Does anyone know which ones are compatible with Tandem? I want to try some due to issues with damage to the plastic ones. I had an incident 2 weeks ago where the cannula was damaged, bg went rapidly to 330 or higher with no basal and I’m lucky I didn’t go dka. When I took the cannula out a tandem rep told me to press on the end and the tip collapsed so he said it was damaged causing this.
Yesterday I was trying one which my cde gave me that I thought was a steel cannula which was actually plastic- I had high bg again, not as high and when I removed it the whole thing collapsed when I pressed on it. The ends have been collapsing on some of my other plastic cannulas also when there was no really high bg so I’m wondering what is going on here? Do the plastic ones normally collapse at the tip like that after use when you press on them?
I don’t know about the quality of the particular cannulas you are using. I’ve only used the Quick Sets from MM, which are problematic for me regarding NO DELIVERY. It got so bad I had to find a different set or I was seriously going to stop pumping. I switched to Sure-T’s which are tiny steel needles, comfortable (more comfortable for me than cannula sets) and that took care of the problem. I am not a fan of cannula sets for that reason and yet I find there are people that love them and apparently don’t have too much trouble with no delivery. were all different and that’s way there are a variety of sets.
I’d ask the company for FREE SAMPLES of different sets. Good luck.
I think that Tandem uses a Luer lock, so you can really use any set you want EXCEPT mini-med’s proprietary sets…though, I think even they make a bunch with a luer lock connection so you could look there, too. I use animas’s “contact detach” which is a steel set and it has solved many of my infusion problems - and that is the only style that I know that is currently being made. It looks like Tandem sells the exact same set through their website, so at least you know it’s compatible? I would ask your doctor for those specific samples (contact detach) and if that doesn’t work, call the company you order your supplies from and see if they send samples (I have not had luck with this route, but I order directly from animas. They may be extra stingy). You could also just have your doctor change your prescription and if you hate it try and change back, though that may end up with you committing to sets you hate.
I was using another inset at first, I’ve forgotten the name now, inset 30 maybe… and then I changed to cleo. I seem to have issues with the insertion devices sometimes which I think caused the damage to that cleo cannula. These ones my cde gave me are called “infusion set”. I called Tandem and they’re going to give me some Contact steel cannula insets to try via my rep. Do you know why steel needles are more likely to cause scar tissue?
Love, love, love the steel needle sets…so much easier than the plastic cannulas. You don’t have to deal with the insertion devices. I am told that changing the sets every 2 days and rotating the sites lessons the possibility of scar tissue.
No. Nor am I sure that’s the case, but if you have a credible cite for that info, I’d be glad to read it. having said that, you couldn’t get me to use cannula sets again if they were free. or if you paid me.
I’ve been using steel needle sets for many years and see LESS trauma to my skin, and insignificant scarring. I wear them from 2-1/2 to 4 days. Lately I wear them 4+ days. I fill the reservoir with 180U and run it til it’s got just a few units left. Now that I low carb, I use from 17 to 36 U most of the time. doing the math, you can see that 160 usable units is going to last at least 4 days. For years, I usually wore them for 3 days.
Cannula sets caused tunneling, redness, irritation and lots and lots of NO DELIVERY, thanks to kinked cannulas. All those issue are mitigated for me by using Sure-T’s. Once in a blue moon a set (Sure T) site will be swollen, but I won’t know it til I pull out the set. Has nothing to do with how long it was in. I could have a red one in a few days just as often as one that’s been in for 4 days. Doesn’t happen often enough to worry about it.
I have nothing to cite- I actually read that that was the case in a couple of comments here I think. I will see what I can find.
I hope they work out for me too.
Do you ever take yours out and put them into a new site if you have absorption issues? I know Jen said she has done that and I’m wondering which ones she has. I’m going to look some of them up as well as sure Ts. I have some Contacts on the way soon- does anyone have any experience with them?
A Sure -T can be moved after initial insertion, if necessary. It will need to be secured with a transparent dressing because removing a Sure-T will undo the sticking properties of the adhesive.
I am also at my wits end with plastic cannulas. I have been using the MM Quik Sets for years, but for the past 6 mos I have had way too many unexplained highs. Today I was >400. I have called Tandem and they weren’t much help, except to say that I should probably try a new infusion set. Is it possible to disconnect the steel cannula sets, so that I can disconnect from the pump to shower or swim?
As everyone said, the Contact Detach sets are luerlock and therefore compatible with your Tandem pump. After hearing so many rave reviews of metal sets on TuDiabetes, I gave them a try last year. I found them to be quite painful in many locations and also had to use tape to get them to stick. I would love to see a metal set with a shorter needle (I did use the shortest length).
I have tried almost every infusion set out there and always come back to manually inserted Comfort Shorts (Silhouettes with Medtronic). I have never done well with 90 degree sets and am unwilling to accept the pain and set failure rate of using them. Others can’t imagine using the sets that I use. It’s definitely an individual choice thing.
I use Contact Detach sets and do move them to a new location if they are sore and I’m having unexplained highs. Unlike most people, I can still have “bad sites” with the steel sets, where I’ll shoot up to the high teens (300+) with ketones and not come down. I’m not sure why or how this happens, but I’m allergic to nickel and I think the stainless steel has a bit of nickel in it, so I think sometimes my body reacts. But it’s nowhere near as bad as the issues I was having with the plastic sets were. I change my sets every 1-2 days. (Like @Laddie, I need to use extra tape to keep them stuck down, otherwise the built-in adhesive sticks so poorly that they can fall out if they’re so much as brushed the wrong way!)
Hi Leah, you can detach them- the contact detach has the needle and then a separate patch which the tubing connects to. the patch connects to the needle with a tube also. I’m using a 6mm needle but it’s still a little long for me and sometimes painful. I had pain with the plastic cannulas too. I put a new one in today, the old one was inflamed and a bit swollen and had been hurting for a while, then the new one hurt immmediately so I tried another spot but it’s still hurting and my bg was high for hours, not super high. I ended up doing an injection and raising basal and it’s normalizing now. I do also wish for a much shorter needle, there has to be a better pain free way to do this. I’m hoping the BD set will be better too. Some of the CD have been ok and pain free but some haven’t. It’s such a pain to have to deal with all of this. @Laddie thanks… I tried an angled inset before starting my pump and it was painful.
I’m not really sure what a “bad” site is exactly or why I have pain immediately with some, others not and so on. I don’t have scar tissue as far as I know. One problem I haven’t had so far is super high bg due to cannula failures like I had with the plastic ones… the second time one of the inset tops actually somehow fell off while I was sleeping, which is such a bad design that this is even a possiblity, and @Jen I haven’t had to put opsite flexfix over mine, they seem to stay on pretty well, however they can be quite painful to remove.
Many “bad sites” are caused by the cannula kinking. This is often highlighted as the main advantage of the metal sets, that they are safer than cannulas because they can’t kink or bend.
The other reason for a “bad site” is scar tissue which, of course, no type of set can overcome.
But, what I mean by a “bad site” (maybe “site failure” would be a better term) is that I’ll have a site that works great for a day or a day and a half and then just “dies” for no reason. I’ll go from having in-range blood sugars to suddenly shooting really high and not being able to come down and spilling ketones and such.
From reading forums, I don’t think that this type of site failure is very common with metal sets. I’ve read lots of posts from people saying that they never have site failures from these sets, aside from scar tissue where a site just doesn’t work to begin with (which I don’t seem to have). Luckily, these types of site failures happen a couple of times a year now as opposed to constantly with the plastic sets.
What is DME? I think I looked at these but I didn’t realize they were shorter. I’m going to try to get a sample. It’s only 5.5 vs 6 mm though, so I wonder if that would make a difference for me.
