I know, this is a revelation. But it's true.
I was having trouble with getting insulin delivery through my pump, and I correctly assumed it was because of the large amount of scar tissue in my stomach. I have, after all, been on the insulin pump for well over 10 years, and 10 years of jabbing my tummy with infusion sets is bound to create some scaring. In addition to this, ever since I started with the continuous blood glucose testing I've rarely changed sides of my body with the infusion sets. I sleep on my right side and that often interferes with the sensor readings.
So I flipped things around, and put the insulin infusion on the left and started to use the continuous blood glucose testing sensor on the right. And now I'm having no probs with the insulin, but my sensors aren't even lasting a day because they keep giving me drastically wrong readings and having so many error messages that the pump is just throwing in the towel.
I can see why. Darn thing is broken.
For the record, that thin little piece of wire should be straight. It goes in with the help of a small needle, which should keep it from getting bent out of shape. My body did that to it. My body. Bent it. I've got so much scar tissue in my abdomen that it bent wire. I'm not surprised by this, either, because I had a little trouble getting the needle out, which means that it was probably a little bent, too.
I'll let you think about that for a second.
What does this mean? I'm not really sure, other than I really have to find another body part to start putting my sensor and infusion sets in. If this is what happens after 10 years, and I'm not even 40 yet, how much more of myself do I have to scar up before they either find a cure (unlikely) or I die (hopefully far into the future)?
There are ways around this. You're not supposed to insert these things into the same place every time. I don't. I use the circle method, which means I just move them around in a rotation so that no one area gets jabbed every time. But eventually you end up back where you started in a circle, and I've found that certain areas (too close to the belly button, or too close to the rib cage, for example) aren't as receptive and cause issues with delivery and sensor readings, too. You also can't put the two things close together because the one can interfere with the other, or so I've been told.
Keep in mind Medtronic is still calling me to upgrade because my warranty expired, and I'm sure they will have two or three generations of pumps above what I've got which will address these issues. Probably. So I guess I should call and see what they are offering and maybe get a new pump even though I really don't want to.
Whoop de doo.
