I should have clarified. I change infusion sites at 3 day. Cartridges when they are out of insulin. 2 different timings.
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I load Apidra insulin (the one most pump companies don’t indicate using in their pump) in a 300 mL cartridge in my MiniMed 722 pump. It takes me 10-12 days to use that insulin. Like @Jim26, I start a new infusion site every three days. In over four years, I have not experienced even one occlusion.
I realize I’m not using the Tandem system, but perhaps Tandem’s warning about this is more out of an abundance of caution rather than real world failures.
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Tandem has a very tricky sensitive pressure sensor I think.
I went 6 months with never having an occlusion. Then I was getting one every few hours, changing sets.
I cleaned the sensor vent on the back of the pump, and while I got one more error after that, I didn’t get anymore since.
I really want to try one of the faster insulin’s, however I am in good control with humalog. Not sure my insurance or my doctor is going to approve that if there is no major issue.
I’m going to research if they are even in the formulary.
However it makes no sense that there would be more occlusions on tandem, the tubing is the same as all the other pumps.
So it has to be that the sensor is more sensitive.
Does anyone know of any free trials for insulin like one bottle type deal that they have tried. ?
I know sometimes pharma reps will give doctors free vials for patients to try, however not sure how that works
Thank you for that information - I will try to clean the vent.
It is annoying to get relentless occlusion alarms, especially soon after changing the cartridge.
Apart from any issue with the vent, in the times when I get recurring occlusion alarms, I tended to suspect stresses in the infusion set line somewhere from the point adjacent to the cartridge up to a centimetre or so beyond the little twist lock. I have not really had more than one or two occlusions due to the site of insertion.
It has not been a clear pattern, but I suspect the times of frequent occlusion alarms is due to my sleeping behaviour (a violent turn-overer) and the amount of physical activity I do with the pump in a zipped waist belt.
My practice now, when changing a cartridge, is to fold a bit of light athletic tape over the line, starting from where it enters the cartridge, extending about 7 cm of light (until beyond the little twist lock by a centimetre or more).
Since doing this, I have not had the same recurrence of regular occlusion alarms.
I use steel infusion sets for my t:slim X2. These are rated at 2.5 days. In practice my routine is to change them at 3.5 days - Sundays mornings and Wednesday evenings.
Using NovoRapid to fill the cartridge, I get a long time on one cartridge, with no noticeable loss in effect of the older insulin in the cartridge, even in warm to hot conditions. As a broad stab: say, 280 units / 20 units per day = 14 days.
Actually, sometimes I get more than 280 units into the cartridge and sometimes my daily total insulin (basal + bolus) is <20 units.
Sometimes the daily total reaches mid-20s, due to extra carbs, some other cause or (rarely) an infusion site that just does not seem to take the insulin. (Pre-keto my daily was over 50 units / day.)
I have not really kept track, but I guess a cartridge lasts between 12 to 16 days, more or less on occasion.
That length of time is probably against all official recommendations and against their commercial interests (so might be branded dangerous, reckless, evil …), but it works OK for me.
Totally not an answer to your post, but I just read that Tandem company was founded in 2008, but initially called Phluid Inc. Glad we don’t have to refer to our “phluid” pump.
LOL @MM1
yeah, that’s just weird!
You can change the infusion set without changing the cartridge. just connect the tubing and fill the line with insulin.
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Generally insulin is good for 3 days when used in a plastic cartridge. That’s why prefilling insulin pump cartridges is never recommended. However I fill the cartridge and change it generally once a week without issues unless I spend time outdoors when it’s hot weather. I have to change my infusion set every other day because the tissue around the cannula loses absorbency around 48 hours after insertion.
My first insulin pump used glass cartridges which could be prefilled. In fact I could by buy prefilled glass cartridges which worked for an insulin pen.
Personally I think the Tslim cartridge is a real PITA to fill. That’s because the pump is small and the cartridge has to fit just so. If you look at the corresponding cartridge for Medtronic, it’s much larger and round which makes the insulin pump bigger, thicker, and heavier.
Thanks everyone for responding. I’m going to stick w/the Medtronic’s line for now.
Happy Easter all!