Infusion sets (Inset) hitting blood vessels

Diabetes Technology
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I started using the Animas Inset (6mm) in January this year after over 10 years of using the Cleo 90 infusion sets. There are a lot of things I like about the Insets, and when they work, they work better for me than the Cleos. But every so often I seem to get a bad batch. Animas is good about replacing them, but I’m wondering if there’s anything else I can do on my end to prevent the problem from occurring.

The last 5 insets I inserted hurt a lot more than usual upon initial insertion. Then, over the course of several hours, the area underneath would swell up and start to hurt. Within 6 hours or so, once I realize that my blood sugar is not coming down from the 300 range, I assume that my infusion set is not working, and I remove it. Although there is no blood visible in the cannula or tubing, as soon as I remove the infusion set, I start bleeding a lot! Obviously the insulin is getting diluted by blood and not working. Plus, then it hurts and feels bruised for a few days! This has happened in several different sites all over my body, so I know it’s not just one particular area that is an issue.

Supposedly this kind of problem is caused by hitting a blood vessel—but it’s hard to believe that I hit blood vessels so consistently! Do you think all of my sites are just really tender for some reason? Or might this be a problem with the actual sets? Do any of you have any home remedies to prevent this from occurring, or helping the area to feel better sooner afterwards?

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I’ve seen a severe degradation of quality from Unomedical (supplier of Animas, Cleo, Tandem and Medtronic - yes they are a near monopoly. I have another thread here that I may come back and post the link to here tomorrow. I am reporting every single failure directly to the FDA as an adverse event. I just don’t see the quality control from Tandem nor Animas.

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I would recommend making sure that you’re not accidentally leaning/sleeping on your set. It sounds like a lot of people are complaining about it, so it’s probably NOT that.

However, all the times that I have had bleeding from an infusion site (maybe three or four over 2+ years), I had bumped it or slept on it. The site would itch and ache at the same time and when I removed it, blood would gush out and not stop without extended direct pressure.

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I agree… this was the reason I switched from Quickset (after having used it for about 13 years) due to kinking which started 2-3 years ago to Mio. Mio is incomparably better, no kinking and no pain.

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