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medtronic 640g reservoir filling problem

M

matchless

Member
Messages
10
Location
France
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi i am fairly new to this forum and have been diabetic for about 30 odd years, i would like to here from any one having the same problem filling the reservoir of the Med 640, I had a animas vibe for 4 years and i could fill and replace the reservoir and quick - set in 5 to 6 min , i have had the med 640 for about 3 months now and have a lot of trouble with air bubbles which takes about 10 to 15 min just getting rid of bubbles , I do bring insulin to room temp and work to the manual , overall i do like the medtronic pump with more information from the pump but as i do not have CGM i cannot use all the functions , The animas vibe pump was much simpler to use and refill and change reservoir allso without CGM, So if someone can give me some tips i would be appreciated
 
Hi @matchless - welcome to the forum, I too have the 640g and know what you mean with bubbles. I have managed now to avoid issues with this completely, so here's my method.. Before using the reservoir just prime the plunger a few times back and forth, pull back to about 2ml on the reservoir and insert needle into your insulin bottle then push in whilst the bottle is upright then push the plunger in fully, once inserted turn the bottle upside down and pull the plunger slowly back to 2ml again once all the way back release slightly to get rid of any bubbles and then extract the needle from the bottle, then just push the plunger again whilst upside down to squirt out a small jet of insulin which again should get rid of any bubbles and then attach to your infusion set and proceed with the set up on your pump. Try not to shake the insulin bottle as this will create bubbles too.

This method works without fail every time for me, hope my instructions aren't too complicated
 
I've been using penfill cartridges and haven't had bubble issues.


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Any pump that has a vial to cartridge adaptor can use the adaptor on the end of a pen with cartridge underneath and simply dial up the max amount of insulin possible on the pen and push the plunger on the pen downwards into the cartridge. .....dial up, push down, dial up push down. Just make sure that after priming the cartridge, push the cartridge plunger up to the top as no need to inject air like using a vial.
For those who use Humalog or Apidra pens, they too can also be used with the vial to cartridge adaptors....... heat up a sharp stanley knife blade over a gas flame for a few seconds until blue and then cut off the end of one of the clear plastic insulin pen cornets. The clear ring will fit inside the adaptor to provide the support collar to hold the pen without it wobbling.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thank you juicy for the quick reply i will test your tip on my next change in 3 days time .
 
tim2000s said:
I've been using penfill cartridges and haven't had bubble issues.


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Click to expand...
Hi i had no problems as well with my old animas pump it just had a bare needle that you pushed into the veil turned it upside down and filled the reservoir and tapped for the odd bubbles , i think medtronic designed the filling of the reservoir to cover the needle for younger users ,
 

Until you find a good work around, try positioning the 640 at a diagonal angle if in a spibelt or if attached to waist, try having the tube join at the bottom and not the top. Air bubbles always rise to the top so won't go to the tube of the pump and will stay in the cartridge.
 
Sadly due to the way the belt clip works, you can't do this with the 640G
 
I've had no problems with air bubbles on mine when filling the reservoir. I always inject air into the bottle first then turn upside down and draw down the insulin, if there are any air bubles I flick the resrvoir (after removing from bottle) and dispel them this way before putting on the tubing.
 
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