Aug 11
14
Diabetes Infusion Sites, Insulin, and Injections
Summer
This summer has been going quickly and as usual, I’ve had some issues with my infusion sites; keeping them on, sticking, and having/finding “good spots” on body.
One of the main issues is that it’s been a hot, humid, and dry summer season so when I do any activity (or none at all because I have been sweating -just standing or sitting), I sweat, and the sticky part gets wet both front and back and ends up falling off or not sticking especially after showering. Ya know, sometimes I feel like a real life superstar or professional sports player because I know some professional diabetics and they don’t wear a pump or have infusion sites just for that reason because 1. they sweat a lot and 2. they get wet whether it’s because of the activity they are doing or because they shower after which enhances the non-productivity of the site staying on. Well, the last part, showering, is true for most people anyway, hopefully, regardless whether you do activity or not. Most professional sports players take insulin through syringes, insulin shots or injections.
Troubleshoot
With the infusion sets that fell off and were only on for a few minutes or at most a couple hours, I tried to get replacements. Well, when I contacted the company they said I should have called right when it was happening and they could’ve assisted with the situation or helped troubleshoot. Ok…well…how are you supposed to help when the site completely fell off?! The support representatives are not too swift, unsupportive, unwelcoming, and ungenerous, and sometimes don’t have a clue of what diabetic pump users are dealing with. Plus, a couple times when I shot the infusion site on, the cannula apparently bent but I didn’t know/wasn’t for sure at the time.
The first time I didn’t know because when I looked at the needle it was fine and the site was fine but the second time I noticed and figured there might be a problem because after I shot the infusion site, the needle was bent afterwards, and the site wasn’t totally sticking. Therefore, I waited a little while and sure enough I went extremely high, felt the moistened site, and replaced it. Again, when I tried to get replacements, they said I should’ve called sooner, and told me there was nothing they could do. Yet, one I told them this wasn’t the first time and an earlier representative gave me replacements, the person argued and said at most, they could give me two. I settled for two because it was better than nothing, not the four or five I should have received, but it was something.
A lesson was learned here of course, first and foremost, be careful with your infusion sites and use them wisely and if you do have a problem with them, call your company who supplies them immediately. If you don’t, then you’ll just have to suck it and forgo the ones that were defective and pay more later.
Pay more for less and then some
Moreover, that was another issue, I wasn’t due for another delivery yet as I had received a shipment just a few weeks earlier and I surely didn’t want to pay for another whole box, I just wanted replacements (like the replacements they had given me months before). Guess the company doesn’t know what their employees are saying to customers on the phone or some are trained better than others, or some are just more nice than others. Yet, all the employees need to be consistent, not one month giving things away and the next month sticking it up your a**. Just like the service should be when you go out to eat or in retail but that’s another story. At least now I know that when I call, it will be different each time. And believe me, I’m a person that likes change, variety, and differences, but not when it comes to healthcare. But, just like everyone else in this down economy, people are cutting back more and making you pay more for less.
Pumpless
So I’ve gone a few days without wearing the pump and giving insulin shots instead. It has worked out fine (somewhat). The only way to do this, of course, is to test your blood sugar often (as you should be). Therefore, when I know I’m going to eat I test my blood sugar, put the number into the pump, and sometimes I see how much it would give me so I have an idea on how much to give. Usually, I just know but sometimes I check to see. Then, I give the shot of insulin.
This has worked okay for me the time I’m awake during the day but, when it’s when it comes to nighttime is the issue. Since my/the body is used to getting continuous insulin through the day/night it doesn’t know how to react so of course I go high. As such, I’ve had to set my alarm to go off in the middle of the night to give insulin to offset going too high since I didn’t have the pump on to give any. This would totally disrupt my sleep and of course for those few days I had restless sleep.
Result
However, one thing I’m definitely suggesting is to NOT do this. Again, I’m letting you know these things because if you do decide to do this and take this route, at least you have knowledge of how to go about doing it. The important thing to know and do is test BG often, give right amount of insulin, and give insulin when you sleep. Once the heat wave was over, I went back on the pump and things were more steady.