The inevitable Cellnovo moaning thread

ElyDave

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Not sure if I've got one in citrus flavour but I've been having a few problems with my Cellnovo sonce i've gone on insulin.

1) I've had several occaisions when changing pump and reservoir where the handset has failed to communicate with the pump to start it and needed a reset
2) at least once per day, if not more, a need to remove and reinsert the test strip
3) out of use pump sat in a bag beeping
4) last week while I was driving the pump started a warning beeping at me, but th ehandset froze and wouldn't unlock, so I had another hour to drive with this thing beeping away driving me bloody nuts. I eventually got the handset to work, but with no idea had to do a set change twice in one day.

Cellnovo have been fairly good with customer service and have sent me a new handset, but the problems continue.

Last night, geting out of the shower the insulin reservoir detatched from the pump. I thought I'd just knocked it with my towel, but then I was woken up by the alarm at 4am and the same thing had happened again. I ended up having to fill a new reservoir as it refused to restart with the old one. I changed the pump and reservoir together just in case, but I'm now out of sync with the cannula change. The original pump is now sat beeping away again when it should be turned off

I feel another call to Cellnovo coming on.
 
H

Hooked

Guest
Oh no, what a blummin headache! Sounds faulty to me, but I don't use cellnovo. Hope you get sorted soon.
 

ElyDave

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Oh no, what a blummin headache! Sounds faulty to me, but I don't use cellnovo. Hope you get sorted soon.

I can't fault their customer service, they're going to replace the iffy pump and even get it sent to this week's hotel which is great.

I've just switched to it so lets hope it doesn't go bonkers again.
 
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flossyc

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Oh dear, I too have had some issues :-( The test strip failure thing is enough to drive me up the wall, then there is the incesant beeping for no reason and then there is the fact I don't think it is delivering properly, but with no alarms. Bloods have gone from nice stable 5-7 to lovely stable 24mmol/l with no explanation. Have swapped back to Veo and all is good in the blood sugar world again. In fairness to Cellnovo their customer service is heaps better than I have experienced with Medtronic, but sadly these thing count for little when the pump doesn't deliver. Will give it another go as of tomorrow and hopefully will be able to update this with much much better news (of which sadly I am not hopeful). So disappointed, I can see the benefits for all the things the pump claims and although the set change is a little long winded I think with time this would become normal, but it has to the job.
 

CambridgeLass

Well-Known Member
Messages
148
Flosscy, I don’t know what’s going on about strip error. We only get an error is we insert it too early into the handset or have don’t done a big enough blood drop. Re your levels, canula blockage maybe? We had this recently, BGs shot into the 20s despite delivery and corrections. We didn’t get an alarm, but then why would we – it was working OK, it was just the canula blocked with blood. That would be the same in any pump as the canula is separate, the sensor is in the IC.

ElyDave, are you giving it time for the icons to show up – pump/reservoir – before starting pump at set change? It s not instant, I always wait to see the icons before starting. Is the pump still beeping even though its deactivated? We had one pop out IC which we just changed to a new one and that was fine, one of those things. There’s no such thing as a problem free pump and to be fare this is new to the market and they are listening and improving all the time. We’ve been on CN for 7 months now. Agree, customer service have been wonderful. Hopefully the new handset will sort you out!!
 

flossyc

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Have been pumping for 9 years and i am well versed in blocked sets, but usually after changing it for the third time, it starts to play nice! As for the strip errors, those are the main two, but it is so slow to be ready for the strip compared to pretty much any other BG machine I have used. I think i am all over just disappointed that it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but as I say will try again this week and fingers crossed will see some improvement
 

Applenerd81

Well-Known Member
Messages
205
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
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Not sure if I've got one in citrus flavour but I've been having a few problems with my Cellnovo sonce i've gone on insulin.

1) I've had several occasions when changing pump and reservoir where the handset has failed to communicate with the pump to start it and needed a reset
2) at least once per day, if not more, a need to remove and reinsert the test strip
3) out of use pump sat in a bag beeping
4) last week while I was driving the pump started a warning beeping at me, but the handset froze and wouldn't unlock, so I had another hour to drive with this thing beeping away driving me bloody nuts. I eventually got the handset to work, but with no idea had to do a set change twice in one day.
.

I've been using the Cellnovo for almost 2 months now and as a completely new user to insulin pump therapy (have been on MDI for 20 years this December!). Although the experience has had its snags, overall the experience is fantastic. I was drawn to the Cellnovo as its the least "medical" looking device on the market with its discreet handset and small tubeless pump.

Like you, I have had minor issues also but most of these have been easily resolved through customer services, the only (minor) ongoing irritation is the BG meter app, it's not as quick (my previous meter was a contour next) as it could be. I get the same errors (reinsert) and the issue stems from insertion of the strip too soon; I find if the pump is not connected to the handset (with pump and battery and reservoir volume icons showing) at time of insertion the BG strip wont work and you have to reinsert. A tip I got from customer services was to insert the strip at the home screen and then select the BG app, recognition of the strip has been much quicker since doing this and the whole process of testing has been much improved; this is probably due to this process allowing time for the pump to connect to the handset before activation of the BG app.

I have suggested to Cellnovo that insertion of a test strip should automatically activate the BG app (even from the lock screen) as this will improve the overall user experience and time to test BG, currently I feel there are a few too many steps involved to test especially as I test 8-10+ times a day. This is probably my only real gripe with the device. 150 units is around 3 days for me (50-60 units per day) so I fit pretty well with the specification of the device as my cannula site is pretty much ready for a change.

All the other issues I have had include; Getting used to pump therapy, poor pump battery life (running out after 2 days) and handset battery not fully charging have all been resolved with replacement items which now seem to work fine. Customer service has been excellent. I would definitely say in your case you've had a bit of a lemon.

The biggest help for me switching over to pump therapy has been to read the book "Think like a Pancreas", if anyone reading this on insulin hasn't read it I can't recommend it highly enough, even with 20 years experience in treating (my own) diabetes the book has taught me an incredible amount..
 

Applenerd81

Well-Known Member
Messages
205
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Carbs
Have been pumping for 9 years and i am well versed in blocked sets, but usually after changing it for the third time, it starts to play nice! As for the strip errors, those are the main two, but it is so slow to be ready for the strip compared to pretty much any other BG machine I have used. I think i am all over just disappointed that it didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but as I say will try again this week and fingers crossed will see some improvement

Try inserting the strip at the home screen and then selecting the BG app (once you see the pump is connected), doing BG tests this way is slightly quicker and more reliable!
 
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ElyDave

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,087
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I've ditched the CellNovo and will be starting on the Insight on Monday.

Too many propblems fo rme and I just couldn't rely on it. Most of the people who started at the same tiem as me at Addenbrookes have stopped using it and Addenbrookes are not supplying it at the moment. It's also an issue for me that the handset was never truly off due to the need to send stuff to the cloud.
 

Applenerd81

Well-Known Member
Messages
205
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Carbs
I definitely get he impression there may be a quality control issue.
Hopefully your new pump will be better!