Bloody hell

No, its not a reference to the UK. Its about infusion sites for insulin pump users. I should have learned my lesson the first time, but I repeated my mistake and paid for it... I thought I would share.

When I put on my new infusion set, I noticed a little blood in the catheter. No problem, I needed a morning Bolus and it went away instantly. However, in my personal case, I SHOULD have changed it right away. The site look progressively worse over days time and I took it out this morning (only 2 days in). Blood instantly started coming out. Bright red and quickly streaming down my side. I scrambled for a napkin to sop up the mess and as quickly as I could I covered the hole. I had to hold pressure on the wound for 2-3min before it clotted and stopped.

This is the second time this has happened within a year's time. It really freaked me out the first time. A steady stream of blood coming from a small hole in your stomach would do that I guess. What I'm left with is a very sore and bruised area about 1/2 inch (1cm) in diameter. I put Neosporin on it and went on with my life.

I just wanted to write it down because that blood in the catheter should have been a strong warming that the site was not good for me. I had crazy high BG readings for nearly 3 days and I'm very high this morning. I just HATE wasting all that insulin and having to take another shot to put on a new infusion set. But in the long run, I felt much worse when I kept it on and should have changed it right away. It just wasn't worth it.

Lesson learned.