Ever heard of this...

[dragonfly1113]

I was having a problem with high readings after I changed my infusion set. Someone recommended that I leave my old set in a while because it still had insulin in the canula. So I have my new set in and hooked up and leave the old canula still in with nothing hooked to it. (I hope you can understand what I am saying, I am confusing myself lol)
anyway before I did that I had readings in the upper 200's and sometimes I would hit 300 but then after a while it would start coming down. This last time I changed my set and did what was recommended and my bg never went above 139.
Have any of you ever heard of this or did this?
Susie

[Gina]

Ok, let me understand this! lol

you leave the old Infusion in without any insulin connected to it? and, then you put your new set in? I dont see how that would help your blood sugars because nothing is pumping into it....

The reason that your blood sugars may be raising before you change your set is because, after the third day of the infusion set being in the insulin is losing its lets say its power to keep your blood sugars down, the site is getting a little old and because of that you may see a raise in blood sugars!

The second thing is maybe you need a little more basal at a certain time to help you with the highs....Maybe you can give us an example of your blood sugars on the day your changing your pump to see whats happening?

For me on the third day i always become a little bit higher than usual, I asked my pump trainer and she said its normal to become higher on the third day, so she told me that i should change every two days instead. she said it works better for people, i dont do that though because i would rather change on the third day so i just am a little more cautious to what i eat on that third day

I wouldnt leave the old set in i think thats weird, I really dont see a purpose in it since nothing is pumping into it....

[dragonfly1113]

Gina,
I never go high before changing it always after changing sets. After I change my set the rest of the day I run high and by bedtime it is starting to come down.
They say there is still insulin in the canula after you disconnect that your body will absorb it. I thought it was silly too but then I tried it and my bg stayed normal all day. Maybe it was a fluke. Next time I change my set I will see how my bs does. If my sugars run good like the last time I will test it by not leaving the set in the next time and see if I get high readings again.
Susie

[Gina]

are you only high after you change your set or everyday at that time? It just sounds weird to me about leaving the other one in because your new site should be working....maybe you have bubbles in the tubing.....do you prime your pump?

[dragonfly1113]

Originally posted by Gina
are you only high after you change your set or everyday at that time? It just sounds weird to me about leaving the other one in because your new site should be working....maybe you have bubbles in the tubing.....do you prime your pump?

Gina,
I am always high after changing sets with the exception of this last time. I manually prime my tubing until I see drops appear and then I keep shooting insulin out to make sure I dont have bubbles and then I prime my canula with 0.3. I would still go high. Maybe I just primed it better last time. But several people had told me that leaving the old one in works. I will have to experiment futher. lol
Susie

[Gina]

i dont know susie it just sounds so weird to me that you even have to do that

[David]

Hi Gina, some pumpers leave their old set in for a couple of hours after putting a new one in. Just cuz its not pumping doesnt mean that the insulin setting in the canula (yeah, I know its only 0.5u) and in the surrounding tissue wont be absorbed. When you pull out the old set right away, take a look, theres insulin pulled out with the set and its on your skin now.
Another reason to leave it in is just in case the new canula has kinked on insertion. If I change my set just before dinner, and we're going out for dinner, I probably wont know its kinked till I bolus to eat. If that happened at a restaurant, I'd have 2 choices, shoot or try to quickly change my set. This would give me another choice, simply disconnect my kinky new set, connect to my old set and bolus, and re-change the set when its convenient for me.
Some dont do it, but it works for others.
David

[Gina]

i never heard of it but if it works

[Tony]

Originally posted by dragonfly1113
Gina,
I prime my canula with 0.3

You should be primming .5, that is what I was told. Maybe that is why you go high later. But we are talking about such a small amount of insulin.

David, have you left the old set in? And when you had removed it 2 hours later, was there insulin left on the canula?

[dragonfly1113]

Tony I have the 6mm and Minimed told me to prime 0.3 I often wondered if that was enough.

[Tony]

Originally posted by dragonfly1113
Tony I have the 6mm and Minimed told me to prime 0.3 I often wondered if that was enough. I use the 6mm too.

[David]

David, have you left the old set in? And when you had removed it 2 hours later, was there insulin left on the canula?

Ive rarely had a high BG problem post set change Tony, so I admit I dont do it often. For me, whether I leave it in depends on the circumstances. My BGs already running higher or Im going out to eat would be a reason to leave it in for me. Ive talked to enough other pumpers to know that this is a pretty common technique. Not everyone needs it, but its another option.
After 2 hrs, the canulas not full, but there is some insulin (or some other bodily fluid) :p still in there.
David

[dragonfly1113]

Tony,
Who told you to prime it to 0.5? I was really shocked that I only had to prime it 0.3 because the silhouettes had to be primed (9mm) 1.0 Maybe I just need to prime mine to 0.5.
susie

[Gina]

I prime at .5 also....that is what my pump trainer told me!

[dragonfly1113]

My pump trainer didnt know so I called mimimed. Imagine that, my DE didnt know. She hasnt known anything the whole time.

[Vic L]

What pissses me off is that if you question her she gets offensive right? You will learn your pump faster than she ever did and will not need her much. Have you spoken with a Minimed rep? I mean a local sales rep for Minimed.

[dragonfly1113]

Originally posted by Vic L
What pissses me off is that if you question her she gets offensive right? You will learn your pump faster than she ever did and will not need her much. Have you spoken with a Minimed rep? I mean a local sales rep for Minimed.

She is doing better now. I suggest something and she okays it. At first she got mad at me because I got tired of asking and would do it on my own. Now I tell her that I am going to do something and she says okay. She knows more about the paradigm than the 508. She knows about the soft-set and the silhouettes but not the quick sets. You was offended that I questioned things she did because I was talking to people on the net. She said what works for one might not for another. I was really upset that she didnt want to listen to the unused insulin rule because I felt like I was giving myself too much insulin at the 2nd hour to correct. I was and so now I look at the chart before giving a correction. I didnt listen to her on that one. And didnt tell her that I was using the unused insulin rule chart.
But like I said she is getting better. I know if I need to know something I can ask here and get my answers so I am not as scared anymore.
Susie

[David]

"Who told you to prime it to 0.5? I was really shocked that I only had to prime it 0.3 because the silhouettes had to be primed (9mm) 1.0 Maybe I just need to prime mine to 0.5."

When in doubt, read the instructions. Every box of quicksets has an instruction sheet packed with it.
Step #10 (Step #7 under manual insertion): "Fill the empty space in the cannula by running the following fixed primes:
U-100 Insulin
9mm: 0.5u (0.005ml)
6mm: 0.3u (0.003ml)

[Tony]

Originally posted by Gina
I prime at .5 also....that is what my pump trainer told me!

My pump trainer said the same thing.
To prime .5

[dragonfly1113]

Originally posted by David
"Who told you to prime it to 0.5? I was really shocked that I only had to prime it 0.3 because the silhouettes had to be primed (9mm) 1.0 Maybe I just need to prime mine to 0.5."

When in doubt, read the instructions. Every box of quicksets has an instruction sheet packed with it.
Step #10 (Step #7 under manual insertion): "Fill the empty space in the cannula by running the following fixed primes:
U-100 Insulin
9mm: 0.5u (0.005ml)
6mm: 0.3u (0.003ml)

Never saw that in step 7 so I went to look and sure enough it says to prime 0.3 for the 6 mm.
Thanks David
Susie

[Tony]

Ok I did a little checking on things too. Gina and I where told to prime .5 because we was using the softset. I read the instructions and they say to prime .5.

Thanks for pointing that out. I will prime the .3 now for the quicksets.

[Gina]

im not using sofsets im using quicksets and my pump trainer told me to always prime at .5

[Tony]

Originally posted by Gina
im not using sofsets im using quicksets and my pump trainer told me to always prime at .5 I know your using the quicksets now. But didn't you start with the softsets?

[Gina]

oh yea but i hated those they were horrible, so much freaking tape

[Cront]

Well, now I can't wait until I change my set next!
I too, have always gone high after changing the sets. I change after 3rd day, use the 6mm quickset and prime 5 units and then .5 into the canula. But then, EVERY time, I rocket to 200 -300 for several hours after the change. I'm to the point to where I actually dread the "3rd day."
It's as if it takes my body a few hours to say "...hey! the insulin's coming in from over HERE now." By bedtime, the BG's start to level out, but I feel like I've been run over by a truck. I always change early on the third day in anticipation of this phenomena. I will try leaving in the old set for a few hours and let you all know if it works for me. I'll try anything at this point. Cheers! ~Cront