First painful cannula insertion

Wow,

It wasn't at all what I expected.

The cannula insertion itself was not painful, but the pain started creeping in a few seconds later. At first, I couldn't touch the pod without eliciting sharp pain. Then, I tried to sit down. Nope, sharp pain. From that position, I tried to straighten up. Nope, more pain. After 5 minutes of that nonsense, I decided that the pain just wasn't worth the pod. I deactivated the pod, then proceeded to remove the pod. That was the worst pain of the whole experience. I had to work the adhesive off in small, 1/4 inch, sections at a time, all the while experiencing pain that had me almost doubled over evertime I tried to manipulate the pod.

As soon as the cannula came out, the pain just disappeared. Nothing, not even residual soreness remained.

Anybody ever experienced anything like that? This was on my abs, btw.

I had the same happen with a DexCom sensor. I use Uni-Solve to remove my pods. The pods fall off from their own weight after a couple of minutes.

Never like that…I did hit a nerve once, but it sounds like this was something else…
That was on my butt…more like instant tears, excruciating pain to a point that my boyfriend actually grabbed me, told me that it wasn’t worth the 10 bucks for the pod (and reminded me I could extract the insulin) and slowly worked the pod off (tears again)
When the cannula came out, the pain lessened, but the bruise was HUGE and the pain was definitely residual…
Perhaps you hit a nerve…but not quite as deeply as I did?

hope you feel better!

Thanks Maia, I feel fine now.

I think, maybe, the cannula was scraping a nerve over the muscle? I didn’t start to feel anything until I tried to move, then pow. Then anything that jiggled the pod resulted in sharp pain too.

Yeah, I usually do a change after taking a shower. I decided to do this change after school, in my room, before dealing with Friday afternoon traffic. I seriously thought about holding out, but the thought of sitting in my car and pressing down on the clutch pedal 100 times in bumper to bumper traffic through this kind of pain changed my mind.

What site were you using?

Lower abs, left side.

We all know that pain is the body’s way of saying that something is not right, so I agree that you were wise to remove the Pod immediately. Something similar to that happened to me a few weeks ago, and the bruise that I got after I removed the Pod lasted for about two weeks. That was the worst bruise I have ever had in over a year of using the Pods.

These things should be painless once the Pod gives you the little “snap” as it sends the cannula in. I have found that any time I try to ignore a little more than the usual pain, I end up with either an occluded Pod (which is very rare) or a Pod that just does not seem to deliver insulin right. Changing the Pod is always a safer, better (and yes… more expensive) option. I hope that you have not had any problems since that time.

That’s my guess…at least from your description! Glad to hear you are pain-free now!

I’ve never had this with a pod (though I’ve only been podding for 2 months), but I did have it with a Dexcom sensor, also on my abs. Sharp, painful twinges every time I moved. After about 3 hours of hoping it would go away, I gave in and ripped it off. Definitely a good idea to change it. Diabetes is enough of a pain – we don’t also need real pain!

I have only been on the Omnipod a couple of months and before that the Cozmore and the Animas Ping. All of which have from time-to-time caused a slight pain that started after insertion, which was painless.



I figure it is just too close to a nerve, but after ignoring it for an hour or two it always goes away…so far. But that is just me.



When I first started on the Omnipod I found that the removal was painful but only from the adhesive not the cannula. So now I shave the area where I will place it and when I remove it I do it in one quick yank. The pain is much more slight and very short lasting. So far I have never bruised but there is always the next three day experiment.