Which is the better pump?

Nix

Newbie
Messages
2
I have just been told i have the funding to get an insulin pump but i now need to select which pump i would like. I have the choice between the Medtronic veo or the Roche Accu-chek Combo system. Is anyone using any of these and would you recommend it? I am not sure what to expect when i get it and am quite nervous. Any tips for using one?
 
C

catherinecherub

Guest
Hi Nix,

I am bumping your post up in the hope that you get an answer.
 

Daf

Member
Messages
6
Hello, im in the same boat as you, i have had a chat with most makers and talking to someone on here, they told me that accu chek is an old pump, also it has the information stored in the hand set and if lost your in bother as the pump itself has not many commands and has delivery problems of bubbling, the medtroincs isnt worth looking at IMHO, i have been told to look at the DanaR, this is up to date and one of the CEO's (Les) is a pumper too ( http://www.advancedtherapeuticsuk.com/home )
I have a thread here to and i think im now swayed to go with DanaR this pump has everything on both, the remote and the pump itself

Best of luck, this is only my view and i dont work for none of these, infact im retired :wink:

Its a minefield but if you know what you want then looks for it , best of luck with your searches

Daf :D
 

Nix

Newbie
Messages
2
Daf,
Thank you very much, i will now begin to look at them as well. My hospital told me i was only allowed either the accu chek or medtronic one but i will look at the others and see if i can request one of them!
Thanks
 

iHs

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,595
Daf said:
Hello, im in the same boat as you, i have had a chat with most makers and talking to someone on here, they told me that accu chek is an old pump, also it has the information stored in the hand set and if lost your in bother as the pump itself has not many commands and has delivery problems of bubbling, the medtroincs isnt worth looking at IMHO, i have been told to look at the DanaR, this is up to date and one of the CEO's (Les) is a pumper too ( http://www.advancedtherapeuticsuk.com/home )
I have a thread here to and i think im now swayed to go with DanaR this pump has everything on both, the remote and the pump itself

Best of luck, this is only my view and i dont work for none of these, infact im retired :wink:

Its a minefield but if you know what you want then looks for it , best of luck with your searches

Daf :D

Although the Spirit is an old pump, you are not stuck if you mislay the remote. You can still set the basal rates and do a bolus using the pump itself. The only thing you cant do is use the bolus wizard (you need the remote for that) but lots of people dont bother using bolus wizards anyway. They do their own insulin to carb ratios using their brain exactly as MDI. I dont think many mislay the remote as it also serves as the bg meter and you definately need to test yr bg before doing a bolus using a pump.

All pumps can get bubbles in the tubing but they are only a problem once they get near the infusion set. If a bubble is noticed all that needs to be done is unclip the set and bolus the bubble through the tube and then reconnect again. A good way to minimise bubble problems is to point the pump downwards with the tube from the pump coming out at the bottom so that any bubbles rise to the top of the cartridge and dont get trapped in the tube.

I suggest you find out who in the UK who is actually using a Dana R apart from Les Norton? The pump is probably very good but needs to be marketed with a better website display. In any case your hospital dsn and PCT need to be in agreeement to fund the Dana first and that may be where your problem will be.
 

mary123

Member
Messages
23
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I thought NHS gave a choice of three - Medtronic, Accu-chek and Animas. I'm on the last Animas2020 and very pleased with it even if it doesn't have a separate hand set. Regards
 

iHs

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,595
Most hospitals will allow people to have a choice but that choice is probably limited to the amount of knowledge that a pump dsn has on the particular pump that someone wants. I was somewhat lucky as although my dsn knew of the Spirit pump, she had no knowledge of how the Combo remote worked with it so on the day that the rep arrived at the hospital, it was a learning curve for us both.

What I did find out is that the new Spirit pump that I have got will not pack up after 4 years. It will go on working for a good 7 years so I'd better look after it and try not to drop it on the floor, cracking the case. Once my 7 years is up (or sooner if the pump develops a fault) the PCT has then got to be asked to agree to fund me another one.

Many people will think that when their 4 year warranty is up, a pump will be automatically replaced with another one but I dont think that that is going to be the case anymore. Well, that's the way that I understood it.
 

ruralweb

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Ive used the medtronic with CGM and TBH it was a complete nightmare - constant calibrations, inaccurate BG readings, blockages, very poor support, more hypos than ever and the constant need to dig the pump out from clothing or find it in bed to give a bolus or do a calculation. I used it for 3 month with my 9 year old daughter and I never slept a full night.

We now use the Accu-Chek Aviva Combo and its completely the opposite - it took a while to change our thinking from the medtronic because its very different and the calculations give IMO much better control. It has a remote handset which is also the BG meter which is fantastic as everything goes stright in to be used for calculating bolus. Every function of the pump can be controlled from about 6ft away which is good news if you have a child as they can get on with playing while you are giving a bolus rather than the medtronic which requires you top take the pump out from under thier clothing and play with it to deliver a bolus - this is a real problem when in public places.

You get two pumps so if you loose one or it becomes faulty you can immediately change and keep going (medtronic you only get one) handsets are delivered within 24hrs if you loose one although as said above you can do most things on the pump without the handset. My daughter gives boluses at school using the pump controls and the info is passed back to the handset when she gets home.

The graphs etc on the colour display are much much better than the tiny display on the medtronic and I found I needed to down load the pump onto the pc to get any meaningful info from it - the accu-chek has it all in the handset but you can download to a pc if you want even more data. Its great to be able to look at the data at anytime to see what is going on over the days/weeks.

The infusion set is also much more modular than medtronic so its easier to do changes. The CGM sensor i found to be very accurate during the night but it easily went out of calibration especially as it neared the end of its life which was about 3-4 days. Also the needle is HUGE and getting my daughter to insert it was a real problem at time ( I tried it for 4 days and was not that happy). It also needed calibration every 6 to 12 hrs so you had to do a calibration before she went to school and if it failed then it needed a new sensor - TRY sorting that out before school starts!!!!!! She missed many many days of school because fo this pump and while at school it constantly alarmed and distracted her from working. The accu-check JUST WORKS out the box and she goes to school and forgets its there.

All in all the Accu-Chek is my idea of what a pump should be and do - Im also told they are developing a CGM for it but that may be a year away which is ok for me as Id rather they get it working correctly rather than rushing it out which is what i think medtronic have done and actually created more problems than they have solved IMO.