Hey everyone. I’ve been using the Animas Ping for about a month and have
not had any problems with my infusion set…until tonight. The infusion
set was on the upper outside of my backside. When I removed the
infusion set, it bled like crazy. The cannula didn’t appear to have any
blood in it, just the tape and my body. Plus, it left a bump. The site
isn’t red, hot or anything like that. Did I do something wrong with the
placement or something? I certainly don’t want to encounter it again, if
I can keep from it. I use the straight inset. Any tips will be
appreciated. Thanks for your help
This is a “fact of life” when you puncture your skin. Large (size of a pencil lead in a mechanical pencil or the cannula on your insertion set) veins are easy to hit and pierce with the insertion set. The cannula goes through it but when it is removed, the finger is removed from the dike and the blood flows. Direct pressure for about three minutes will stop the bleeding and keep the lumpy bruises from occurring most of the time. I now keep a tissue close at hand when I do a site change. Jay
Thanks. This is all still new to me and it was a little scary, sort of. I guess I shouldn’t complain. I made it a month before it happened, lol.
Pumpers fondly call these gushers.
If it helps any, in ten years of pumping I think I have had maybe two.
If you see blood right there, the key is to have that tissue handy and immediately plug up the site when you pull it out. The thing not to do is sit there and look at it.
You’ll know if you are headed that way or not!
It’s not fun, but it’s usually rare.
Hi Carman. No, you didnt do anything wrong. Like the others said occasionally it does happen. Sometimes you hit a capillary and dont know it. It does catch you off gaurd and leaves you thinking “holy smokes”. Nothing to panic about. 
I never had to deal with a gusher before. However I was aware of them because somebody else talked about them on their blog. He made a vblog about it. I’m including the link to his vblog if you are interested. He does a good job explaining it and how scary it can be…
http://bloggingdiabetes.com/2009/02/what-the-doctor-wont-tell-you-part-2-gushers/
Thanks so much for the information. I’m so glad I found this website. You guys are so helpful, it really means a lot to me. Have a great day.
Also, I’ve occasionally had this sort of thing happen when I check my blood sugar- where very rarely I’ll poke & then when I go to squeeze, it gushes- it has even flown across the room at times. Gross, but also very funny (only us diabetics, eh?)- not painful luckily!
Being diabetic means you have tiny drops of blood on almost everything we wear. CSIs would have a blast at our houses…
I get this every once every couple of months (I use Rapid-Ds). It’s sometimes hard to stop the bleeding. I think its just the luck of the draw. I don’t worry about blood unless I have it oozing from the site while the site is still in place.
Wow, I am glad I read this. My son started a month ago on the pump and I would probably be a little freaked if I saw that. Now I will know how to react and what to do - thanks!
Ha ha- something I’ve thought about many times myself! : )
Those tiny brown drops we know well- on notebooks, grocery lists, t-shirts- you name it! (That 5 seconds it takes to let the tiny hole close back up is just too long some times!)
Carman, as you pump longer you will also figure out what infusion set works best for what spot. On your backside you may need a different length cannula (needle). Insets come in 6mm and 9mm. If you bleed 2 or 3 times in an area you can either not use that area or try a varied length. I use about 3 or 4 types of infusion sets and that’s one of the really good things about Animas. You can use I believe they told me - 17 at least that was the number a year ago. I have spots I like an angled set and spots I like a straight set. You’ll work it out. You’re doing great so just give yourself time to learn.
Thanks so much. I see my CDE on Tuesday. We can talk about the different sets for different places. Also, I keep going low about 30-45 minutes before the next meal, so we need to reduce something, somewhere. My 2 hour postprandial numbers are consistently between 88 and 125 which I really like. I just have problems 3 or 3 1/2 hours later. Plus, I don’t want to have to eat a snack. I’ve been consistently losing weight and don’t want that to stop. Sorry, I digressed. Thanks for responding to the infusion set issue.