Insulin Pump

[endocrinegremlin]

What pump are you using?

Are you noticing bubbles when priming etc or say 24 hours after sets have been in?

Please use room temp insulin when you start... water/saline may not work the same way..

Make sure you tap the bottom lightly of the pump on your knee/ hand/work top whilst it is priming initially. If you do it the whole time you will jyst get more bubbles.....

Personally, for me I always wore the pump so bubbles would go to the opposite end not the tube end...

Tap the pump? I've never heard of this. I've never worn the pump while changing it either but I've not had any bother with bubbles other than when I relax too much and pull the plunger too fast on the bottle haha. Where did you learn/get told of that? I'll take a note if I get issues.

 

[endocrinegremlin]

What pump are you using?

Are you noticing bubbles when priming etc or say 24 hours after sets have been in?

Please use room temp insulin when you start... water/saline may not work the same way..

Make sure you tap the bottom lightly of the pump on your knee/ hand/work top whilst it is priming initially. If you do it the whole time you will jyst get more bubbles.....

Personally, for me I always wore the pump so bubbles would go to the opposite end not the tube end...

Oh and why room temp insulin? I've only ever been told to keep it chilled but that it will still be ok out the fridge for a certain time.

 

[donnellysdogs]

All my pump teainers have said to lighly tap the bottom of pump initially whilst priming bubbles out of the tube...this was for Accuchek pumps and the Medtronic recently.

Back 6 years ago we were also informed not to preliad plastic cartridges up and store in fridge. So never do these in advance.

Even recently back in August.. nurse doing the training on the 640g said that insulin she supplied that day was at room temperature... not from fridge.

So long as insulin for a pump going to be ysed in 28 days then mine always been kept out. Just as my pens when I carried them about.,..

Insulin in a cartridge I always changed at 6 days as instructed by Accuchek. Some people have ysed longer but I would never do that loaded in a plastic cartridge.

The glass ones for the Insight pump were much better than the Accuchek plastic cartridges but held less so weren't my favourite. They definitely had less bubbles though than the plastic cartridges..

 

[azure]

Oh and why room temp insulin? I've only ever been told to keep it chilled but that it will still be ok out the fridge for a certain time.

I was told to have room temperature insulin when I started on the pump 12 years ago as it reduces the amount of bubbles you get. When I was able to use pen cartridges in my pump, I could just take one out at a time and let it come to the right temperature before putting it in the pump. Now I fill my pump reservoir from an insulin vial, so what I do is keep all my vials in the fridge, then take out the one in use a little while before so it can come to room temp.

 

[endocrinegremlin]

I was told to have room temperature insulin when I started on the pump 12 years ago as it reduces the amount of bubbles you get. When I was able to use pen cartridges in my pump, I could just take one out at a time and let it come to the right temperature before putting it in the pump. Now I fill my pump reservoir from an insulin vial, so what I do is keep all my vials in the fridge, then take out the ine in use a little while before so it can come to room temp.

Maybe that because you had pen vials I don't know. I've always been told insulin is in the fridge till you use it. Did you ever use syringes and bottles? Maybe I got different info based on working the pump vials? I don't know. Very odd. You would think they would decide on one set of guidelines.

 

[azure]

Maybe that because you had pen vials I don't know. I've always been told insulin is in the fridge till you use it. Did you ever use syringes and bottles? Maybe I got different info based on working the pump vials? I don't know. Very odd. You would think they would decide on one set of guidelines.

No, I think it was general advice I remember asking the pump trainer because I was worried and nervous when I started my pump. He said insulin should be at room temp before putting it into the pump because if it wasn't, bubbles could form as it warms up as you're wearing it.

At the moment I keep my vial in use in the fridge and just take it out a bit before filling my reservoir, then put it back in the fridge. I've no idea if that particular course of action is correct, but a reservoir lasts me a while and so I don't want to start a vial then have to watch how long ago I took it out.

You could ask your pump nurse

I used vials and syringes when I was first diagnosed and kept the vials in the fridge but took them out a few minutes before my injection. However, that was 22 years ago and I can't remember why I did this : D

I was also advised that it was better to have a room temp pen cartridge when I swapped from twice daily syringe injections to MDI with insulin pens. Again, to reduce bubbles.

 

[endocrinegremlin]

No, I think it was general advice I remember asking the pump trainer because I was worried and nervous when I started my pump. He said insulin should be at room temp before putting it into the pump because if it wasn't, bubbles could form as it warms up as you're wearing it.

At the moment I keep my vial in use in the fridge and just take it out a bit before filling my reservoir, then put it back in the fridge. I've no idea if that particular course of action is correct, but a reservoir lasts me a while and so I don't want to start a vial then have to watch how long ago I took it out.

You could ask your pump nurse

I used vials and syringes when I was first diagnosed and kept the vials in the fridge but took them out a few minutes before my injection. However, that was 22 years ago and I can't remember why I did this : D

I was also advised that it was better to have a room temp pen cartridge when I swapped from twice daily syringe injections to MDI with insulin pens. Again, to reduce bubbles.

Jings. Nothing remotely what I got told! You would think these things would be standard

 

[iHs]

In my house, room temp when I am at home is about 20C but when in bed and go out, the central heating gets turned down to save money on bills.
I always store my insulin in the fridge and just fill up a cartridge for the pump when I need to and then get the csrtridge up to body temp because the pump usually gets put in my bra or inside my pants so it gets warm.

As for tapping the bubbles up to the top of the csrtridge I just gently flick the bubbles up to the neck but also turn the csrtridge upside down and then upright and gently flick so that any small bubbles join together to form one large one and then get the bubble in the centre of the csrtridge under the neck and then sharp flick against the neck and attach the tube and then push that bubble up the tube by using the plunger. Once the bubble is in the tube, it can't come down into the cartridge.

By tapping the base of the pump on a soft surface, will just make lots of tiny bubbles rise to the other end and will be much harder to push all the tiny bubbles up the tube, whereas one large one is easier.

 

[noblehead]

Oh and why room temp insulin? I've only ever been told to keep it chilled but that it will still be ok out the fridge for a certain time.

During my pump training sessions I was told to use insulin that had been at room temperature for an hour before filling the reservoir (it reduces the incident of air bubbles occurring as DD pointed out).

 

[iHs]

During my pump training sessions I was told to use insulin that had been at room temperature for an hour before filling the reservoir (it reduces the incident of air bubbles occurring as DD pointed out).

How hot is your home? Lol

 

[noblehead]

How hot is your home? Lol

19C, any warmer it becomes uncomfortable

 

[endocrinegremlin]

Interesting to hear but my insulin has always gone straight from fridge to me unless I'm changing things outside the home and I have personally not ran unto problems. Another case of us all doing things our own way I think