I’ve been having insulin absorption issues lately. Well not 100 percent sure its not just insulin going bad.
Yesterday I was doing great and the my sugar just went staring up from 111 to 230. I was blousing to bring it down, at the end I bollused 12 units. That’s a lot of insulin for me my average is 6 units per meal. I changed everything out and gave 7 more
So I know it was delivered because I feel it. But where does it go when not absorbed. I’m afraid to sleep because all that extra insulin might hit me at night.
I might go to changing every 2 days.
Possibly injecting into scar tissue? As a very lucky T2 who’s been on insulin for over 30 years, I don’t seem to develop scar tissue from injections, although I do have some lower, left-side abdominal scar tissue from surgery. I can’t put my sites in that area because I get almost no absorption at all in that area. Just a thought.
I agree it’s probably in scar tissue, however. There is insulin in there. Where does it go? Does it come out slowly or not at all or does it become inactivated. It’s a mystery to me
I’ve been having insulin insensitivity issues lately, too, very similar to you. I’m thinking mine might do to unusually high stress lately. Could that be your issue, too?
Ah, diabetic control!!! Most days it is pure science, some days, however, seems more like an art than science and then we have those occasional totally baffling days that are just a total mystery. Hindsight, of course, luckily we can usually justify any of our occasional bad habits away.
I had tried to place a pod on my calf once and it didn’t work out so well. I ended up going to the doctor because I had a chick pea size lump under where the canula was. They lanced the site and the scent of insulin filled the room as it ran down my calf.
It just stayed there. I too had to wonder, what if it would have been absorbed, all at once, three days of insulin.
Funny you mention this because I was just about the post very similar issues but mine is with new infusion set changes. I’ve had many occurrences where my sugar just goes rogue after a set change. I bolus for an entire meal and can feel the insulin being injected but my sugar seems like there was no insulin at all. My sugar is currently at 300 although I had a light lunch and bolus for a full meal! Usually I find in these instances is about 15 hours later, I get an occlusion alarm.
I decided to change my set out. But I always worry about a new set change now because it’s like 50/50 chance it doesn’t work
I’m using Tandem now, and 25+ years with Medtonic pump. In all cases of infusion set change, I do a “cannula fill” larger than recommended, as my solution to the high when new infusion set inserted. Currently using Tandem XC, 6mm, and do 1.2 fill cannula. (Have to repeat the fill on pump)
And with C-IQ, it will adjust basal anyway but generally better to have it reduce basal for trending low, than chase a rising bg with increased basal.
So odd. Something must be blocking my access because I sent the link to my husband at work and he was able to view and print for me. If someone else isn’t able to view it, try a different physical location and that might help, as it did for me.
More often than not unfortunately. I do a fill of 1 unit with the 6mm cannula.
The problem is it doesn’t tell me straight away that my tslim is blocked and insulin is delivered as I bolus. Even after 10 units straight it is okay but my BG just shoots through the roof with no effect
This is why I cam off my pump. It’s was ALWAYS the set. I would end up changing my set almost daily. I don’t have these problems in Tresiba. I teach yoga and each practice I my cannula would either 1. move under my skin as I stretch to facia or 2. puncture through the muscle wall when I leaned or laid on it on the floor. The cannulas looked fine to the naked eye but then the sugars would slowly climb and my Dr. did believe me when I said the sets and my job weren’t good. Changing my set was always my first line of defense or take it thought a shot.
I used to use pods and this would be me. I would starve myself till I knew the insulin was actually be going in. I was miserable every time I had to change my pod. It’s almost like you need to wait for it to “take” if I used my butt it would take close to 6-8 hours at times.
T1 for 45 years and more random days of “inject all you want, I’m not having it.” Or “if you want this to work, you better massage the h*** out of the injection site.” Endo has examined me for injection sites to avoid, scar tissue, etc. - no problems found. Yet short acting insulin can take 10 minutes or 1 hour or occasionally never to show activity. Eating never seems to have the same problem. I’m just staying with the most reliable locations until I figure out the patterns, if any. And low glycemic carbs are the norm.
Injecting a second dose when the first one seems to have “disappeared” should put you on high alert. Double arrows down on the CGM are unnerving, and happen when you least expect it.
Last year I had a bunch of pod sites not work well and I started using a scar oil blend and then argan oil each time on the side I just took off my pod. You can’t always see or feel scar tissue when it starts. It made a major turn around, plus a very ugly old appendix scar has almost disappeared.
But given that this year I’ve had 10 pods bad in 3 months and was beginning to wonder if it was me or? But it turned out 6 pods were from the same lot, 2 different boxes and the other 4 were from the same lot, same box. I refused to try the 5th one. And since then I’ve had no issues at all with the new lot number.
And yes, I should have never put on that 3rd or definitely 4th pod from the same box lol. But that’s another story!
Thanks for the article. My doc says she cannot feel any scar tissue below the skin, but the unpredictability of absorption can drive me nuts. It mostly acts in a normal fashion with food intake starting 15-20 minutes after dosing, but it sometimes slow rolls or is MIA for hours. Massaging the site can help but not dependably. I even tried the ultra-fast acting insulin Lyumjev, but no change in the randomness.
I wish there was a pattern with the injection sites or pen needle type or timing of exercise but I haven’t found one. I can go for weeks with no issues and then suddenly have a week where for 2-3 days every dose is a shot in the dark (pun intended), and I skip some meals altogether to avoid the roller coaster. Funny how the digestive system never misses a step in raising blood sugar.
I too have wondered where the phantom doses go, because there are times (fortunately rare) where I suddenly have to eat double the carbs to keep up with a normal insulin dose.
The YouTube series on “If Blood Sugar Could Talk” is spot on. I often find myself demanding “what the hell?” to my body. I am an active 68 year old T1 - maybe just the dreaded “sucks getting old” factor?
I even tried a different browser because sometimes that can be a factor. Still nothing.