Changing my set changes the effect

This happens every so often. I change my infusion set and my BG readings go high for no apparent reason. Sometimes for up to 1 day. What I do is to check more frequently and correct as needed. I used to change my basal, bolus, or correction depending on when I saw it and how I came to notice high BG, but by the time I changed it, the problem had already resolved and I ended up causing low BG crashes.

SOooo... what is it? Well, I've told my doctor this before and he believes my basal needed adjusting. See previous posts for the list of reasons why he is wrong. The nurse practitioner, however, listens and agrees that changing sites can cause this problem. Check out these other blogs
http://www.insulin-pumpers.org.uk/badsite/
http://www.diabetes-insulin-pump-therapy.com/high-blood-sugar.html

I really like the first one. So much useful info that I can't seem to find anywhere except from people's personal experience. Why would you get high BG from changing your site? LOTS of reasons...

• The site is close to muscle or the infusion set slope is angled to steep and is close to muscle causing higher BG (absorption is hindered).
• The site becomes swollen or irritated or at worst, infected, which causes inflammation and hinders your insulin activity and absorption.
• The site has hardened fat tissue, which hinders absorption.
• Site isn't taken very well and your body reacts to it negatively for a number of immune response reasons, which leads to inflammation...

This problem doesn't happen all the time. Maybe 2-3 times per month at the most. Usually if I give myself the infusion set and it really sings for a few minutes afterward, I know its going to act goofy for a day. Another case would be if its sensitive in that area when I press on the infusion set. I told you how I deal with it... I basically check more often and wait it out. If you call the pump company or your doctor, I already know what they'll do/say.

First, they go down a checklist of performing a Pump Self-test; make sure your tubing isn't tangled or leaking; make sure you have correct basal and bolus levels, and describe the condition of your infusion site. Is it red? swollen? do you see blood in your infusion set line? did you prime it correctly or do you see air bubbles? These are important questions, but if the final answer is that the site hurts, its hard, its red, or isn't responding to correction... CHANGE THE SITE!!! I can't emphasize that enough. If its a continuing problem, you should change the site. For myself, its not hardened, it is irritated, but it goes away after a day. I pay a lot for supplies and throwing out 3ml of insulin, an infusion set and reservoir (I don't mess around with reusing reservoir because of sterility concerns). I know that most all times my BG will go back to normal within a day (sometimes less).

Last night my site hurt when I set it up. This morning my BG was high. It wasn't a surprise, just an average bad start to a good day. If you have questions, I actually found the MiniMed site helpful.
http://www.minimed.com/help/sitemanagement/index.html#a6

And there are also the National Institutes of Health and Center for Disease Control with useful sites too.
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/ndep/index.htm
http://www.ndep.nih.gov/partners-community-organization/index.aspx

And I really like this book called "Insulin Pumping"... here's the website founded by the authors.
http://www.diabetesnet.com/pibook.php

Everything is going well now.