what's causing a problem so I can fix it but like many things with diabetes, you may never know exactly what caused it.
My daughter's on the omnipod. If she's high and I'm trying to figure out if it's the site, I correct her with no food (or free food) and test again in 2 hours. If she hasn't come down, I repeat. After 2 rounds of corrections w/no-to-little BG movement, I correct w/a syringe and change the site. I can never tell if it's the site if I do a correction with food. Also, if she's been wearing the pod for less than 24 hours, I take the insulin out and re-use it. I know it's a "no-no" but it's never been a problem for us.
I got a problem........................I NEVER give up........
If you can get your blood sugar down with exercise and then it goes back up again without food, it sounds like you're not getting enough basal which is consistent with a bad site or getting sick. Either way, you might want to do temporary increase in your basal rate. You are getting some benefit from the insulin just not enough.
A lot of times, if I get a mysterious high with a new site, I turn my basal up to 200%, do the CB too and wait to see if it works. It seems to blow it clean and I don't really pull sites hardly ever? Breakfast is a wierd case. I still have DP cooking away all the time. I try to set the pump up to beat it into submission but lately it's still floating up. It seems to be arriving after breakfast too, so the programmed "bump" is "early", I run low, eat and then blooey off we go.
hi will, my son is also on the omnipod and we had a lot of issues with post pod change highs yours seems to be ligering though, we bolus .5 pre and 1.5-5 u post depending on bs, if you are running high obviously it takes more i would say if you arent coming down by 1 1/2 hours 2 at the most without eating and drinking lots of water i'd change things out, but we honestly have never needed to do so, "kinked canulas" ussually creap up over night and we spot them by jacob getting up at night to pee or just running high all day from the get go, in anycase i hope things have already turned around for you i know how frustrating it can be when things are not working despite your best efforts, i liked the wild life on your site! we are not hunters but love the outdoors. hoping for better days ahead for you. amy
hey as a disclaimer to my previous statement we are basically happy omnipod customers and have rectified most of our pod change high issues, not that many kinks over the course of a year with omnipod, wouldnt trade if for a tubed pump, just had to put that in in case anyone was thinking you wanted the omnipod, deal with the consequences, best of luck amy
after rereading your post sounds like the site probably was working or you wound of been in the 300's or higher, maybe overuse of the same site or upcoming sickness which can really throw things off, increased basal and bolus requirements, in anycase i worry about my son then worry about others here that have stuff going on! i'm here to give and get support, but do end up worrying about others and how things turned out, just wanted to let you know i'm sending you some better energy and hope things are better today! amy
Hi Will D,
Sounds like you're experiencing a fairly common OmniPod issue. I solved my problem by switching to the Animas Ping, with steel insuion sets. Whenever I get a leaky infusion site, I just pull it out and pop it in another spot. Tape it down, and go on with life! I had way too too too many problems with inconsistent delivery and leaky infusion sites/catheters when I was using the OmniPod. I don't regret for a second my decision to switch over to a tubed system!
If you're sensitive to insulin corrections and you're not reacting like you normally would to a meal bolus or correction bolus, then you can be 90% sure you've got an infusion site problem. The other 10% would be bad insulin. Like others have said, try manually correcting with insulin via a needle/pen bolus, and see how you do. If that fixes things, then you can rule out the bad insulin option.
Cheers and good luck,
Mike
Maybe this is one of those YDMV things but my experience has been that sometimes my basal needs just change and sometimes the change in need is significant and seems to appear overnight. This was true on MDI and it's still true on the pods. So I don't think you can automatically rule out stress or sickness or basal need changes either. If only it were that simple and clear cut.