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Can we push insulin through on the Medtronic pump?

S

suzipuze_

Member
Messages
15
Type of diabetes
Parent
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all,
This is my first time posting on here so hope this is in the right place!
Am looking for some advice with regards to the Medtronic pump that my daughter has! We've only had it a few weeks and she loves it but we keep having issues with air bubbles in the reservoir and the the tubing. There are none visible when we insert the new reservoir (am keeping it at room temp for 24hrs before and warming it up to body temp (in my bra!) before actually using it) so not sure where they're coming from - perhaps a faulty batch of syringes?
We're waiting on our big delivery of new ones so once we have those I'll see if the problem carries on...
In the meantime, is there any way that we can push insulin through the pump (obviously when not connected to the body!) to get rid of the air bubbles? Without having to change the whole set?? At the moment I'm doing it by the option to re-fill the cannula but it takes forever!!
Any advice would be much appreciated!
 
I only had medtronic for a short time and I was concerned that I had stuck bubbles in tube that I could not pump out. They were not bubbles..but marks in the tubing.
Bubbles in cartridges may be from insulin warming up. Once using insulin, keep it at room temperature.. make sure not using it direct from fridge.
Cant answer about priming out bubbles from cartridge on medtronic as it a while ago and I handed it back...
 
I think you have found the only way to do it on medtronic pump by saying refilling cartridge....

Depends on size of bubbles and the way the pump is being worn as to whether they really are something to worry about..
 
can you not just prime the pump? As others have said do make sure it is actually bubbles you can see and not marks on the tubing. There's no need to go through all the faff of warming up the insulin in your bra, 20 mins at room temp is just fine or leave the vial in use out all the time, just make sure it's protected from light.
 
I don't clip my pump to the outside of my skirt or trousers. I nearly always have it inside my bra where it gets fairly warm so it does make sense to me, to get the insulin in the cartridge up to the same temp before inserting it in the pump. Any bubbles will always appear that way so I can prime them out through the tube quite easily and not really worry. My house is not that warm in the winter even with central heating so put warmer clothes on to save money.
 
I use Medtronic and regularly get air bubbles or an air gap at the top of the reservoir anyway, priming will get any air gaps out the tubing and thats all you need, anything else in the reservoir doesn't effect delivery...
 
The only way to get rid of bubbles in tubing is using "fill cannula" and raising the amount to the maximum, then remembering to change back to your usual fill cannula amount.

If you get a lot of bubbles in the reservoir, you can't be removing them from the reservoir when changing sets. Make sure you tap all bubbles to top of reservoir, using the plunger to press them back into the vial. Even when you've got rid of as many bubbles as possible, after removing the reservoir from the blue connector, tap the bottom of reservoir on a flat surface to bring any trapped bubbles to the top. Leave to settle for a few minutes then connect to tubing and use plunger to press remaining bubbles into tubing. Try to remove further bubbles (even champagne ones that we're told we can ignore) by tapping the reservoir again.

By using this method, I have managed to get rid of the troublesome bubbles I used to get. I hope it works for you too.
 
Thanks so much for all of the replies - @dancer - I'll definitely try your suggestions as this is the only thing I can think of that I'm not doing already!
 
Or you can just disconnect, remove the reservoir, rewind, load then fill then refit to your canular.No need to fill the canular again. This is what i have done in the past and the first time i did this was under the instruction of the Medtronic help line.

Regards

Martin
 
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