Animas users to use medtronic

The Contact Detach and the Sure T infusion sets are both made by Uno Medical. They only differ where they connect to the resevoir. The difference is due to tech improvments of the Medtronic resevoir.

If you reuse the Medtronic tubing it is possible to connect to the needle end of the the Animas set. Of course this is NOT a sugestion just an example of something I have tried. Do so at your own risk.

The Medtronic resevoir has integrated vents and there are warnings regarding the process to fill it. All is printed in the MedT documents. Which should be read closelyā€¦ Despite being very repetative.

Needless to say the 630 works fine but it is taking me months to get used to and comfortable with the button clicking changes and the New Resevoir process.

thanks for the info on the infusion set. its the only set that will work for me. after trying the others on the animas pump that is spring loaded i end up not having the cannula under the skin which caused me to be in the ER, or its in but caused issues like not giving me the insulin as it may be kinked, etc. so the contact detach actually eliminated all of that for me. so im looking forward to trying the medtronic version of it. im sure it will take a bit to get use to the button clicking. but im patientā€¦

I feel the same about using the stainless steel infusion set and manual insertion. My experience with soft cannula and auto insertion resulted in a 50% failure rate.

To restate ā€¦the part of the Contact D and the Sure T that sticks to your body are identical. You should have no problem at all AND you can actally use the needle part of your Contact D if you choose.

joining the conversationā€¦

I ,missed a call last week from a Medtronics rep telling me that my replacement pump is ready to ship. Now, Iā€™d only ever said I was willing to hear what the offer was and would decide thenā€¦ Iā€™ve tried multiple times to return the call, but have not received a call back.

ā€¦ makes me so interested in this option, wouldnā€™t you think?

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thas you mean in getting the medtronic from animas? try this. this is the number ive been given 877.937.7867, option 5.

thats nice to know. im going to be getting my next shipment of the animas supplies next week along with the dexcom (i use for the animas vibe) supplies as well. so ill have enough to hold me over until i get the new pump and a few backups.

At least you guys are getting some heads upā€¦ I called them for something else, then they returned the call and eventually ended up telling me to stop using the Animas pump that I was using (they didnā€™t like one of the items I said it was doing), and then a Medtronic pump showed up at my door the next morning and I was told to book training so that I could start using it. I couldnā€™t be without a pump so I started using it anyways. Obviously Iā€™m glossing over a lot of details in between hereā€¦ but needless to say itā€™s been an interesting few days to say the leastā€¦

Long story, but the short version is a couple of days ago I was an Animas Vibe user then the next day (without ā€œtrainingā€) I became a Medtronic user.

Aside from the ā€˜experienceā€™, the pump itself isnā€™t bad. More button presses than Iā€™m used to, but it works.

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as long as it works. ive played around an example of one when i saw my diabetic nurse educator as i wanted to see what it looked like, etc. i wanted to become familiar before hand. so i know some of the functions. plus ive been playing around with the stimulator app they have for the 630G. so again i know how some of it functions but i need to do it in person, etc. so i cant wait. by the end of the month i should be up and running i hope! my endo and my nurse has been messaged so they know whats going on, etc

I just didnā€™t like that I wasnā€™t given a choice or any indication as to what was happening. I still have Animas supplies that I can no longer use, Dexcom sensors that I canā€™t use until I get a new G5 transmitter, and didnā€™t have any time to transition gracefully. I was literally thrown into the fire. Thankfully Iā€™m fully capable to transitioning myself from one pump to the next, because otherwise Iā€™d still be waiting to transition and stuck on fast-acting insulin only MDIā€¦ I figured 2 nights of injections, and not being able to sleep for long without having to get up and check blood sugars was enough and just dealt with it myself.

Iā€™m now dealing with the rest of the ramifications - new supplies, new test strips, new glucometer, new dexcom transmitter, etc. I expect over the next few days I will receive many, many shipments.

What did they not like about the Animas? Other than the obviousā€¦they want your business? I found the local rep to be rather unfriendly, though in the last two months the MedT folks have sent me two totally free boxes of sets. One for my Revel, one for my Ping. They lost me though, to Omnipod.

Just for clarification: It was Animas that said to not use it, and it was Animas that initiated the transition to Medtronic.

The local representatives from Medtronic (and Animas for that matter) are great people and very helpful once youā€™re able to get a hold of them. The biggest challenge right now is that I think they are overwhelmed with the number of transitions that are starting and that they are still refining their processesā€¦ which is clear based upon the events that transpired with me.

I wasnā€™t even eligible to make the switch yet, but it happened anyways. :man_shrugging:

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I have many reason why Iā€™d prefer NOT to make the switch yetā€¦ For one, my Vibe is working. I like getting my DEXCOM values on the pump. I have a good supply of supplies. I get the best results from the faster delivery that the Vibe has that, from what Iā€™ve seen, the 630G does not. I need to change sets every other day - sometimes more - I need to be involved in every step of the transition process and would very much dislike having the pump just show up at my home. And finally - my long-term hope is to change to one of the other devices in the pipeline, rather than the current Medtronics options - I donā€™t want that decision made FOR meā€¦

I totally agree - I was eventually planning to make the switch soon to gain access to the Travel Loaner Pump program again since it was discontinued by Animas once the announcement was made that they were closing up shop in North America. I travel a lot for work and the spare pump is a must for some of the remote locations I go toā€¦ butā€¦

ā€¦ I wasnā€™t quite ready (or expecting) to make a hard switch like that yet, and itā€™s certainly going to end up costing me a fair bit of money to make up for the supplies that are now unusable with the Medtronic pump as a result of this. At least my local clinic will receive a nice donation from me next week when I drop them off, and theyā€™ll go towards helping someone in need. (Not to mention Iā€™m also giving the Contour meter a go since it communicates with the pump, and had to get all new test strips and spare metersā€¦)

With respect to the CGM, they sent me the Guardian transmitter and some sensors along with the pump and Iā€™m giving it a try. I plan to run the Medtronic CGM alongside the Dexcom when I switch to my next sensor so that I can compare the two. Iā€™m curious to see how they compare against eachother. I received some new Dexcom G5 transmitters today so that I can use up my remaining 8-9 Dexcom sensors so they wonā€™t go to waste. Iā€™ll just capture the data to my phone since itā€™s always on me anyways, and that way it will automatically sync my values with Diasend.

At first I thought the insulin delivery rate was very slow, but then I found that there is a setting on the 630g that allows you to change the bolus delivery rate from normal to fast and now itā€™s comparable to the Animas Vibeā€™s delivery rate.

@Richmatik what do you mean not given a choice? you didnt get the letter from animas? i had someone i know copy the letter as i didnt get one. but i knew what was going on. i like my dexcom but i dont want two different units. ive been use to having just one unit for both and want to keep it that way (if insurance approves it). im sure youā€™ll get many shipments. i know right now ill be getting two from the company i use for my supplies which i need to update them that im switching pumps, etc. then ill be getting the shipments of the medtronic stuff.

@Laura_S the person i dealt with on weds was nice. he answered every question i had. so far i havent had any issues. even the people that answer their facebook messages were nice. so i have no problems there

If ā€œforcedā€ into this, I may give the CGM a try; however, th deficits are more than just accuracy ā€“ I have grown to depend on my CCGM data on my watch - and that is something Medtonics does not (easily?) do yet. Iā€™m also on the G4/Share still, so a change will kick me out of the longer-term support for G4 that Iā€™d been counting on. Weā€™ll seeā€¦

@Amy2 Thankfully as long as you use a smartphone you can continue to only carry ā€œone deviceā€ and still use the Dexcom. My phone is always within 30 ft of me, and for the few times Iā€™m not the Dexcom will cache the results and the phone will get them when Iā€™m back within range. Iā€™m purely going to base my decision on which one I find to be more accurate. While I love the integration with the pump, Iā€™d sooner choose the one I feel is more accurate and that Iā€™m more likely to use. Iā€™ve been debating getting a smartwatch as well, and Dexcom has nice integration into most of the popular ones too - so thatā€™s an added bonus.

As far as not being given a choice, I wasnā€™t told that I was being forced over to Medtronic when this all went down - there was no letter or mention of it while I was on the phone with them until after this all started. I was expecting a replacement Animas pump in the interim while we started the process to get me over to Medtronic and allow me enough time to gracefully transition, use up some of the Animas supplies that I have, and work through it at my own pace. I was not expecting that one day Iā€™d be on Animas, be left overnight with no pump, and then receive a Medtronic one that I had to self-start myself on.

medicare doesnt cover the G5 mobile app. yes you read that right. they wont cover it so i cant use it. so upgrading to the G5 doesnt make sense for me if i cant use the one thing that the G5 is used for. so im still on the G4. ive been on the G4 for a few years now. i want to give the medtronics one a try and see if i like it. if not i can see if i can get a receiver for the one i have or upgrade to the G5 or G6 whichever that is good and my insurance will cover. i take it that it all worked out then? from what im reading it did

@Thas The ā€œGuardian Connectā€ transmitter will work with a smartphone, but I think it breaks the ability to interact with the pump as the one that works with the 630g is the ā€œGuardian Link.ā€ I think itā€™s only a matter of time before smart watches will be able to display the readings.

So if I understand you correctly, youā€™re using the G4 transmitter to send the data to your Vibe and the Share Receiver at the same time, and then the Share receiver to your watch?

@Amy2 Yes, I remember reading a number of posts on here regarding that. It does seem like an odd requirement.

I think the biggest pet peeves I have about the Medtronic Transmitter right now are the fact that it must be recharged in between uses, the way the sensor is attached to you and that the transmitter is taped on to hold it in place, and the fact that Iā€™m forced to use the MiniMed CareLink system to review my data which is archaic when compared to Diasend.

Thankfully in the end itā€™s all working out, even though Iā€™m a little lighter in my wallet as a result of this. I have had lots of communication with all parties involved to try and make sure this doesnā€™t happen to someone else - especially if that person will be unable to self-start themselves and have to wait several weeks for training.

The Share receiver send the data to the Vibe and to my phone. The phone sends it to the watch. I also have a tiny phone, second receiver and watch configured for a specific purpose that I use some of the time. (Yeah, one of the ā€œluxuriesā€ of being on the same device for an extended periodā€¦).

One note - not all your supplies will be useless (likely) ā€“ IF youā€™re using the same type of infusion sets, then infusion sets can probably be used, so long as you reuse the tubing that came with the Medtronics sets ā€“ That way, if a site only needs to be changed, you can just move the tubing to the new one ā€“ I think on the SITE end, the connectors are not different ā€“ or an I wrong there, too? (That was my experience with insets when I changed pumps last time from Asante that had a proprietary tubing connector on the pump side.)