No More Good Infusion Sites Left

I've had Diabetes for over 18 years now and I've been on the pump for over 10 years.  Just recently,I started getting irregularly high blood sugars for no aparent reason.  Once I changed sites, I was fine for a few hours but after that, I would go right back to bing high.  Most times, my levels rise gradually and spike after I bolus and eat a meal.  I assume that my butt (my favorite place for my infusion sites) has a buch of scar tissue so I tried to move to my stomach area or my love handles.  From day 1, I get the same results!  I stopped using my stomach about a year ago becasue I thought it had scar tissue too - I assume that it is still there becasue I can do a manual injection in the back of my arm and my blood sugar will come right down.

I think that I am going to try to switch to using my thighs or hips now becasue I have no other places to use and it doesn't seem like my body is losing the scar tissue which makes me very nervous.  I've read a lot of posts in this forum and I thinkt hat you guys have got me over the paranoia of using my legs - thank you!

I'm 39 and in pretty good shape - I'm not too fat and I have a lot of muscle which makes my choices limited.  I am just deathly afraid that once I start scarring my new sites, I will have no where else to go.  My bloood sugars have consistantly run high for a few months now and my A1C is completely out of whack (last time I checked it was 10!) when it used to be in the 7's...  I know that my basal rates are good too becasue when the infusion site is good, my blood sugars are constant and manageable throughout the day - my problem now is that once I use an area that is scarred and I move, it bends the cannula which, in turn, causes me more high blood sugars!

I'm not sure what else I can do but I'm extremely discouraged right now and feel like I can't control my Diabetes anymore - especially after 10+ years of good control!

Does anyone have any ideas to try?

I doubt it's scar tissue, but it's probably just that the skin is overused and needs a break.  After 9 years on the pump I've had to branch out into using my upper thighs and arms.  Sometimes get kinked canulas in these spots and the insulin absorption isn't as good in my legs, but overall it's been a positive change.  

Now some of my old favorites seem to work again because the skin isn't used much and has a chance to really heal.  Call the pump manufacturer and request different infusion sets to try.  Some of them are pretty good in more muscular areas that I couldn't use with a soft canula.

This is a tough issue and I can't imagine how it will be as I get older (I'm in late 30's now).  I have no idea how parents of babies and young kids on pumps deal with this, but gues their skin probably heals more quickly since they are young

I hear ya. I was on a Minmed 508 starting in 2001 then a Paradigm in 2007 until July 2011. I had the same problems as you, ie: scarring, bent canula's, high A1C's etc after intial great results. I finally just got sick of the pump and starting injecting again. I use Novo-Nordisk Levamir "injected' in place of my old basal and Novolog "injected" as my new bolus. Minimed makes great products yes, but i could no longer deal with the scarring, cost etc. Maybe talk to your endo about maybe injecting again for a while until your scar tissues go away. I still have my Paradigm Pump and i can alway's go back to it if i change my mind.

I wonder if you tried using a different site. I've kinda had the same thing where the bloodsugars go nuts and I think when we found a different kind of site altogether, it helped. Also, if it comes in a different needle length, maybe consider trying that. That was the problem when I kept having bent canulas. I've had a pump for 10 years and I've done it mostly in my but, stomach and some in my legs. But the rotation is very important. I get about 5-6 sites in one "cheek" before I move on the the next and I go in a circle around my body. I actually have a little bit of a "dimple" on one side of my stomach because I did too many sites there. I usually avoid that spot now which means on that side I'll get like 3-4 sites in stead of 5-6. Also, at least for me, you can see the scar tissue (like a little white dot) and so I'll get pretty close to it but always try to never put one right on top of another. If I do, they usually go bad.

Hope you figure it out and God bless.

I get scar tissue from my pump, i scar pretty easy, they have been yelling at me about rotating sites to prevent "mounding" since I was little. I would only let my parents give me shots in my arms, then it was only my legs, pretty much until I went on a pump, so that would be for like 6 years just in my legs. . . major scar tissue. Most of it went away when I went on the pump and used my stomach for a good percent of the time, but now that I can't use my stomach any more, and just because it's been almost 19 years of shots/infusion sets my legs are full of scar tissue and bumps. I'm working on it. I just started using my arms, and it's working ok, but I think i'm going to need longer tubing if I use them as sites a lot. I also found out they hurt less in my arms as long as I remember it's there and don't bang it on something. . . I'm a huge klutz. You could try using an inset that leaves the needle in. That way it wouldn't kink off. Also, I just switched from minimed to animas, and my pump trainer said that sometimes the shorter straight infusion sets (like the 6mm quick set)  will kink off easier than longer ones. I didn't really get why that would be, I guess it has something to do with the movement of the skin, idk, just thought I'd pass it on. Good Luck I hope it gets better, I know the feeling I just want to have like liposuction for the scar tissue in my legs. . . or something along those lines, lol.

i have scar tissue like no other on my arms, abdomen and hips. i cant use my butt because my sites will go bad there. my left arm wont take sites either. my stomach will once in a blue moon. basically after 12 years of being a pin cushion, i have ran out of areas to poke myself.

Sites for my infusion sets are my biggest problem. I agree with all the other comments. I use my sensors in my legs so I use the stomach and upper body for infusion sets. Some ares work only one day. I use silhouettes now and the are the best for me but not perfect.