never having had a pump before, i seem to be getting used to it. i am wondering however, how often people change their sites. i know what the recommendations are, but do you ever find you have to change more often, or can you sometimes go a little longer? i have the Animas Ping and i am also wondering what your favourite infusion sets are?
I love my ping, have been using it for almost 2 months. I use the insets, I find them easy and comfortable. I do change every 3 days. Have worked out my insulin needs so I don’t waste much. I rotate sites. I have 4 areas on each thigh, 6 on each side of abdomen, 2 on each love handle and one on each upper butt that I can reach - I’m pretty careful about rotating areas, and sites, so they don’t get used more than every couple of months.
Glad you’re getting used to it! There’s a lot to learn.
I have a ping also and use the Insets for going on nearly 3 weeks or so and ive noticed that in the past couple days my sets tend to prime fine but then they start acting up i bolus and insulin doesnt seem to enter my body or something along those lines and it goes up and doesnt seem to wanna go down untiil i take a shot then i hypo ughh and also i change the set after and then seem to do it again within the past 3 days ive changed my set 3 times overall im pretty aggravated
I’ve been a pump user for four years. In that time I’ve only had to change a site early two times and then because of site problems. The canula kicked on insertion. Normally I change every three days. A couple of times it has gone to four days but not usually.
From everything I’ve heard and read, changing every three days greatly minimizes the possibilty of have skin, site and infection issues. It definitely has worked for me.
I have a ping, too. I usually go four days, but find that after that, my site starts to itch and the insulin doesn’t absorb as well. I use the Cleo sets. Used them with my last pump and really liked them…so stuck to them…haven’t tried the ones from Animas yet…
Are you saying that you can leave your site in the same place for three WEEKS??? wow…
lol no what im saying is that something is happening where i change it then at night lately it just starts running high i bolus and nothing so im thinking something is happening with my tubing because i take a shot and within a hour it has dropped quite a bit
If you ARE using them for 3 weeks, as you said, then I’d say that’s the problem. The tubing, reservoir and site will deteriorate.
It’s a good sign if you have a couple of consecutive high sugars that you need to change your site. I had a lot of site problems until I went to a pump specialist who showed me more places I could put the site. Now I’m doing much better…My A1C in March was 9.7. They did one at the endo’s office on Wednesday and it has dropped to 7.6…so I am happy about that!!!
so what are Cleo sets? I am in Canada, and so far i have tried the Inset II 9mm and 6mm (which i like), the contact-detach 8mm (they’re okay) and i have 2 called Inset 30…it looks difficult! LOL!!
I had something similar happen. I found out for whatever reason I could not use Humalog insulin. When I use Humalog in the pump my sites are good for about 8-10 hours and then I would have to change.
i had issues and went through now 6 sets in 5 days so they are replacing some of those sets and sending me a sample of the inset 30s might be better for me
Cleos are made by Smith’s Medical and they were orignally made for the CozMore pump, which was my last pump. I think if you just “google” them, you should find them. I buy them from a pharmacy in CA and they are about $85.00 a box (10 in a box). They may have gone up, not sure. I buy several boxes at a time, since I don’t want to have to buy them all the time. I buy my insulin from Canada at $46.00 a vial, and my test strips come from American Diabetes Wholesale, and they are about 1/2 price, too…
I’ve been using the Inset 30 since I started two weeks ago, wouldn’t call them difficult to use.
Over the years I found the MM QuikSet to be quite comfortable and will stick with it if I should change pump companies. I assume they’re like Insets. I change every 3 days faithfully but it hasn’t always been the rule. When I first started pumping they said you could wear the infusion sets 5-7 days (yikes) and then found that caused scar tissue. Then they lowered it to 3-5 and now no more than 3. If you do not want to have scar tissue, I would say to stick with 3-day changes. I no longer have use in several areas of my abdomen because of the early years’ sites. I’ve found different areas to use but the rotation goes a lot quicker than was stated above. Good luck with pumping. After the first month or so it should be a breeze for you.
Andrew, just curious, are you priming your pump and then using fixed prime (MM term) to fill the cannula after insertion? If you miss this step then it would explain the highs that you are getting afterwards.
Good luck to you! It takes time to adjust to pumping.
yes i was told by my educator and animas trainer not to fill cannula until the set is inside my body then once it is i proceed to fill it with .3 units
that’s a significant drop in you A1c Sue! that’s fantastic. in november mine was 8.8, and in mar it had dropped to 7.9, and that’s without the pump. i go again in june so am hoping that now with the pump it will have dropped again!! i would love a 6. that would make me very happy!! what are some of the other places you put your site? i have a frozen left shoulder and so am finding it difficult to move it too far and am not really comfortable with having my husband or daughter do it for me 8|
so i have a couple of the Inset 30 samples that came with my pump. not sure how to use them. will have to take a good look at them and figure them out during a quiet time! not that there are many quiet moments in my house!! it looks as though you have to load the site into the injector??
Thanks, Kim…I’m happy about the A1C. I’m hoping to get it down in the low 6’s. I put my sites on my upper thigh, fatty part of my back, just below breast height. I, too, have a little rotator cuff trouble in my left shoulder, so I have to be sure I can reach it. The right side is easier. I also use lower abdomen, below panty line, but I used that quite a bit, so I try to not use it too much. I used the abdomen around my belly button for so many years before the pump, that there is too much scar tissue there to put the infusion site. I haven’t used my upper arms, but the Dr. told me I could, so I might try that some time…not in the summer, though…does that help?