I have posted before about how I used to use Humalog in my pump but it kept dying after 2 days. NovoLog was much more stable for me the entire duration of the pod. NovoLog does not die after 2 days like Humalog often did.
This made sense to me because of the studies that showed how NovoLog was more resistant to breakdown. And having a pod become less effective after a few days also makes sense in the context of infusion sites getting over-saturated.
What is hard to understand though is what I have noticed a number of times - sometimes it seems like my pod is more effective after 2 days. It isn’t a huge difference, I just need a little less basal on that day.
Hard to understand what would make this happen. My only guess is that the site becomes more efficient at absorbing the insulin.
I can run 4-5 days for each insulin fill (Tandem), using CIQ. Would have to review logs of basal since bg will influence basal flow. I use novolog, and find it does behave better (faster) in pump compared to humalog.
Sometimes happens for us. I would guess the initial insertion creates local trauma, complete with some inflammatory chemicals and neutrophils, and that could hinder absorption. After that settles down, maybe things work well – until new immune cells find the site and clog it up – although theoretically the pod could keep going much longer than that.
We rarely use sites that long because they often start failing quite dramatically around day 2, but sometimes we hit a site that seems to get better with age.
I have not noticed this, though there may be some days where the 3rd day seems to absorb better than the first few days. I’ve only started using Novolog consistently for the last month or so though. I’m noticing a slight improvement over Humalog but today has been awful, needing 3x the insulin I usually need, and it is the 3rd day of the pod. I put it down to unusual stress that I’m experiencing in my life.
I do usually extend the pod use for those extra 8 hours and I have noticed that insulin sensitivity is reduced during those hours. So much so, that each new pod I tell myself not to extend the pod, but because I am frugal and hate changing the pod, I end up using those extra 8 hours!
I’ve been a little too variable in my day to day activities and resulting TDD to notice a strong Day 3 pattern in comparison to other days. More often than not I’ve been in a pretty good zone when Day 3 pod expiration warnings start happening, but I don’t have the numbers to back that up. The best description of my Day 3 pumping is the pod seems to be consistently working well. I am using Fiasp.
Just ask, since if you don’t know, I guarantee there are 10 others that don’t know as well. We diabetics are like the military, we love us some acronyms and abbreviations. (don’t make me explain the difference). With that being said, FIASP is just a brand name from Novo Nordisk. Maybe we should revisit our common abbreviations and acronyms page.
It is interesting…I was diagnosed Type 1 when I was 32 years old. I am now 69. I see a leading Endocrinologist in my city. Does everyone else feel like they learn more from this site than they ever learned through our Endocrinologists, Nurse Practitioners, Diabetic Educators, and DME subject matter experts? I am very grateful to have found this site. Between the Insurance Co hoops we all need to find out how to work around, to the manufacturers and to all of the medical professionals who have chosen to be experts in the field of Diabetes Management, it truly is up to each of us to find the way to live our best life as a Type 1 Diabetic. It is a challenging way to live but I am grateful that this site provides some real-life experience to learn from. Thank you.