Hey, new here! I have a question about the T-slim . We used to use omnipod for his diabetes(4 year old) he was diagnosed when he was 1 years old, we never had an issue with his pods or changing them. But our insurance decided to change us to the T-slim, he was doing great on it . I was using these on his for almost a year no issue . The last week he was complaining about his leg hurting , I went to change the site and when I took it off puss came flooding out, I thought maybe it was fluke so I put a new one on him and his levels wouldn’t go down, so I thought maybe the new site wasn’t working properly so I went to Change it and the same thing puss was in the cannula site…. I am worried that maybe he is becoming allergic to the cannula ? Or has anyone had this issue?
Hi @Angeline, welcome to the forum!
That sounds pretty serious. The cannula material is supposed to be biologically inert (Teflon, I believe), but anything you poke through your skin will prompt an immune response—inflammation—which is why we’re supposed to change these things after 3 days max. I have heard of people having an allergic reaction to the adhesives used in insets and CGMs, though that usually turns up right away, not after months of using them with no issue. So this is puzzling! I’m not a medical dr, but pus seems more like an infection than an allergic reaction. I assume you’re doing the usual things around using an alcohol swab to clean the insertion site, clean hands, all that. Was the new site far removed from the previous infected one? I’d try that, if not. The other thing that occurs to me is around unclipping the tubing for bathing and the like. The box of sets includes a little plug-clip you can attach to prevent any chance of creepy-crawlies getting in there when the tube is detached. I’ve never actually used 'em—I always shower rather than tub-bathe—but that would eliminate one possible source if you haven’t been using them.
Meanwhile, I would definitely contact Tandem clinical support—they’re T1s themselves, so are v. familiar with what we deal with, and I’ve found them very helpful.
If there’s pus there’s an infection. These types of infections can worsen and spread quickly, so if warm compress and manual drainage doesn’t vastly improve the site, or if he’s feeling at all sick, he needs to go to the doctor for antibiotics and perhaps an incision drainage. You should keep a close eye on those sites to make sure they fully resolved. How close was the new infusion set placed to that infected site? If it was close by that could be why that one had pus too, but I’m concerned that there’s an infection that’s spreading under the skin. Moving forward, you may want to try cleansing the area with Hibiclens instead of just using an alcohol swab to prep