Muscle atrophy?!

I've been sick. The past few weeks have been a blur of high blood sugars, phone calls with the Endocrinology clinic to make adjustments and sites that have repeatedly been falling out and hurting. As a result of these blood sugars, I've been tired and just plain sick.

Well, we went to the endocrinologist today and got some unexpected news- it's my sites that have been causing the blood sugars which have been causing the sickness. Other than scar tissue on my stomach (where I do a lot of my sites) I have a clear indent on my stomach. My endo who has worked at Children's for many years hadn't seen an actual case of this before but it's muscle atrophy, and my muscle in that area on my stomach has been deteriorating. At my last appointment in December, I didn't have any scar tissue, so this has all come up recently.

She thinks it's a result of both too many sites on my stomach and also that my skin might be more prone to this. I'm off the pump for a while, doing shots in any place except for my stomach to get my numbers down so I can feel better, but there's not much that can be done for my stomach, it seems. Just avoiding it and hoping that the indent on my it will return to normal (although she mentioned it might not, which is scary for a 14 year old girl.. I want my stomach to look normal:)

Last night and today marked the end of this sickness time period I think- last night we actually had to make a quick run to the ER for an infected site, which luckily wasn't such a big deal, but still very bothersome. I just didn't need that on top of everything.

Honestly I have to say that I'm happy that we're getting it all figured out and it's not something that's really frightening, but I'm still unsure and a little nervous. Does anyone know anything at all about muscle atrophy from pump sites?

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Comment by Frankie Sloane on April 8, 2011 at 6:09pm: I don't know anything about this, but I think it is great that you are taking care of it and beginning to inject insulin in other parts of your body. It will be nice to get your numbers down, so that you will feel better and in turn be able to take care of this with a clear mindset.

Comment by Theresa on April 8, 2011 at 6:33pm: I do not know anything about muscle atrophy; however, it is great that you are doing what is necessary to get your bs back in range. Once you are feeling better, then you can work on figuring this out and what to do about it. My son has type 1 diabetes. He was diagnosed May 3, 2008. He just started on the pump on March 21st. I hope everything works out for you.

Comment by Marie B on April 9, 2011 at 5:03am: hi Sloane, You know, I've seen someone here post about the "dents" and weird scar tissue, but I can't find it (guess I need more coffee) - but scar tissue "issues" is what brought me to TuDiabetes three years ago. I've had d since 1967, so I've seen my fair share of needles and infusion sets, and I have lots of areas I just can't seem to use any more. I got a lot of responses to this discussion

http://www.tudiabetes.org/forum/topics/583967:Topic:167026

and some helpful suggestions. I now change my set every other day, very occasionally I'll go 3 days, and I'm usually sorry about being too lazy to change it. I also keep a log book about where I put my set, so I'm careful not to go within a square inch of a site within a 30 day period. It's helped, and with the support of friends here, I just do what I have to do. I test a LOT, and if I get consistent high numbers, I change out, try not to get too frustrated and depressed, even if it's my second change of the day. I also get my husband to help me put it in my backside where I can't reach.