sallymac65 said:
HI, I have been a pump user for the last four years, my current pump is due for renewal. My how time flies ..... My current one is a Medtronic minimed which has been fine, although have a new niggles about it, but have been offered the Roche combo one instead.
Can anyone shed any light on the use of the Roche one, is it really so much easier to use as the blood testing monitor is so interlinked with it etc? I would be grateful for any updates anyone can shed on this topic, thanks
Hi Sally
I have the Roche Accuchek combo (close to 3 years now) and if you want my honest opinion, I wouldn't recommend it. I'll outline my issues with it below and then you can decide for yourself whether you think these points are salient in your decision process.
1. First off, the blue tooth is unbearably weak between the pump and handset. I complained about it several times to the pump careline and was sent two new handsets, neither of which addressed the issue. Finally, the Roche rep at my clinic told me that earlier issues of the pump such as mine did have bluetooth issues and it was arranged for a brand new pump to be sent to me. Sadly, this did not address the problem,and I still find myself standing there for what seems like an age while the screen says "connecting to the pump" repeatedly. This occurs even when I put the two devices literally right next to one another
leading me to believe that the technology/components just aren't up to scratch.
The blue tooth is set at a different frequency than other blue tooth gadgets, this is a safety feature so it's not seen by various other blue tooth gadgets, cutting the risk down of somebody trying to hack your pump, it's distance range is also a lot shorter, similar reason and also it's just not needed so helps to cut down on power usage. there are two factors involved which slow down the pump and handset taking to each other, one is purely based on battery power, when this starts to decline it takes longer to connect, the other is based on the safety checks before connection is allowed, to ensure the right handset if connecting to the right pump
2. Secondly, when you scroll through the pump menu either using the pump directly or via the handset you can only scroll in one direction, meaning that if you accidentally go past the item that you want, you have keep going forward all the way through the menu (it's long!) until you get back to it again. It can be infuriating at times.
It does scroll backwards, on the pump if you press top rocker button and the menu button simultaneously it returns to the previous screen, does have a knack to it though and on the handset, you use the two buttons directly under the screen, left is to exit the pump menu completely and the right is to go back to the previous screen
3. Thirdly, there have been occasions when I've spotted an air bubble and want to prime in order to expel it. This requires stopping the pump and then choosing the 'infusion prime' option, however, a few times I've accidentally hit the 'cartridge change' option by mistake then found that there's no way of cancelling it. You end up having to remove the battery to get back to where you want to be. This might not be something that ever happens to you but if you're at all clumsy or a bit dizzy at times as I can be, then it could be an issue.
All pumps have to be stopped before accessing the priming mode, it's a safety feature, but again if you accidentally hit the 'Change Cartridge' option, all you do is as above, press side button and menu button simultaneously to revert back to previous screen
4. Finally, my biggest gripe without a doubt is the alert facility for temporary basal rates - basically, there's no way to disable it. The problem with this is you might check your sugars just before bed, find they're trending towards low and rather than eat something and find yourself struggling to sleep while you digest it, you decide to set a lower basal rate for a few hours. Well once that temporary basal rate finishes the pump beeps and vibrates to inform you, which is is the last thing you want when you're fast asleep. It continues to alert until you manually stop it. Annoying? Understatement. Similarly, I've had a temporary basal rate conclude while I'm speeding down the motorway and don't have a free hand to be able to turn off the alert. It's a terrible distraction to your driving with this thing beeping and buzzing away in your pocket, and I would say, it's potentially a hazard.
You have 3 options of warning alarms, Audible only, vibration only or both, on Audible you can adjust the sound, so you've got a couple of choice, set vibration only or if using the audible turn the sound right down, and you can hardly hear it and probable not above an car engine or car radio, but there again if driving the motorway surely it would be a better idea to ensure that you TBR is time to finish at the end of the journey, or at least after you've expect to be leaving the motorway!
5. To prime the cannula, you just have to bolus one unit. When you come to eat next and use the bolus advice facility, it will knock that one unit off your required dose if it's still active in your blood stream. Seems silly to me, there should be a cannula prime facility.
This is a simple problem to over-come, all you do is enter the equivalent amount of carbs for your 1 unit of insulin for the cannula prime, the software ignores this in any following calculations
There you go, that's all I can think of for now. I'm not saying that the pump doesn't have plenty of good points, but if you are in a position to choose and there are other pumps that share this pump's good points but exclude its bad ones, then that might help you make your decision.
Cheers
Tis fine in the dark though lol.
