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medtronic pump problem

S

shews

Active Member
Messages
27
Hi all

I have bee using a medtronic minimed paradigm 522 pump for 3.5 years.
its has worked extremely well up until 2-3 weeks ago.

i only fill the resevoir half way as I find I only use that amount over 3 days. I change the resevoir every 3 days religously and this has always worked for me.

However in the last few weeks I am finding that my sugars are in the high teens by day 3 and as soon as i change the cannula they are back to normal.

SO i think it must be a problem with the cannula and delivery as the pump seems to be functioning well.

I always use my abdomen but do vary the sites as much as possible.

I spoke to my diabetic nurse who suggested filling the resevoir up and just throwing half of it away by day 3 but said she hadn't heard of this before and she is pretty experienced as she wears one herself.

Any ideas? ALl I can think of is changing it every 2 days but suddenly that becomes a real hassle and I'm not sure the benefits of pump use will outweigh the cons.
If things don't improve i may have a break and go back to injections for a couple of weeks. Last time I did that I appreciated my pump so much more!

Thanks
Sal
 
Hi sal

Sounds as though you having an adsorbtion problem with the infusions sets, and will need to change your site sooner than you did or perhaps change the type of infusions sets you've been using (not sure what ones etc fit the medtronic pump, but your DN will be able to let you know)

With my pump I fill the cartridge up, then change my infusion sets every 2-3 days, and the cartridge when needed... Again not sure what infusion sets for the medtronic, but I use rouche tender-links, which do come in two sets one set includes all the canular and tubing, the other is just the canular, so for me it's a case of changing the whole lot, then the next site change I just change the canular, does cut out some of the mucking around involved...

Hope this helps
 
You may be suffering from insuling pooling. We change my daughters set after 2 days - as on day 3 she ends up higher than normal. If you find that you are extra low after a change in set, it is likely that the extra insulin you have been giving yourself cos you are high is being absorbed after you change the site. We tend to massage the infusion site after the cannual is removed and this tends to help reduce the high before we correct.

Also, we have found that it is sometimes more effective if you use dual wave boluses for most of your meals. For our daughter, the infusion site can't really absorb much more than about 2units in one go, so if she needs more than 2u we dual wave 1.5 straight away and put the the rest over 1.5 to 2 hours.

We are finding ourselves using square and dual waves more than normal boluses now and it seems to work much better.

Keep pumping - it's more complex but so is you pancreas.
 
great advice thank you both very much.
I will try the dual wave bolus and the massage.

I think I will just have to accept I need to change it every 2 days too.

Sal
 
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