Thursday, July 19, 2007

So that's why you change the infusion set!

I've been on the pump for a couple weeks now, up until Tuesday I hadn't had a problem with it. I had planned on changing my infusion site that evening when I got home from work - however, during a pretty tough speed workout at the gym the tape adhesion started to peel away from the skin a bit - no big deal I thought it will stay there until I get home. After I finish my run I notice that the adhesionison is half off so I hustle over to Duane Reade to pick up some athletic tape. As I walk up Broad St - I feel a pinch at my side and then realized that the damn thing fell out! Luckily I kept some extra infusion sets at my office but didn't have the minimed inserter - so for the first time I had to jam that big needle into my gut; not fun, I like the inserter much better!

I wanted to see how long 1.4 mg of insulin would last in my pump for so I didn't change the reservoir after the infusion site change - last night at the Yankee game I was greeted by a low reservoir warning - no big deal, I had enough left for the basal during the game and 1 bolus. But I learned two valuable lessons from this - change your infusion site every 3 days (not 4) and 1.4 mg of insulin will last me 5 days, I'll just keep learning this stuff as I go.

3 comments:

Major Bedhead said...

O uses IV Prep under her sites in the warm weather. She says it helps it stick better when she gets hot and sweaty. There are also a couple of adhesive products you can use over your site - just cut a hole in the thing before peeling the paper off the back. If you go to the Minimed site, they have some listed there, under products. Tegaderm is one. O has used IV3000 with good results, too. There are lots of other ones, too - a search for diabetes supplies will bring up a whole list. You can even get cool ones with designs on them. A lot of people have this problem, although it seems to be worse with athletes and sweaty little kids.

Bernard said...

I agree with MB, IV Prep is a great help. Especially when you're going to be using the gym. You can apply it to the skin before inserting the new cannula (wave it dry a little first). Then apply it again over the tape for extra sticking.

Even if you can get more than 3 days out of one reservoir, you'll probably find that the absorption gets worse after about 3-1/2 days. So it's a good idea to change it out every three days.

Cara said...

Yup. That's why you change the infustion set! The most I've ever gone without changing is 4 days. And that has only happened a couple of times. I don't like to chance it. And I seem to notice that the site begins to get sensitive if I leave the set in for more than the 3 days. Learning is a good thing. I am still learning 15 months after I got my pump!