Now pumping insulin and have some questions!

[MushyPeaBrain]

I started pumping insulin Wednesday morning and am still trying to get my head around eveything! My sugar levels have been crazy high so think I will be enjoying the pump more when the DSN tweaks my basal/bolus and gets them down. In the meantime I have a few possibly stupid questions to ask

1. The Novorapid vial. I put it back in the fridge after filling for the first time. Is that right? I have to fill up again tonight so do I fill cold and let the syringe warm up before inserting or warm the vial up first? Doesn't keep putting it in and out of fridge mess the insulin around?

2. I can feel the bolus go in. It stings a little. Is this normal or might it just be this site?

3. After my saline infusion set was removed I have a big red dot. Are these normal?

I am very nervous about my resevoir and set change tonight so hope it all goes ok and I don't get any air bubbles :shock:

 

[jopar]

1. The Novorapid vial. I put it back in the fridge after filling for the first time. Is that right? I have to fill up again tonight so do I fill cold and let the syringe warm up before inserting or warm the vial up first? Doesn't keep putting it in and out of fridge mess the insulin around?

It really depends on how quick you'll going to use the vial, if you going to be using the whole vial in less than a month the no problems with it being left out same as a insulin pen, but if it takes longer than a month the better of putting it back in the fridge. I take my vial out the fridge the day before I need to do a cartridge change.

If you keeping the syringes/cartridges in a normal cupboard, no need to warm, just ensure that insulin vial is at room tempreture, and if you get caught out leaving the vial in the fridge, the quickest way to warm the insulin is to roll the vial between the palm of your hands...

2. I can feel the bolus go in. It stings a little. Is this normal or might it just be this site?

I'm assuming at the moment you are doing a standard bouls, sometime with larger quanities of insulin it can sting on this setting, once you've got yourself sorted etc you can use either the multi-wave or square wave bolus to over-come this problem

3. After my saline infusion set was removed I have a big red dot. Are these normal?

This is normal and they will disappear after a couple of days, you can use a moisturiser to help, but if they look very angery, sore and a hard lump underneath, this is could be an infection so need to have it checked... But you are likely to know if it isn't right

I am very nervous about my resevoir and set change tonight so hope it all goes ok and I don't get any air bubbles

Just take your time, don't rush read your manual to refresh your mind... My first cartridge change took almost an hour, as I read my manual then reread with every stage etc, but after you've got a couple under your belt it's no probloems I can now do the whole lot in minutes

Sometimes you can get what is called a 'bleeder' when the cannular is taken out, it bleeds profusley, no need to panic all you do is get a piece of tissue and press down on it, hold for several minutes, and slowly remove if still bleeding apply presure again, they do stop and not anything to worry about, the occurance of these happening is rare, I haven't experienced on in almost 3 years of pumping...

A useful book seen by most experienced pumper as the pumper bible, and a very worth while investment, is Pumping Insulin by John Walsh you can order if of Amonzon... Well laid out, easy to use and referance when needed etc..

 

[MushyPeaBrain]

Thank you so much Jopar! This forum has been amazing and everyone is so kind and helpful. I only hope one day in the future when I am an experienced pumper I can help people too

 

[donnellysdogs]

Hi MushyPB...
I have only been on my pump for 2 and 1/2 weeks, and through another pump user here, my levels are now consistently between 5 and 8.5.
I did dip initially in the afternoons, and first thing in the morning i went up sooooo high.....but I adjusted my own basals in the first week, with a lot of help from one lady on this forum.
I went back after 1 week and the nurse and consultant couldn't believe that I had taken so much control over establishing my basal rates (and changing them!)
On my 2nd visit last week I officially got given the advanced menu (had already been on it unofficially) and don't have to go back till November.

I had pump 'live' straight away (no saline first). I did loading of cartridge and set etc with the rep. On day 5 day I noticed my levels were really going high. I looked at cartridge and realised there was a big air bubble. I phoned accu helpline as I was paniced.... it was 8pm on Saturday night, they were fantastic and helped me to get the bubble out and repriming it. That one off occasion was the only nervy incident I have had, and it really taught me how to think logically about the machine.
Last weekend I thought I had loaded cartridge perfect and mastered the changeover - after 5 hours my levels started going up, and once again I had another airbubble, but this time I knew exactly what to do. Did changeover this morning, and levels have remained at 6 so far but I will check cartridge again later just to make sure.

When you do your changeovers of cartridges, it is worthwhile doing your blood test just before, and do the changeover before eating. That way if something isn't quite perfect your bloods will rise rapidly due to the food and will make you realise something is wrong, rather than waiting for the dripping basals to tell you.

Personally I wouldn't change my cartridges or sets at night, because I wouldn't risk my levels going up high before going to bed. Personally, I like to be able to check my levels afterwards to make sure they are ok.

Sent you a PM....

 

[sugar2]

Hi...hope it goes well tonight. It took me ages first time...and I had to phone teh help line to tell me how to fluch through the cannular. You do get used to it. Try and do it as early as possible, so you have more chance of finding help from the manufacturer...(or here!) if you need it!

When I was started on teh pump, the dsn seemed to be ultra conservative with my levels, and really cut down from what I was on whilst on injections. I understand that they don't want to send you hypo..so running a bit high for a few days and then tweaking is a good idea..as long as you are not stupidly high! I tried some of teh fasting that they receommend, where you fast, and measure your blood sugar every 2 hours, to see, i withoutthe complication of food, your basal rate is about right.

i was told to do it in 8 hour chunks of time, and if my bg changed mre than 2 units to adjust accordingly. Trial and error for a few weeks soon got me back in control....although I need to keep repeating it.

best of luck!

 

[MushyPeaBrain]

Thank you everyone!!!

I did my cartridge and set change this morning as I didn't want a sleepless night worrying it hadn't worked right. It took me an hour and I was shaking but I think it went ok. The best bit was the infusion set didn't hurt at all when it fired in (last time was sore) so maybe I have found a good spot! I checked my BG before and ate breakfast after so now I just have to see what happens.

I also changed the bolus delivery speed to slow on my animas which has stopped/reduced the stinging