April 22, 2003
Insulin Pumps
Question from Arlington, Texas, USA:
My 25 year old daughter went on the insulin pump a week ago, and at first she was having really high readings so the doctor thought it may be the fact she was using NovoLog instead of Humalog, and it seemed she was allergic to something, but they weren’t sure what. She was changed to Humalog, but a few days later her blood glucose readings were high (in the 200-400 mg/dl [ 11.1-22.2 mmol/L]), no matter what she did or how much insulin she took. Today they are thinking she is allergic to the tubing from her pump and that she also may have gotten a bad batch of insulin. I would like to know what else she can do if changing the location of the catheter from her stomach to her arm, leg or backside doesn’t work. She is very frustrated, and I am afraid she will give up before working this out.
Answer:
This sounds rather odd. There are several different catheters made by different manufacturers so these could be tried. I assume she is working with an experienced diabetes team — experienced in insulin pump therapy. Different insulins could be responsible, of course, but the insulins that we use in pump treatment are the same as those we use in injection treatment. Keep her working closely with her diabetes team so that they’ll be able to figure this out.
SB
