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Bubbles in Medtronic Pump reservoir

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bigteo

Member
Messages
7
Hi,

I have been having bubbles issues with my pump reservoir. Firstly, there are many small bubbles which are very hard to get rid of. Secondly, after one day of usage, many many small bubbles will form to become a big bubble.

Any advise on how to properly use the reservoir + get rid of bubbles?
 

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Hi Bigteo, it is night time in the UK just now, so there may not be many members online. Hopefully someone will reply to you in UK day time hours in the morning.
 
Hello and welcome to the forum @bigteo

I use the Medtonic and get the same in my reservoirs, what I do is keep tapping the side of the resevoir until all bubbles have risen to the top and whilst the attachment with the needle is still fixed to the top I simply push until all bubbles have been released or if I'm in a hurry doing the set change is just ensure I fill the set so I can see all bubbles have been pushed through the set and released when doing the 'fill' keeping the pump upright whilst doing so.

It's kind of hard to explain here so hope this makes sense ?
 
Are you using the insulin vial out of the fridge?? I put the vial I am using in the cupboard, usually only in there for 2 weeks (max). All the rest are stored in the fridge. When I 1st started pumping I would get the vial out of the fridge and fill it up and would always have trouble getting the bubbles out.
Other than that, as @Juicyj has explained............
 

Hi there,

I use the NovoRapid Penfill and always take the insulin out, cool to room temperature before filling up the reservoir.

I always do the tapping method @Juicyj recommended but (I) bubbles of a decent size will always get stuck (I kept flicking it to the top but it stubbornly will not be pushed out regardless of how much I push and (ii) tiny tiny bubbles will coagulate to form big bubbles the next day...

Been having a lot of issues with bubbles, which is pretty frustrating.
 
I would forget the tapping then a give it a good bang, bubbles should always rise upwards if given a good knock, so always keep the resevoirs held up whilst doing so. Just make sure when you are drawing the insulin out the penfill that your doing it very slowly too as doing it too quickly can create air bubbles.
 
After filling the reservoir, trying to get rid of bubbles of any size, I hold it upright and hit the bottom several times on a hard flat surface. I then leave the reservoir sitting there for 5 minutes so that any remaining bubbles rise to the top. Keeping the reservoir upright, I attach the tubing and press the plunger up. Even if no bubbles appear in the tubing at that point, I use something hard (like a pen) to tap the reservoir to force any remaining bubbles up to the top. I continue doing this till no more tiny bubbles enter the tubing. That's the point where I place reservoir in pump.
 

Hmm I tend to hit hard to get the bubbles to the TOP but when trying to get the bubble out, it simply refuses to budge. I tried making it as straight as possible, and moving a slight angles to get the bubble to come out. But it simply refuses. Really frustrating problem.
 
I found hitting the reservoir quickly, many times, on a flat surface helped force the tiny bubbles into one, and get that bubble to the centre of the top.
 
Hi @Juicyj @porl69 @dancer

Just did a set change and tried the methods again but the same problems still exist.

I made sure the insulin is at room temperature, push the insulin very very slowly and hit very hard (even resorted to dropping and throwing) to get the bubbles out. I faced the same 2 problems:

1) bubbles are still forming, especially those tiny ones which will come together to form a large bubble tomorrow
2) although I hit to get the bubbles to the very top, it simply refuses to be ejected from the reservoir when I push them out. It’s like they are right there at the top but regardless of how much I push, it refuses to get out

Not too sure what else I can do to
 
Give Medtronic a call. Possibly a dodgy set of reservoirs??
 
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