Hello. My daughter is almost 6 and been on the MiniMed for about 2 months. She always gets her sets put on her butt somewhere, sides etc.
The problem we are having is when it is time to take it off. Usually we will soak it with baby oil, then have her take a bath and try to remove it in the bathwater.
Unfortunately, this takes about an hour with her. It is far too long to be off the pump and she gets all worked up from the "pain" etc. and by the time we are done, her bloodsugars are rediculously high (high 300's usually) for at least the next 12 hours if not more.
There has to be an easier way to change the set without NEEDING to take a bath.
Anyone have any suggestions? I'd greatly appreciate it.
Also, her bumps from her former sets are getting larger and bumpier after taking them out. Anything for these? What do you use before you put the set on? We have been using alcohol wipes. Good enough or is there something better?
Thank you so very much for any help with these matters!
I always just rip mine out...but I'm 24, so I'm sure ripping one out at 6 would be a much scarier experience. ;) A few years ago I had some "adhesive remover" wipes. Maybe something like that would help. As far as the bumps from former sets, I usually noticed bumps if I left my set in too long, or if I put it in an area that gets bumped around a lot. Is she sitting on the sets at all? Maybe it is irritating the tissue or something. Also, not sure if you're already doing this, but if you're not, try putting some neosporin on the spot where the set is after you take it out. I've heard of some kids having an allergy to the adhesive, and they have to use some special tape on the skin and put the set on over top. Might want to mention that the set removal is painful to her endo next time and see what they say.
I usually just rip mine off as well, but yeah, could be an age thing. I know that companies (and pharmacies) sell solvent to get rid of the adhesiveness of the adhesive.
I know that Animas provides IV prep solution which is I think just a glorified alcohol swab. I never used the adhesive solvent since I just rip mine off, but I still have them from my first time around on the pump.
In an effort to prevent the highs, could you disconnect, refill, prime etc, and put in a new infusion site while the old one is still in then worry about getting it off her butt? At least that way she isn't disconnected for nearly as long?
Maybe not the best solutions, but it never hurts to try :)
I rip mine out too. It is usually a relief feeling. After three days of being in my belly, It get's kind of uncomfortable and feels good just to pull it out. I usually remove just before a shower and then take my morning shower without the infusion set. It actually feels freeing.
I can understand how it might scare a young child but perhaps after a couple quick yanks your child will get the relief feeling and get used to the process. It isn't normal for humans to have to wear these things, but we don't have many choices and I believe it is the best thereapy available so far.
I also rip mine off like a band-aid. The other thing I would suggest is cleaning the site area with soap and warm water instead of alcohol preps and pat completely dry before putting the site on. My endo says that alcohol can irritate the skin and that warm soapy water cleans the area just as well and is much milder to sensitive skin. It also keeps the adhesiveness from sticking like glue to the skin. I can notice a difference between the 2. If I use alcohol, then when I go to remove it pulls up the skin and kind of leaves like a "dry" spot almost like a rash. If I use soap & water, then when I remove the site, it just peels off.
Which infusion sets is she using? If it's the Quicksets or Silhouettes, you should be able to just pull them out, and use an adhesive remover to loosen the tape. But if it's SureT's, those can be painful to just yank - however, the adhesive remover would help loosen the tape and then you should be able to pull it straight out.
Today we had to redo her set, again. It was again a nightmare of her screaming for about an hour. She wants to go back on shots is how much she hates getting the set put in and taken out. I just don't get it. Once every 3 days or (up to) 7 shots a day?
We did try no alcohol this time. Just let her take a bath and dried her off. I will look into the suggestions of neosporin and Uni-Solve. Where would I buy Uni-Solve?
Thanks for all the help. It is GREATLY appreciated.
Our Mya is also 6 and was diagnosted almost a year ago. We had the same problems with her... changing out the site was a nightmare. We are using the Sure-T infusion sets. On the nights that we change out the infusion site we will have Mya soak in the tub for about 10 - 15 minutes. After that we use Smith and Nephew Remove Adhesive Remover Wipes to loosen it up a bit more. After that the site comes off very easily. In fact, Mya has been removing the site herself for the past few weeks. This routine has helped us a lot.
I have found the REMOVE adhesive remover and uni-solve remover cheapest from American Diabetes Wholesale... www.americandiabeteswholesale.com I can typically find a free shipping or 5 off of $50 coupon on the internet as well.
baby oil worked best for us - apply to the site with a cotton ball making sure the site is pretty well saturated - we always did this while installing the new site -we have now 'graduated' to just ripping it off.
I've only done 2 site changes so far, but I used baby oil as well. I rubbed it all over the adhesive and let it soak in while I prepared and primed the new infusion set. It works.
You could use an adhesive remover swab (or a few) on top of the adhesive to loosen it up.
One thing you could do about being off the pump is to first off, quit the bath thing-- just take it off like a band-aid or use some sort of adhesive weakener-- but you could also cap off the old site, insert a new site, bolus an hour's worth of basal, take a bath, and right after you get the old site out, the new one is ready to be reconnected.
I use an IV prep wipe before I insert. To get it off, I peel up the edges all the way around then just rip it off, which seems to be the cool thing to do, lol, if you're not 6 of course. Plain alcohol wipes will sometimes help peel up the adhesive as well. I started putting neosporin on my sites a couple of years ago because I started to notice some bumps as well. It seems to help quite a bit.