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Pump bubbles?

zoze_j

Well-Known Member
Messages
163
Location
Lancashire
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Moths & mushrooms!
People who are ignorant towards diabetes :(
Animal cruelty
People who use their mobile phones whilst driving
Hey pumpers!

So, does anyone else have issues with air bubbles when making up new reservoirs? It happens nearly every single time I do a set change & does my head in!

The times I don't get a bubble when filling the reservoir, when I attach it to the infusion set...BUBBLE. AGAIN!

Any tips on stopping this? And what damage is it doing if there is a bubble in the reservoir whilst it's in the pump??
 
There will always be small bubbles, I don't think its an issue......

all the air will be pushed to the back i think, to be left with the stuff you will throw out...
 
Which pump do you have?
No 1 make sure your insulin is at room temp
No 2 make sure you put the air into the vial and not the insulin
No 3 Draw the insulin into the cartridge very slowly any bubbles showing then just shove them back in the vial again
No 4 make sure the tubing is connected tightly to the cartridge.

When you see bubbles in the tubing just keep an eye on them and prime them out once near the cannula.
 

Hey CarbsRok.

Sadly, I have tried ALL of you steps you have advised me - I'm a complete jinx it would seem! I can fill & refill a reservoir 5 or 6 times, FINALLY get it bubble free, then go to put it to the infusion set, it goes totally **** up!

I don't think I'll ever get it right!
 
So what pump do you have?
 
what pump you using?

my medtronic reservoir comes empty, you connect it to the vial and slowly pump the air from the new reservoir back in to the insulin vial, then slowly draw out.......

is this what you do, or something similar...
 
What pump do you have?

Can you prime the bubbles through after you've connected up the set?

One thing I do is even when I think my reservoir is filled fine, I still push a little insulin back into the vial to get rid of any hidden bubbles.

This is why I miss my D Tron. It took me two seconds to drop a cartridge in and never any bubbles.
 
CarbsRok said:
So what pump do you have?
Click to expand...
I have the medtronic. Sorry, I missed that question!

novorapidboi26 said:
what pump you using?

my medtronic reservoir comes empty, you connect it to the vial and slowly pump the air from the new reservoir back in to the insulin vial, then slowly draw out.......

is this what you do, or something similar...
Click to expand...

Yep, exactly the same



Do you mean like, when you're pressing & holding to push the insulin through before you connect the set? If so, yes that's what I tend to TRY and do - I try and tip the bubbles to the top, then hold the pump so in theory, the bubbles get pushed out before the insulin comes through. Then I attach. I'm just concerned this will backfire at some point & there'll be a bubble lurking!
 
medtornic is good then......

you will need to suck the insulin out a vial yeah? so just push the air into the vial slowly so as to not create more air bubbles, the pressure you've just put in the vial should push the insulin out on its own for a small bit, then its a case of very slowly drawing out the rest......any bubbles in the reservoir can be flicked to the top and pushed back out before draw the final bit.....

its ok to have some in the reservoir though.....

perfectly safe...
 

No, I don't think we do mean the same : s I mean when you prime - that is you've got the reservoir/cartridge in your hand that you've just filled from the vial, you've screwed/attached the set tubing, and then you have to prime that tubing to fill it with insulin. So the insulin then goes down the tubing from the vial until you see lots of drops of insulin coming out the end of it BEFORE you connect it to your body.

Sorry for the long and probably very obvious detail there. I didn't want anyone to get the idea that you should ever prime or push through insulin when your set is connected to your body.
 
Hi

If you keep yr pump close to yr body then the insulin inside the pump will get a lot warmer than room temperature. My room temperature is 21D but that is not warm enough to encourage the insulin to thin down and air bubbles appear so I fill my cartridges with insulin from fridge an use the other older way of filling syringes that nurses used and that is to pull back the plunger in the cartridge to about 15u and then hold vial above the cartridge and inject the 15u of air up into the vial which will make air bubbles float to the other end of the vial. Then slowly pull back the plunger to about 15u and the cartridge will fill with insulin plus an air bubble. Then push up the plunger quickly so that the air bubble goes back into the vial and then pull plunger back slowly and there shouldn't be any bubble but if there is, just push plunger up quickly and withdraw slowly.
To get the cartridge up to body temp, I cap the cartridge and wrap it in some tissue and store it in my bra cup so that it gets nice and warm. The warmed up cartridge will reveal a bubble or 2 but by gently flicking the thumb nail against the side of the cartridge, it's possible to get the bubble under the neck of the cartridge where the tube joins. All that needs to done is get the bubble up into the neck and into the tube before the cartridge goes into the pump. That way, the cartridge should be bubble free and remain that way until empty.
 

Haha dont panic! I'm not THAT blonde (although I do pull "push" doors!!)

I did mean when I'm priming, not when I've attached it to myself
 
zoze_j said:
Haha dont panic! I'm not THAT blonde (although I do pull "push" doors!!)

I did mean when I'm priming, not when I've attached it to myself
Click to expand...

Lol, I didn't think you were : D I was more making sure for any casual readers : D And I routinely pull 'push' doors!

Try the pushing insulin from reservoir into vial (more than you normally do) and prime out a little more than you normally do too, and see if that helps. Also, double check all connections. Sometimes they can loosen. I've had that happen at night before and only realised when I saw bubbles in my tubing when I got dressed.
 
I watched on YouTube tangerinediabetic flick the filled reservoir whilst still attached to the vial, so when I say flick, use a biro and give it a good ole go, bubbles come away and rise to the top of the reservoir so you can then squirt them back into the vial.
Also I have the Medtronic and before removing the reservoir from the infusion set and before inserting into body I squirt some insulin into the canular.

I don't seem to have had an issue the 6 weeks I've been on it.

Misty x
 
when you're drawing the insulin from vial into reservoir are you holding them so the vial is above the res, if that makes sense? It seems like a silly question but my friend didn't know to do that when he got his pump and didn't understand why he constantly had bubbles.

You mean big bubbles yeah? Not like 'champagne bubbles' as my dsn calls them, cos they are fine, as post 2 said they will just be left in the bit you throw out... I can't think what else could be happening..

As already said just watch for them in your tubing and prime out before they get to your site.. You definitely feel it if one goes in you
 

Haha glad I'm not the only one! When I worked in travel insurance, I once said to a woman who was claiming for lost luggage "Verona? No way, is that real? I thought that was a made up place...like Narnia!" - needless to say, the company then used that call to train future employees on what NOT to say!
 

I think so..but next time I do a set change I'll 100% make sure it's dead upright

Yeah big monster ones!

Oh wow, really? What happens?
 
I used to get lots of air bubbles and tried various methods to get rid of them. Things got better but I still got bubbles (some of them very big). I ended up doing a combination of things and now only get the occasional bubble.

- Insulin at body temperature made a great improvement.

- Tapping out as many small bubbles as possible while still attached to the vial.

- remove from blue connector and tap bottom of reservoir on hard surface.

- leave the reservoir to settle before attaching tubing (so any remaining air rises to top.

- After about 5 minutes, attach tubing (keeping reservoir upright) and push insulin into tubing. Tap side of reservoir several times and push out remaining air bubbles. Do this until no more bubbles enter tubing.

Then prime as normal.

It seemed to take forever, at first, but now isn't so bad.

That's what works for me but, you know what they say, everyone is different!
 
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