Okay, pretty much I’m just needing to vent right now…
I’ve been on the pump for a little over a month now and I LOVE IT! But my issues are with my sites. I can go days with great BG levels and then I’ll change my site, and my sugars run a little high. Not too high like nothing’s going in, just not where I want them like the absorption is super super slow. I changed my site on Tuesday morning to my lower abdomen and they’ve been running alittle high since then…again, not too high, just higher than I like…I ran right around 150 all day yesterday and it wasn’t until I was going to bed at midnight that it FINALLY got down to 108. I had to bolus SO MUCH yesterday! And I almost had to skip lunch yesterday because it was driving me CRAZY! Every time I ate yesterday they would spike up to 250 and then only come back down to 150. And since I was having to use so much more insulin I had to change my site a day early this morning. I changed it to my left “love-handle”’’ this morning and I’m not sure it’s working any better either.
What makes it even more frustrating is that all last week with my sites in my rear, my sugars were SOOOO GOOD!! So then when suddenly they won’t come back down…it’s really annoying.
I’m just super frustrated because I really want to just do something else, but I know that eventually things will get better…they’re just not getting better in the timely matter that I would like them to. I know people have problems with sites all the time, I just haven’t had any trouble until now.
Does anybody have any suggestions on where to put the infusion? If I put it in my abdomen I have to put it in my upper abdomen. I’ve tried my lower twice now and I guess I still have scar-tissue there from injections because the absorption rate just sucks. But I can’t just put it in my rear, which works the best so far, because if I switch back too early, then it won’t work there either. I have to give my sites at least a week break in between putting in the same area again.
Okay, I’m done with my venting. Thank you for reading.
I find just the opposite. When I use a site on my backside (up high, just below my belt) my sugars run high just like you described, and I’m much better in the abdomen. Bottom line is that different sites absorb differently, probably related somehow to the distribution of fat on your body. The best I can say is to be consistent and use one general area all the time (or as much as possible). Just as you described, the difference can be dramatic.
Having said that, I suppose its a bit easier for me being a man. Mens’ clothing doesn’t vary as much as women’s, and I pretty much use the same technique to “hide” my infusion set and pump no matter what I wear. But you’re not the ony one, I experience dramatic differences as well!
One tip, you might want to try different infusion sets for different sites.
Have you ever heard the advice about following a “W” pattern across the lower abdomen? Perhaps you’d have more luck following a really strict rotation like that for a while.
I’ve been using my rear more lately and it has been great. (I have to giggle when I type that.) But even there, I’m careful to use a pattern - like lower right of right side, lower right of left side, upper middle of right side…etc. ad infinitum.
It’s possible that with rotation, you could come up with as many as 20 separate areas, and at 3 days a pop, not use one site twice in 2 months. Some people have luck with legs, but the tubing can get annoying down your leg (I feel). Or you could try the fattier part of your hips. I found that I had too much movement in my hip and the set burned a little there.
Well, I have good news…My site in my “love-handle” is working really really well. I was worried about it at first, but it is doing just great. Which means that I can rotate to there instead of my abdomen for awhile. I’ve just found that if say…I start on the right “cheek” and then go to the left…if I go right back to the right “cheek” it doesn’t work as well as it did the last time. And I NEVER put it in exactly the same spot. It’s always higher or lower than where it was before. So the whole area needs more time than 3 days to recover. So I had a system where was going, right rear, right abdomen, left abdomen, left rear, and rotating that way. So it was a whole 9 days before I was back at a site. But then this week that didn’t work for whatever reason. So instead of putting it my left abdomen today, i put it in my left love-handle, so I can keep on my rotation.
mine works great on my abdomen, this is the best site where i can put my infusion site. absorption rate is just wonderful, blood sugar readings are good …i dont have problems with my site except for thigh areas, ive used the silhouttes in my thighs and it was frustrating coz my BG stayed high, so i dont use thigh areas for now… im also thinking of trying to use the back arms next time… i dunno… its just a matter of trying and see what the results are…
by the way, do you think it could be due to the type of infusion sets youre using… ? try to check…
