I just had my first experience (out of only changing pods 3 times so far) with a bad site. I did my abdomen for the first time and found blood in the cannula. It didn’t give me an occlusion error, so I decided to give it a shot at working. Minimal pain. This morning, there was no pain but when I bolused for breakfast…ow Ow OW! I immediately took the pod off and bled like a stuck pig. Quite an unpleasant way to start the day. Apparently I had hit a capillary.
Question #1 - If there’s blood in the cannula, do you guys usually change right away or let it go and see if it works?
Question #2 - I sometimes had this problem with my abdomen (hitting a vessel) doing MDI , but is there some way to avoid it? Pinching up, not pinching up, certain spots on the abdomen that are less vascular than others?
Ow, Rachel! Sorry you had a bad experience. I have only had blood in the canula once and I changed it after coming to Tudiabetes and asking pretty much the same guestion as you. I don’t know how to avoid it, but for what it’s worth, I always use my front torso and have only had it happen that one time in almost a year.
Similar to what Elaine said, that has been a pretty rare occurrence for me. It’s happened maybe a 3-5 times in the 4-5 years I’ve been pumping. I would just keep doing what you’re doing and assume that that will happen rarely. Sorry I don’t have any more specific advice. Look into it more if it happens more frequently.
Good Morning all,
My son has been using the Omnipod since November and we had similar problems, this might help. We found that anytime the site hurts, the pod is not in correctly, we pull up the skin (just like with injection) after the pod is on but before the insertion. It seems to work every time (especially on the arms). Pods aren’t cheap so make sure you let your supplier know and they are pretty good with giving extra pods if needed. Another thing we discovered is that if you let the pod get to zero, it act like a vacume and you will get quite a bit of blood at the site upon removal. Hope this helps.
Question #1 only if there is pain. which is rare for me.
Question #2 IMO it’s the luck of the draw or placement.
My CDE wanted me to use the abdomen when I first started because he said that there is better absorption there. It works fine in that area but I rarely use it there. Sometimes if I feel like my arms need a break, I place it in the stomach area.
My very first pod removal bled all over. It never hurt and never did I see blood in the canula. Scared me.
Don’t give up. You’ll get the hang of it and find the spots that are just right for you.