You'd think after all these years I would have known

Woke this a.m. with BG pushing 200, totally mystified–had some carbs before dinner, bolused appropriately, all back to normal by bedtime, so what the heck??? Looked at my CGM data for overnight, saw it start tracking up around 4am, well DP I guess but why so bad when I’m usually 100-130 first thing in the a.m.? Oh well, went about dosing with a correction, had coffee, took another look before getting ready for a shower–still going UP! 230!WTH?.. and only when I got undressed saw that my infusion set (upper thigh location) was all munged up. No duh! Of course!

I can’t believe that even after all these years I didn’t think to check that FIRST!

Anyone else have an “I can’t believe what a dumb diabetic I was, even after all these years!” story? I know I’m not the only one…

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No, you’re not the only one. Diabetes reminds me to be humble. Even though I have learned something about my diabetes and have made the right move many times, I can sometimes forget or life just seems to intervene and distract me until I can get it right. I think this is just human normal and occurs with non-diabetic life routines all the time.

For me, when I relearn something I once knew but forgot or failed to execute due to distraction, I seem to cement that knowledge in more securely for better recall the next time. What really worries me is the occurrence of more frequent “senior moments.” Cognitive agility is a fundamental requirement to do the diabetes dance we do.

One of my basic rules is to never make a large correction with glucose or insulin unless I back it up with a fingerstick. Every once in a while I’ll pull the trigger on a treatment based on a CGM reading only that was in the process of changing quickly and was a poor basis for a treatment decision. I know better than that but I can suckered into making an ill-informed decision. Then I still need to address the original problem as well as fixing the fix!

You are in such a huge group of people who do things like this daily. We all know better, we all know the ins and outs but sometimes we overlook the most obvious choice! I also have done this a number of times over the years. You would think it would be the first thing we look at but no, we bolus and we bolus and we rage! When infusion set should always be our first thought.
But here is one I do more than I should and I know better but do I do the smart thing or do I push through?! I walk to and from work everyday and sometimes by the end of the day, I am exhausted and just want to get home. But of course the blood sugar is low. So do I sit and wait for the glucose tablets to work, no, I eat them and walk home. I have always made it home but there have over the years been a few scary walks that were not really walks, more stumbling down the street. I know better, I do but I think many of us with diabetes don’t want to use it as an excuse or a reason not to do something. And I can be pretty stubborn much to my dismay!
We’ve all been there done that, haven’t we?!

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I’ve observed in me, when I reach a more serious low (<54 mg/dL, 3 mmol/L), my attention narrows and I intently focus on the task at hand, like walking home. I toss out all other thoughts and just try to persevere at whatever I’m doing. It’s as if my brain knows my glucose is limited and it doesn’t want to waste that attention on something else like testing and/or taking more glucose, when that is the exact thing I need! This is particularly dangerous with some activities like driving.

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First sign I’m having a bad one coming on: my knees start locking up and it makes me start walking funny. Probably a defensive physiological response to keep you from collapsing. But leads to that old thing about diabetics getting mistaken for being drunk–that’s what it looks like, yup. Losing your ability to see doesn’t help either :wink:

Can you clarify? Was it partially pulled out, or the connector loose?

Which set, and how do speculate it got that way.

I keep a notebook log of everything I eat, how much I dose, and any other pertinent information. I am known to write a bolus into the notebook and then forget to actually bolus. You can imagine what effect that has on BGs. Unfortunately, I do that too often. :roll_eyes:

I use Mio sets. Half the adhesive patch was crimped over underneath it, like I’d somehow pulled it half loose while rolling over in my sleep, then rolled over on it again, sticking it back down. When I pulled it off, the canula was bent flat, like it had been pulled all the way out and then re-flattened against my skin. Worst thing about yank-outs like this is they don’t trigger a non-delivery, but they also don’t come all the way off, so you don’t notice there’s anything wrong.

Thanks!

Your explanation sounds reasonable. Now I know what munged means, and can play it in doublets.

I wonder if thigh locations may be more vulnerable to this. When I put my dexcom on my thigh, I add extra goo and taping.