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IS it possible that pump is not a good choice for me?

L

londoncat8

Member
Messages
8
Hello,

I was put on a pump 3 months ago because during my sleep I have blood sugars of 1.5 to 2.5 for several hours. At the moment I am having a different problem- my blood sugars are sky high at night and sometimes during the day! I am using Medtronic insulin pump and it gives me headache. When I insert the canula I feel horrible pain (4 out of 5 times). After I take it out I bleed badly and have a huge crusty mark at the place of the insertion. (I have tried quick set and silhouette) The bubbles appear on the 2nd day (consistently) and cause me further problems. Two non-delivery alarms went off at the time of me trying to do a bolus but I suspect the pump was not delivering the whole day as my blood glucose at the time of non-delivery was 20. This pump is just depressing. My question is - are there any people who pump does not work for? Is it because I am skinny and the canula does not set in well in my body? I also do yoga regularly maybe that bends the canula and stops insulin delivery? I am just so lost with this pump. Last week I was changing the set every day, for various problems, instead of every 3 days and how is that supposed to be help me managing my diabetes I do not know? Any advice? Thanks in advance:)
 
Hia - use the same pump with the silhouettes and todaye i have had none of the problems you mention. A few things you could try:)

1) may be give up the yoga for a period of time to see if that helps
2) speak to you diabetes team about the length of tubing - I believe this can affect things.
3) you may already do this but ensure your insulin is at room temperature not kept in the fridge
4) are you using the sil inserter? Some people like to insert cannula manually but I find the inserter ensures a smooth, fast and virtually painless insertion.

I can't really comment on the bleeding but again might be linked to your insertion method? All the best and, if all else fails, go back to your diabetes team next week with these problems as they shouldnt happen.
 
londoncat8 said:
Hello,

I was put on a pump 3 months ago because during my sleep I have blood sugars of 1.5 to 2.5 for several hours. At the moment I am having a different problem- my blood sugars are sky high at night and sometimes during the day! I am using Medtronic insulin pump and it gives me headache. When I insert the canula I feel horrible pain (4 out of 5 times). After I take it out I bleed badly and have a huge crusty mark at the place of the insertion. (I have tried quick set and silhouette) The bubbles appear on the 2nd day (consistently) and cause me further problems. Two non-delivery alarms went off at the time of me trying to do a bolus but I suspect the pump was not delivering the whole day as my blood glucose at the time of non-delivery was 20. This pump is just depressing. My question is - are there any people who pump does not work for? Is it because I am skinny and the canula does not set in well in my body? I also do yoga regularly maybe that bends the canula and stops insulin delivery? I am just so lost with this pump. Last week I was changing the set every day, for various problems, instead of every 3 days and how is that supposed to be help me managing my diabetes I do not know? Any advice? Thanks in advance:)
Click to expand...


Cannulas - if they are causing problems then use a different type and length. (talk to medtronic) Very small children use pumps so being skinny will make no diff as long as you have the right cannula. Quicksets have a great reputation not :( so perhaps ditch them altogether.
Pain like you are mentioning points to a cannula that is to long and it's hitting parts it shouldn't be same for the bleeding.
Bubbles - again this is down to not removing the bubbles when filling the cartridge or you have a loose connection ie, you haven't tightened the tube conection enough and air is leaking in.
Are you filling the cartridge from an insulin vial that has been at room temp for at least 20 minutes, if not this will cause bubbles as well?
I would also hope you are checking the tubing 2 or 3 times a day for bubbles, this will soon pick any up and they can then be removed.
Sort your cannulas out do some basal testing and I'm sure you will be fine. :)
 
londoncat8 said:
Hello,

I was put on a pump 3 months ago because during my sleep I have blood sugars of 1.5 to 2.5 for several hours. At the moment I am having a different problem- my blood sugars are sky high at night and sometimes during the day! I am using Medtronic insulin pump and it gives me headache. When I insert the canula I feel horrible pain (4 out of 5 times). After I take it out I bleed badly and have a huge crusty mark at the place of the insertion. (I have tried quick set and silhouette) The bubbles appear on the 2nd day (consistently) and cause me further problems. Two non-delivery alarms went off at the time of me trying to do a bolus but I suspect the pump was not delivering the whole day as my blood glucose at the time of non-delivery was 20. This pump is just depressing. My question is - are there any people who pump does not work for? Is it because I am skinny and the canula does not set in well in my body? I also do yoga regularly maybe that bends the canula and stops insulin delivery? I am just so lost with this pump. Last week I was changing the set every day, for various problems, instead of every 3 days and how is that supposed to be help me managing my diabetes I do not know? Any advice? Thanks in advance:)
Click to expand...

Hi

Its sort of hard for any of us to know exactly what is going on for you.... but firstly do try to eliminate air bubbles in the cartridge so that they dont go into the tubing. If you keep your pump close to your body, then get the insulin in the cartridge up to the same temp as there will be a difference between room temp and body temp. You may not see any bubbles in room temp but will see them in body temp insulin so it does pay to try and get rid of them in advance which is what I do before I put the cartridge in the pump. I keep my pump diagonal inside my bra cup so it does get warm.

Also, if you look at another persons msg about air bubbles you will see the common sense in turning the pump so that the tube connector is at the bottom instead of at the top. This then means that if you do get an air bubble, it will rise to the other end of the cartridge instead of being at the tube end. I once saw a fella who was using a pump with it stuffed in his pocket and had bubbles at the pump tube connector, bubbles in the middle of the tube and bubbles towards the set. He also said that he had failed deliveries so bubbles will cause trouble..............so I tried to explain things a bit better but not sure if it all sunk in........

Regarding infusion sets... you need to try all of them really and use other areas of your body as well as your tummy. Also try unwinding the tube completely and not leave it in tightly coiled up as that can sometimes prevent insulin being delivered ok and can also cause high bg levels and non delivery. Putting a small piece of micropore or transpore tape on about 2" of tube back from where it connects to the set so that a curved loop is created can also ensure smooth delivery of insulin when you doing yoga. You could also try the Mio infusion set as well............
 
Thank you all for your messages:) I do keep the vial of insulin out of the fridge for 3 days before using it and at the time of the reset I have no bubbles. When they appear I do not know how to let them out. I read i should prime them out but how. I could not find the function in the menu of my minimed paradigm. All the canulas I have used were 6mm I do not know if it is too long or too short for me. What is the shortest length? As of today, sil serter and silhouette did not work giving me no delivery alarm 2 or 3 hours from insertion. I was told by Medtronic helpline that when I insert canula it does not suppose to hurt, if it does it means it hit something and I have to reset it. But if it hurts everytime I insert I am afraid I would spend hours before I insert a canula painlessly. After 20 years with type 1 I am pretty much accustomed to pain and needles but this is something else. I am sorry to sound so depressing. Thanks again for all your messages, maybe there is a hope for me at the end:)xxx
 
Hi

Although most of the time I dont get any bubbles that's not all the time unfortunately. Are you securing the tube to the cartridge connector ok - I use the Combo pump and found that it needs to be gently screwed in and not just pushed on. Aow loose tube connection will allow some air bubbles to appear if you dont. Can you tilt the pump downwards like I said in my msg as that will make any air bubbles stay in the cartridge and not the tubing.

Getting air bubbles out through the tubing once the cartridge is in the pump can sometimes be done by tapping the bubbles up towards the centre of the cartridge where the neck (connection to tube) is and then by holding the pump steady keeping it upright should hopefully allow the bubbles to be primed out through the tube. Its very much trial and error though.... You could look on Youtube about air bubbles in pumps... If still no joy, phone Medtronic up and ask for their pump rep to meet up with you at your hospital and show you how to prime bubbles out of the cartridge up through the tubing. Ideally make sure you go with cartridge with bubbles in it........
 
Prime out the bubbles is the same as filling the tubing. You do fill the tubing when you use a new cartridge don't you? It's exactly the same function.
Perhaps read your manual as well.
It sounds to me as if you haven't expelled all the bubbles from your intial fill or you haven't tightened the the tubing properly onto the cartridge thus you have air leaking in.
Here is the site for medtronic infusion sets http://www.medtronicdiabetes.com/products/infusionsets perhaps watch the video on how to insert your cannulas.
 
Air bubbles can develop with the changing temperature of the insulin, air because more or less soluble in liquid depending on it's temperature..

I always wear my pump with the tubing facing down, as if any air bubbles develop then it remains clear of the tubing at the other end of the cartridge..

Have you tried an angled cannula?

I'm very skinny, so use an angle cannula, which I self insert which isn't any different than injecting really, But it doesn't prevent the cannula sticking into muscle, being bent by making contact with the muscle underneath ect..

Another thing to try, is changing over to a steel cannula, it may be that you just don't get on with Teflon being stuck into you, steel means that you have to change them every two days rather than 3, but I don't think that this would be a problems with you at the moment though..
 
londoncat8 said:
I have tried everything except the steel cannula which the nurse says might be the one working for me best at the end. :)
Click to expand...

I use the steel cannulas and find them the best thing to use of all the ones I have tried.
 
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