Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard (nee Tackett) has dedicated her career to supporting the T1D community ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
Sarah and her husband live in NYC with their cat Gracie. In her spare time, she enjoys doing comedy, taking dance classes, visiting art museums, and exploring different neighborhoods in NYC.
It has been a long time since I have bruised. I currently use a 6mm cannula and have not bruised since starting this nor did I bruise often/sometimes previous to this. It was rarely while using a syringe quite a long time ago.
Never is my answer.
I answered “sometimes” but it really depends on the site for me. My arms / back basically never bruise, my thighs sometimes, and my belly basically always. I avoid my belly bc it basically always hurts and bruises. This was true for both mdi & now omnipod.
Often. Except for a two year vacation in 2019-2020, I’ve been on a pump for 25 years and infusion set sites have caused scarring. Though I had two years of no pumping, I’m back on the pump, using TruSteel instead of cannulas but I still bruise, though they’re mostly yellow. Still hunting for new places for infusion set sites. Frustrating.
Try your hips and lower back. They add a few more sires to rotate and more time to heal.
Only a few times in almost nine years. Never on Cgm sites, only pump sites, and most were from Medtronic Quickserter. My son has had only one or two bruises since we switched to steel insets six months after going on a pump.
Device sites 100% every single time 🤬
Injection sites very very rarely, only when I hit a capillary/get hit-nudged during the injection itself… ouch
With tru-steel and Dexcom G6, almost never. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, because I’m usually covered in black and blue spots from just bumping into things. Think it must be old age…
I bump into things all the time. Including my wife. I am somewhat dangerous. And the blood thinners don’t help with the proliferation of bruises. Sigh!
Injection & device cites? Machts nichts.
The only time I get bruises is when I leave a site in too long [my normal is 5 days].
I have a pump and I do not inject any more. When I did inject I did bruise often.
I rotate w/ a bib/site marker that has 35 pump infusion spots and 10 cgm sensor/transmitter spots, so I am not using any sites more than 8 times a year, yet still I sometimes have a site that causes bleeding or is not effective (likely b/c workout causes disturbance or I leave infusion in for more than 3 days.
Still, it’s always annoying when a site causes pain, bleeding or an irritated bump
I would like to know more about the bib/site markers that you use to mark injection sites. Could you please tell me more about that?
Often get bruises at the sites. But I am 79 years old so I get bruises from everything.
Bruises are the least of my worries. I am proud of all my bruises and scars – a roadmap of my active and sometimes risky lifestyle.
Sometimes bruised and/or irritated sites on my abdomen from the cannula. I have limited reach because of arthritis in both shoulders and decades of using my thighs for MDI caused scarring. After 67 years of T1 I’m running out of useable sites.
needles for my insulin pens are so sharp and so thin these days! As for my libre cgm, the inserted wire is almost invisible. A long time ago my answer would have been different.
It sure was!!
I bruise with Dexcom. I used to bruise with a 31 g 5 mm pen needle so I asked my endo for her recommendation to get rid of the bruises. She wrote a script for a 4 mm 32 g pen needle. I called my DME supplier and explained the bruises and she found one that was specifically designed for easier insertion (you can read this as, more expensive, but still 100% covered by insurance). I’m incredibly happy with the new needles. No bruises and it just slides right in.
I use a pump, I don’t get bruising, I get bleeding. Sometimes {alot} I hit a vein or capillary and when I change the quickset I get a gusher of blood.
Never from the Dexcom CGM (though I can get temporary bleeding) but mostly on occasion from MDI injections through my shirt (no big deal though), perhaps because I jab with more force when I do that (and yes I know dr.s say not to, but I’ve had no trouble in 20 years of doing it — and it allows one to be discrete in public).
I used to get bruised a lot from omnipod and tandem 90deg angle cannulas.
But now I use the Varisoft manual insertion infusion sets – SO much better. I still hate how long the introducer needle is, but the results are worth it.
I bruise all the time but not every time.
I once got such a spectacular bruise that I took a picture of it. Then there are “the gushers” that bruise after whichever device is removed.
I suspect I have hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (hEDS); I bruise very easily.
We suspect hEDS runs in our family — the side that has autoimmune diseases and cancers. My sister’s geneticist told us that connective tissue disorders (CTDs), autoimmune conditions, and cancers often are comorbid in family lines.
Sometimes I bruise from pump sites but always have pink swollen painful infusion sites. It is internal not adhesive caused. I use Tru-steel and change everyday due to this issue. 52 years with 30+ of pumping so I have many site issues. No one has ever narrowed it down to any specific reason other than long term pump use. No issues with CGM
Once in a rare while, I get irritation and redness but have not had bruising.