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Bad set or bad insulin?

MushyPeaBrain

Well-Known Member
Messages
647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
im on the last day of my holiday in Majorca and it's the hottest day so far. Changed set yesterday and worked fine, although not as effective as the previous one. Noticed my BG had run higher than usual overnight but not worryingly high. Got them down before breakfast but shot up again after. Temp basal of +30% on and perfect before lunch. After lunch rose but came down very slowly. Suddenly they are shooting up to 10 and higher as if set has stopped working. Could the insulin have gone bad in the heat? How could I tell?

I fly home tomorrow and don't want set issues. I have enough insulin for one more reservoir fill and was going to change tonight. What would you do first please? Have injected some insulin to bring BG down.
 
If I have problems with highs I always change my set first. It's surprising how many highs are due to bad sets or areas of poor absorption.

I'm not sure how you'd know if your insulin has gone off, but that'd be my next thought if the set change didn't work. But if your temp basal worked then, in my opinion, bad insulin is less likely.

Let us know how you get on and good luck in sorting it. Highs like that are annoying, especially on holiday.
 
Thanks Azure. I suffer from anxiety so being away from home and having BG problems makes me worry. I decided to change both set and insulin and will be able to test them at dinner time. Didn't want to be up late with high BG the night before we have to get up early to fly home. I'm lucky that I have the Libre so I can see my typical BG patterns and see issues very early on.
 
If it was a bad set you would be sky high not just into double figures. Your highs are more than likely due to activity and food changes from being on holiday. Rather than waste a £10 set by doing yet another change just do a temp basal and see how you go.
 
I think that depends on the person/absorption. When my sets are bad, my BS is usually between, say, 10 and 18. So obviously some basal is getting through but not a proper amount. What MushyPeaBrain described rang a bell with me (although it may not be the same problem) as those figures and timings did sound like when I put a set in wrong or in an area of poor absorption.

Also, when there are corrections via a pen, that 'muddies the waters' a bit. Personally, I don't care about that as getting my BS down is my priority.

Hopefully, the OP will have sorted it with her set and insulin change.
 
I wld agree with carbsrok.. If sets fail then you go high quick and its difficult to bring down.

I would be whacking up basal and checking more often and correcting etc...
 
These days it's rare for my sets to fail outright and if they do the pump alarms. However I do tend to find I have more bad sites where, like Azure, some insulin gets through and over time this decreases until I'm forced to change set. With that particular set I had already had temp basal on and it was getting sore when I had to bolus (another indication for me the set has an issue). I had gone up to +60% but as soon as I put new set in I didn't need any extra basal.

I am finding this situation more frequently so have been trying new areas like my back. My DSN said it's site fatigue - even though I rotate correctly and use bio oil etc. It's very annoying!

Thank you all for advice though
 
Yes, site fatigue is annoying, and rather scary too.

I thought I'd run out of places at one point but a change of set helped. I'd previously used Tenderlinks in my bum and they'd worked fine, but suddenly the absorption became poor. So, with help from the forum, I swapped to Rapid D needles and have had no problem - touch wood.

That's another thing to try when your sites get poor absorption. A change is as good as a rest and all that.
 
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