Hopefully the answers to all my newbie questions are helpful to the several other people who just started or are about to start pumping.
This morning I woke up at 186! I never go over 120 in the morning and usually am around 100 or less. I assumed it was a set problem but decided to try correcting first (besides I can’t think well enough to do a set change before my cappuchino yet!). I corrected and it is coming down nicely which is puzzling. I sleep at night with my pump tucked into the pocket of a spibelt and I generally loop most of the tubing and stuff it in there too, being careful not to close the zipper on it. So I’m wondering if maybe the small space of the pocket made the tubing kinked? (I was using a 43 inch which I like for getting dressed). Because once I got up I tucked the pump onto the waistbelt of my pants and tucked in the tubing much more loosely. So I wonder if it wasn’t delivering during the night? How sensitive is the tubing to crimping?
Just for added data, my blood sugar at bedtime was 108. (I rarely have blood sugar problems carry over from night to morning the way some do).
There are so many things that could have caused this. I’d say don’t freak out unless you see a trend.
Could have been anything from a kink to dawn phenomenon to the food you ate last night (depending on carb/fat/protein content on how it will act overnight in your system).
Write down what you ate last night (times, amounts, bgs, insulin dosage/type of dosage), time you went to sleep, and note your concern about kink and then see what happens in the future. See if you can find a trend or if this is just one of those Diabetes moments where it doesn’t do what it’s supposed to!
Yep, I know about those D moments…kind of like senior moments…lol. Not freaking out because the blood sugar is coming down, just still learning about the quirks of pump use.
I actually never have highs in the morning based on what I ate the previous night, not sure why that is as most people seem to; I’m also lucky not to have any DP to speak of. Thanks for the input; I’ll try to tuck the tubing more loosely tonight.
if it was kinked and not delivering, the chances that you would have gotten an occlusion alarm would be pretty high. check your occlusion detection settings, but even at ‘low’, if there’s any complete delivery stoppage, it goes off. did your pump say ‘pump is not primed, no delivery’ this morning? if so, check your alarms history and see if there was an occlusion
oh, and i used to wind mine around an old camera film winder inside a dental floss case. small spaces don’t bother the tubing much, it’s pretty firm so it doesn’t get pinched by waistbands and stuff.
No, no alarms or comments from the pump this morning and I have the occlusion sensitivity set to high. Since all is well now I guess it was just one of those inexplicable things. Thanks for letting me know the tubing isn’t that fragile; one less thing to worry about!
I have actually tried to do anything I could think of to kink the tubing and get an occlusion alarm. After much expirimentation I finally found something that would actually give me an alarm (I also use the 43 inch tubing and had my occlusion sensitivity set on high). I put my tubing underneath a very heavy dresser with a leg that has a vary sharp point to it. I then applied all my weight to that corner on the dresser and was finally able to get an occlusion alarm. The moral of the story is that if you do happen to get an occlusion alarm there is a 98% chance the occlusion is actually at the catheter of the infusion set. That tubing is extremely difficult to “pinch” enough to impede delivery.
As long as a correction brings my blood sugar down and nothing else is funky about the situation I usually chalk it up to a bubble in the cartridge/tubing. No matter how perfectly you fill that cartridge there is a possibility of bubbles forming.
I also have recently seen a study that looks at the amount of insulin delivery you get in relation to where the pump is located compared to the infusion set as well as the tubing length. The results showed that the longer the tubing the more inaccurate the dose (I still can’t give up my 43 inch tubing). Insulin dosing also varied based on if the pump was above or below the infusion set height. For someone who is very sensitive to insulin, the small amounts could end up making a difference.
Assuming I am comfortable with all my different settings, small differences in what my blood sugar is vs what I expect, I try not to worry too much as with the above factors you could drive yourself crazy trying to figure it out. It is the large ones that I really worry about (at least 100 points above what I would normally expect)
Thanks for the info, Moss. You made me laugh with your experiment description. Did you make bombs when you were 12 too?
I’m pretty insulin sensitive, so which way is better with the pump above or below the infusion set?
Nope I don’t worry much about small differences but 186 fasting is pretty damn close to 100 points above my normal! All is back to normal now so it’s a memory!
I am always doing some sort of experimentor or another…Drives my wife crazy!! I suppose in the end it has been overall a good thing for my DM.
I believe the study showed above the infusion set the pump over delivered and below the infusion set it under delivered. I will root around and see if I can find the study and will post some specifics for you if I can find it.
Maybe you had a dream last night you were running from a bear and that kicked in your fight or flight hormone cascade which caused your high fasting
Oh that’s ok, Moss, it sounds like it’s six of one and half dozen of the other. The only time I saw a bear up close I was delighted, actually. But then he was outside my house and I was happily inside laughing at him rooting around in the blackberrie bushes! Which is apropros (sp?) of literally nothing.
Actually it was conducted by Omni. But that is how all the pump companies work. They find the area they excel at and let everyone know. Actually, most research for ALL meds are mainly done by the manufactuer who is producing it. I personally think that this a problem there is no real good solution for.
I never thought too much about the research because I am not sensitive enough to insulin that overall it will not make that much of a difference for me. I guess there are so many factors that could potentially impact blood glucose a unit or 2 (for me) a day is really not that significant (BTW the research did not show a 1 or 2 unit difference- it was smaller than that I believe).
i’ve only snapped one once, after getting it caught. i’ve found it tied in knots [i still don’t know how] and it only set off the occlusion alarm when the knot got pulled tight. i’m using tubing with my cleo90 sets, but i got a few animas sets with my pump and still had them in the closet - they seem to be pretty much the same quality and sturdiness.
My fasting blood sugar is usually under 100, Jay; I don’t experience dawn phenomenon. I haven’t had the problem since this one, so I’m assuming it was just a fluke, possibly, as Susi said, a low followed by a liver dump.
