Following a few topics on here I thought it would be interesting to find out how insulin absorption is for the variety of T1s on here. As someone who's been diabetic for 26.5 years, I find that there are times, even with rotated sites, that my insulin absorption is somewhat slower in some sites than others. I've also found that having lost a lot of body fat, I'm now going intramuscular inadvertently more frequently. This doesn't bother me, but I think it drives more ammunition for a pump.
How do you find your absorption? How long have you been diabetic? Do you have 5 to 45 minute variance for insulin to take effect?
When I was switched from Monotard to Insulatard many years ago, my control declined but I blamed myself. When I was switched from Insulatard to Lantus round about 2000, the DN said in passing, "Oh yes, it will be better because the absorption of Insulatard is very erratic." I was livid. I could have been spared many years of self-blaming had I known that all along.
So, first point, it may be insulin itself, not the injection sites, which is the problem.
When switching to Lantus, I was told,"It is very even. You can go to bed with it at 5mmol, and wake up at 5." For me there followed years of night-time hypos and anxiety, until the mass of diabetics on whom it was being "trialled" proved that is indeed the profile of Lantus for most people.
In the last few years I found it was not working well at all for me. Sometimes it was as if I had no basal at all, judging by my blood sugars. I did various "experiments" on my lab rat (me) to work out what the problem was. A couple of times I simply switched to dividing the dose up into eight and injecting 2 units of Novorapid every three hours (which, at meal times, I combined with my bolus dose). I instantly achieved perfect blood sugars. At this point I went and asked for a pump, but they were not available in Turkey at the time because the pump manufacturers had no distribution agreements with anyone here.
So I persevered with the Lantus. It was patchy to say the least. On yet another occasion I was having consistently high blood sugars even though I was watching my carbs like a hawk, exercising, etc, etc. I was testing at every opportunity. Then suddenly one day - perfect. That was the time I realized I had to stop always doing my Lantus in my thighs. The perfect day was the day I changed my injection site.
So I switched the site for my Lantus. But I saw that it seemed to have quite a bad effect quite quickly on my new sites.
So, finally, I managed to get a pump. Now I religiously rotate the site. So far I use my lower and upper abdomen and my hips and I want to use my bum and arms - that means attaching it one-handed, though and that takes a bit of practice with the set inserter, I got in a tangle a few times. I never leave it in the same place for more than three days. I just cannot afford to lose any more sites. I tend not to see big improvements by "resting" a site - at least so far. It is of great concern to me because I have had diabetes for nearly fifty years, and I am hoping to have it for another forty or so (cure would be best, but they promised me that about thirty years ago and I'm still waiting.....). I don't believe I've got forty more years' worth of sites.
Do other people find that long-acting insulins affect their injection sites more than short-acting?
