I’m beginning to think that the issue is the quantity of insulin infused rather than the amount of time the new site is being used.
For this set change, I tried yet another suggestion, which was to take my breakfast bolus on the old set. The idea was to give the new set a longer time to start absorbing.
My blood sugars were pretty good for the morning, with the exception of waking up high. I responded well to the correction, and I was also pretty accurate for my breakfast bolus. Once I got myself into the target range, I spent most of the morning/early afternoon there.
Where it gets interesting is at 2:00 in the afternoon, which is when I had lunch. This would be the first meal on the new infusion set. I had a box of Amy’s Organic Macaroni & Cheese, which clocks in at 47g of carbohydrates, and three servings of cottage cheese, which clocks in at 15g of carbohydrates. These were both packaged items, leaving little room for error in terms of measuring serving sizes. The mac & cheese has a lot of complex carbs in it and a good dose of protein (16g). Cottage cheese is also a heavy protein item. So with the complex carbs and heavy protein, these items don’t seem like they should raise my blood sugar very quickly.
Within 2 hours, I had skyrocketed up to 321! Based on no manner of scientific testing whatsoever, I don’t think that what I ate warranted a rise up that far.
Though it could be something with my insulin/carb ratio – I just don’t think that is the case. I’ll have to do more testing. Maybe I need to experiment with some other lower-carb options as well.
I worked my way down, not taking any additional corrections. I played basketball later in the evening, and there was some strangeness with another real high spike afterward. I haven’t figured that one out yet.
I get frustrated with these spikes that always seem to happen on the first meal of the new infusion set. I fight with it for the next few hours. Then I will often times crash – either from the serial rage bolusing or it may be from pooling insulin that is finally catching up to me. I haven’t quite nailed it down yet.
I’m still playing around with different ideas, and I am confident that I will eventually stumble onto something that works for me. This is yet another example of the old adage “YMMV,” or Your Mileage May Vary.
Diabetes is such a personal thing, and there is no “One Thing” that will do the trick. That in itself can be so frustrating.
