Its not really if you are resting the area for a month or more. If you read...the triangle is just a visual suggestion. It is really about the healing time and being able to find three fresh spots in an area. Sometimes it is a triangle and sometimes it is not.
I get the logic. And if you're not having issues, which it sounds like you're not, then the benefits, including both convenience and lots of time for that area to subsequently heal, are great.
Ultimately we all have to figure out what works for us, so I didn't mean to be unduly judgmental of your approach, just to express my concerns about the potential consequences.
I actually hadn't read your response at this point...I just read about the charts and graphs people were using and feeling overwhelmed.lol But to be clear the triangle is a visual aid and what is technically three shots in an area will not cause hardening. It is my understanding that its the repeated breaking of the skin/muscle and the resulting scar tissue that causes the hardening...not so much the insulin being delivered. But like you said that is only my experience after 28 years. Everyone does have to find their own way. There are spots that I avoid that I know work very well for others.
Niccolo,
Have you tried manual slant sets vs auto slant sets? I have found a huge difference in how comfortable the placement is with manual sets and never had a site failure when using them. Have had many issues with the auto version of my preferred Comfort Short. Same cannula length, same physical area, but not so good results. Some of it is related to user error /kinking etc but just as much is due to the impact of the spring loader. Do not get that with the control of speed and also control of angle from a manual set. Did need to learn what orientations worked best since for me with a shallow angle the discomfort was related to where the cannula/attachment clip was angled in relation to how my body bends/flexes/twists in daily activities and also where I lay when I sleep.
For me straight sets gave much poorer absorption - I needed 30% more insulin when using a straight set and trying the longer cannula did not help.
You will need to try as many sets as your pump is compatible with. As well as taking your top few sets and seeing if they work for you in different areas.
Interesting experiences. I started placing both Inset 90 and Comfort manual angled sets, I believe the latter is the most popular manual angled set out there. I found that the Inset caused a tad more deep-tissue irritation, but the Comfort caused more skin-surface irritation, one of the consequences of which was creating more of mark/scar that took longer to heal up. So I've stuck with the Inset since then, and am pretty happy with it. I did get a few other sets from my rep to try, but haven't tried them yet.
I have found that healing time and length of time you can use a site is influenced by what you do as your site prep routine.
I have tried a few things and found that on site change day what works best for me is to pull old site, then shower as normal but use a chlorhexadine scrub at end of shower that is placed on both the new area as well as the old site. Then when place the new site will use alcohol wipe on both old and new location. Once site is placed will do twice a day neosporin on prior site for a few days. When it has scabed and peeled will stop the neosporin. By then is usually 2days and is just a red dot that raids by the time I pull and place the next site.
I will say that alcohol alone did not give me the same results and if I used IV prep, then had pump bump/infection issues on a regular basis.
You will need to find out what works for you but also what works with your normal flora/bugs your colonized with. This will be different from person to person as well as by geographic area and for me risk of occupational exposure.
I was surprised my rep suggested not even doing alcohol, because it irritates the skin, as long as I'd showered recently. I'm more leery of infection so have definitely been doing alcohol. Scabbed and peeled sounds intense, I would characterize my sites as red dots pretty much as soon as I remove the infusion sets. Uni-solve has a lot to do with that, though.
In my son's case, it was suggested that each spot where you have 3 sites marked that he do between 6 and 8 in a sort of up/down W M pattern that are close to each other section, to give even more time before he returns to any particular side as his arms and thighs don't provide any fat, just muscle that kinks sets.
I know this is an old topic, but I prefer reviving old one rather then creating new one (the power of search )
To track my pump sites I’ve been using inSite for three weeks now… it’s great.
I can add sites to it from my phone, iPad, and computer so it’s easy to keep track of sites no matter where/when I change them. Also, I think it’ll be really interesting to see if any site patterns form (nothing obvious yet).
https://www.freeddm.com/insite
I’m going to keep using it for a few more week before putting a review in the “apps” forum, but so far so great.
I’ve been using Blip/ Tidepool to track sites (along with everything else)