29 Comments
If you use an insulin pump or CGM, how does your summer wardrobe impact where you insert your pump or CGM? Select all that apply.
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I don’t have much body fat and have to use the same rotated sites no matter what I wear.
Me, too!
It’s a medical device that keeps me alive!! Why should I hide it???? By the way, I am not a 14yo girl from California. Stop with these stupid questions!
When we go to the beach I just wear a sleeveless t-shirt, and not show my abdomen. (Nobody wants to see it anyway!)
Biggest issue in summer is the sweat factor! If I use my abdomen, I have issues with the devices sticking well.
Just moved from upper buttock to arm. Was getting a compression low every night. My abdomen never worked for me. Use my thighs for basal MDI and abdomen/hips for bolus. Loving freedom of being pumpless.
I wear my devices where they work, regard of time of the year. I don’t try to hide any of my devices. I just need to wear a belt, so I have a place to clip my pump. I wear my CGM on my upper buttocks, because that’s where it works the best for me. I do not wear my cannula on my arm because I cannot reach that area to place it there. I keep rubbing the cannula off when it is on my legs. So, mostly, I wear my cannulas somewhere on my abdomen; sun, rain or snow.
I find that my insulin absorption is best on my stomach.
For my cgm it does not really matter where I place my cgm. For my infusion set is a different story. Because of sweat I need to use other parts in my sides or to spray antiperspirant down before inserting the infusion set. Hope everyone has a safe July 4th.
No impact on placement but more likely to use an over-tape if I’m anticipating prolonged hot and sweaty activity.
I always wear my CGM on my upper abdomen, where I don’t get compression lows. My clothes hide it well. Summer in my lattitude means not wearing a coat.
I’m with everybody else. These devices no matter how the insulin is delivered save our lives. That’s much more important than where we wear them. Having said that, I would love for a woman to design a pump for women. The Medtronic was clearly designed to be worn on a belt. Most women my age (64) wear over blouses so that hides a lot. But I can’t wear a dress unless it has pockets and I put holes in the pocket. But the pump weighs down the pocket. Good news is a lot of clothing now has a place for cell phones, so that gives us a cleaner line with less bumps when women wear them. But I’m mainly just grateful for insulin.
I know there are clothing lines that make places to hold pumps while wearing a dress. Sorry I can’t remember the brand or lady who designed these dresses, but diabetes-connections.com recently had an interview with the lady. I very rarely wear dresses, but if I do, I generally wear my pump on my thigh (using an insulin belt made for thighs) and just discreetly give myself a bolus while seated at a table. I use Tandem2x so with the bolusing from my phone which should be out soon will make it that much easier to bolus
Anita,
Thank you. Yes, I have a thigh holder but I am pretty tall and always felt I had to go to the bathroom to bolus which defeats the purpose of the pump. And I never felt very secure with the thigh holder. I will look into the clothing line, though. Thank you!!
Freestyle Libre 2 is only supposed to be placed in the back of the upper arm. Season is irrelevant. I called the company and they said that’s where research placed the sensors, so don’t change it if you want them to work. Sleeping on them hurts. I don’t care what they look like. They are better than jabbing my fingers 2-6 times a day.
I switch wearing my cgm between my arm and my stomach. I seem to get more compression lows when I wear it on my arm than on my stomach even though I don’t normally sleep on my side which is where my compression lows come from when wearing it on my arm.
Libre is only to be worn on the upper arm. So that is what I do. Much more attractive than all the tattoos I see these days.
My pump and CGM on my abdomen, pretty much all the time.
Other: nothing changes for me in the summer. I wear everything the same. Pump on abdomen, cgm on arm.
More affected by where to carry my pump and senser I need pockets all year long.
My cgm goes on lower 1/3 off thighs, I routinely rotate sides between arms, back fat, buttocks, legs, occasionally stomach. Guess I got tired of reading the given answers and didn’t see “no impact on placement”
Duh – my entire placement of sites is directed at getting the best adhesion, absorption, and keeping the things in. Appearance in summer clothes is very much secondary.
The devices I use (Omni Dash/G5) have minimal impact and if they matter to others then I don’t need their opinions or involvement in my life. If I was younger, seeking friends and a mate, it would probably be of more concern, though I hope I’d realize if it made that much difference to a potential friend or mate that I they weren’t that much of a need in my life.
If I am flying I will put the Omnipod and Libre where it is easy to show security if I am asked. I have Global Entry so I am not asked very often what I have on my body. Also I have to remove the pump before the plane departs (or I get severe lows below 30) and then put it back on when we reach 35,000 feet so I need to be able to do that without much trouble.
Thank you for sharing such good practical points for air travel with a pump!
I’m not a Female/woman/girl/ opposite sex. (At least I know what a woman is contrary to the next Supreme Court Justice.) No big deal, I’ve worn my pump it in the same place for the last 39 years. On my belt.
I now rotate my pump sites every 3-4 days using my outer thighs, inner thighs, buttocks, areas above my waist, and my upper chest. I know this may sound weird but after developing lipodystrophy on my abdomen, after years of abdominal MDI’s. I feel that this type of rotation may help prevent problems in other pump sites. I do occasionally use my abdomen maybe once every 6 weeks or so, my Dexcom CGM is always on my upper arms since that’s the only spot where I get accurate readings most of the time. I don’t change my device placement based on seasons!
Not at all. I wear it all year round where I have pliable integumentary real estate w/o a build-up of scar tissue where (1) it will penetrate and deliver insulin, and (2) where it will stay in place w/o sweating the adhesive off – usually on my lower abdomen below the waist line, or outer upper thighs.
Like everyone else, I put them where they work.