Pain when bolus insulin is delivered

My daughter swapped from a Cozmo pump to Animas 2020 pump a couple of months ago. She loves her new pump but there is one thing that is bothering her.
When her bolus insulin delivers it causes her pain when it goes in. We have it set to slow delivery but I think the problem lies with the amount it delivers at a time. Her Animas delivers 1 unit at a time , her Cozmo was a smaller amount.
Does anyone else have this problem? She uses the Inset II infusion sets could they be the problem?

I find that occasionally when I have my set in an area that I don’t normally put it, or which isn’t as ‘fatty’, I sometimes get a tinge of pain with boluses over 5 units. Lightly massaging the area helps me, and the pain is always short-lived and more annoying than anything else.

Maybe you could give Animas a call and request samples of some other infusion sets and experiment with those to see if the issue persists?

I also have this sometimes. However after havoing a couple bouts of ineffective infusion sets, it is reassuring to know that I am receiving insulin. All I feel is a little twinge and it goes right away not much worse than the old needle prock with injections. I also previously used the Deltec and wish I had them back at times. In particular the IC ratio allowed fractions - I am between 4 and 5 and have to calculate in my head!

I have an Animas 202 and have always had pain/stinging with insulin bolus, even when set to slow delivery.

Solution for me was to always deliver every bolus using a combo bolus (also called a square wave bolus) over 0.1 hrs (6 minutes, 0.5 hours (30 minutes) or 1 hour. If bolus is 2 units or less - I go with 0.1 hrs, if 2-5 units I go with 30 minutes, 5 m- 13 units I go 1 hour, if over 13 units I go over 1.5 hours). I now have no pain/stinging. It has worked well and my A1c is 6.7.

Good luck

I like the idea of .1 Hr did not know it would go that low!, but to delay the insulin for 30 to 90 minutes seems not the best way to go unless you are particularly low when taking the bolus or it is a high fat meal like pizza. I find it most important to get the insulin working asap when eating.

I have the same issue Kari has. It was happening in area’s that were more muscular, less fatty area’s. It was becoming so irritating that I switched to the steel infusion sets. That way, I can just readjust where it goes without having to waste a set. i was going through 3-4 sets a day at one point because of this and it was becoming too expensive. You might also want to make sure the sets are not going in too deep if they are angled sets.

I just switched from a Cozmo to a Animas Ping about two weeks ago. I still use the same sets that I used with the Cozmo, though (Comforts). I did try one of the Inset 30 sets and found that boluses with that stung a LOT, to the point I hated having to bolus! With the Comforts I don’t notice it stinging much at all, though. So it could be the type of set or the delivery speed, or a combination of both.

Dickengel, you are right - delays of 30-90 minutes seems like not the best way to go. But for me I have found I have lower post meal spikes and better reading at next meal time when I do this. I use 0.5 and 1 hour most of the time, and 90 minutes only rarely. As we say, YMMV

The insets could be the problem. I’ve had the Animas 2020 for 3 years now, and have always used the insets with it. I used to use the comfort sets, and never had this problem. I do occasionally have this problem, and usually if I’m to lazy to change my set out because of it, I’ve found it works to use the bolus calculator, then go into the “normal bolus” and bolus 1 unit, then wait about 5 minutes then bolus 1 more unit, until I’ve reached the amount I’ve calculated that I need. I realize this takes more effort, but that’s all I’ve come up with so far. I just recently switched over to the slow delivery, but am still having this problem sometimes. Thanks for bringing up this issue, whenever I’ve mentioned it to anyone, they act as though I’m making it up, and never heard it happen to anyone else before.

My guess would be the infusion set or site. Maybe the cannulus is too long and insulin is being injected into muscle.

Terry