After two months of using the OmniPod, I started having a lot of problems with highs for no apparent reason. I’ve always injected myself in the lower abdomen so that’s where I’ve always worn the pods, too.
Yesterday I made the Big Change to my upper arm. I love it! It’s more “out of the way” and more comfortable, too.
At the same time, I’m suddenly going low. I anticipated a slight change in insulin absorption but this is pretty big! I’m going to have to adjust my basal and bolus if I’m going to keep using my arm as the site.
Have any of you been through this? I’d love to hear your stories.
I have placed the pod on my arm only twice, both times I have had blood at the site. I don’t think I’ll try my arm again for a while, though. I honestly have no fat on my arm, so that is why I guess.
I haven’t placed a pod on my arm, but I have experienced a serious low when injecting insulin into my arm, as opposed to my abdomen. This happened a long time ago, when I was first diagnosed as diabetic. I played guitar in a band in Germany, and took a shot in my arm to cover my meal just before we started playing at a club. Within an hour, I was almost about to pass out. I checked my BG, and it was just above 40. When I related this to my (at the time) doctor, he said that my vigorus guitar playing, using my arm to strum very fast, had affected the way the insulin was absorbed.
I would be careful and track your BGs when using your arm, consult you CDE, and then adjust the basal and bolus accordingly.
Thanks, Gary. I have been tracking my BGs closely and have made two adjustments so far to both my basal and my insulin-to-carb ratio. Although I was very skeptical at first, my arm is clearly the best place for me for my pod so I really want to make it work.
Since you had a history of using your abdomen for injections, it is no surprise that it demonstrated a lower absorption rate. There is a certain amount of atrophy or desensitization that accompanies years of injections in the same area. The good news is that the PDM lets you have different basal programs that you can switch between as you change your pod site. And I think that over time your abdomen can “heal” if it is not being bombarded by multiple injections every day, so that eventually it may absorb the same as other locations. Ask your Dr. about that…
