Has anybody ever had a bruise like this from their quik-set insertion site? I’ve had some bad ones in my years but this one tops them all!
I wish I had a picture of my leg the last time I changed my CGM sensor. It wasn’t the insertion site, per se, but at the bottom of the sensor I had the darkest, nastiest bruise on my thigh, about the size of a quarter and it had a lighter blue-ish outline doubling the size of it. I’m assuming that it was from constantly pressing on it (very hard) at work.
What beautiful skin we have!
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Nope, not that.
I have had bruise marks from my Medtronic CGM transmitter at times. I somehow insert it in a spot where the edges somehow dig into my skin. And other times the transmitter appears to get lifted up which drives the “top” of the sensor into my skin resulting in a bruise.
But it’s never happened to me with a Quick-Set, Out of curiosity, what area of your body did you do put this set?
This set was in my upper abdomen slightly off-set to the left. When I put it in and removed the needle, I felt a bad pain if I put pressure on it. I thought I had hit a nerve but that has happened before and the pain goes away after a few boluses. I noticed the bruise around the edge the same day I put it in so I kept a close eye on my blood sugar. It was fine so I left it in. I have never had the bruising under the sticky part of the quik-set like that though. It is just such a weird pattern. Really bizarre.
Miss Margie, I have had some bad ones from my cgm also but nothing like this ever!
wow, that’s quite a vivid bruise from a QS. I used to get a raised spot around the cannula, but that was all.
i’ve gotten small bruises under my infusion site which i don’t notice until i change my site ( i use the MM Paradym), but the biggest problem i’ve ever had was w/ my dexcom CGM sensor site. i was inserting a new sensor, and i must have hit a muscle and a blood vessel. first blood started squirting out from all sides, and then my skin bulged up out from under the sensor itself. it was raised rather high and it was as hard as a rock. w/in no time, it turned black and blue and green and red. it was disgusting. it scared the pants off of me and my husband. i was new to the CGM so i had little experience w/ this. we didn’t know if i should go to the ER or not, but then decided that the doctors there would have no idea what a CGM was and that i should simply have my endo paged (on a holiday w/end no less). i also called dexcom tech department and reported it.
when my endo called me back he just said “no worries; just alternate hot and cold compresses and find a fattier spot to insert a new sensor.” naturally, i was terrified about putting in a replacement, but i reached around to the back of my hip and hooked up a new one. the bruising took almost a month to heal (and i am a relatively quick healer).
I’ve never had a bruise where the adhesive sticks, that it really strange that it would bruise there as well.
I’ve had reactions to the adhesive, when I pulled it off too quickly (instead of using Uni-solve wipes, like I always do now), but never a full-on bruise from the set.
I wonder if when it inserted the entire insertion process bruised you (ie every part of the set that hit your body) and then after 3 days that is what you see… rather than just a bruise at the cannula site.
This past month I’ve been hitting capillaries all the time (with my Medtronic Mio sets and my Dexcom G4 insertions). My endo, Medtronic, and Dexcom all tell me “it happens, you’re just unlucky”… but I used to only run into this every couple months… not every couple set changes!
I’m guessing that the blood just gathered in the creases of the sticky area. I’ve bruised plenty of times before but never had it look like that before. I’ve had reactions from the adhesive as well. The adhesive from my CGM really makes me itch. It’s unbearable sometimes. The things we go thru to help us manage our diabetes!
Is this a general problem or only with the skin on a some parts of your body?
I usually don’t a have problem with my CGM sensor except when I insert on my abdomen. That’s the main reason I always try for other sites as often as I can. Using my abdomen as an insertion spot is just uncomfortable for me. Sometimes I just want to claw it off. 
It seems to be the worst when I put my CGM on my abdomen. It still itches in other locations, just not quite as bad.
Was that from your CGM or your QS? It looks like an infiltrated infusion bruise to me, and I have been an IV certified Nurse for 30 years…when you experienced the pain you probably should have redid the insertion in a different area…Hope it healed fast for you
Which means what? Could you elaborate a little more?
It happened with my quik-set. I experience pain sometimes, usually due to hitting a nerve but it always subsides, as did the pain associated with this. I watched my blood sugar carefully for the several hours. The insulin was getting through so I left it. I’m not the type to just throw away an infusion set until I know it is malfunctioning. It did heal quite fast once the infusion set was removed.
Looks like you hit a vein and it probably bled into the tissue every time you moved around for 3 days.
I’ve put my set into a vein before , but usually the tell tale sign is the infusion set hurts on and off.
In that case I change it out right away.