I've been on minimed pump for 2 years now. I have loved the convenience and freedom the pump has given me and have never really had any issues. I am on the sure t infusion set. I have had non stop issues for the past two months and am beyond frustrated. I have noticed a lot of air bubbles and have tried several things to get rid of them. Lately my sites are barely lasting over 24 hours without unexplained high blood sugars that are lowered right away with a set change. Has anyone had experience with this? Its to the point that I'm considering looking into the omnipod but have seen several reviews about pod failures.
I have the Omnipod and I really like it. It was easy to learn how to use,the cannula is 6.5 mm and is very comfortable. I too have read on here about the failures of the new pods. All I can say is that I have experienced 3 occlusions since starting in late May. Only one failure was completely inexplicable, the other two I think were the result of a bad site choice. It is like anything, the people who love their pods don't post on here so you don't hear from them, the people who are having issues with them do post on here, so that is all we read.
PODs didn't work for me. I didn't find them reliable enough, and also I was not happy with the absorption rate. If I was happier with the system in general, I would have stuck with it, but their system ended up not being a good fit for me.
I strongly suggest waiting a few months before switching over to pods. After the new pods have been around a while longer, they'll figure out the kinks and resolve any manufacturing problems that may or may not exist. Customer service has been a bit overwhelmed lately as well.
Instead of changing out the entire infusion set, have you tried just moving the set? Since it's a needle set, you should be able to do this. I read about it somewhere else and tried it myself the other day, and it worked great! The spot it was in was getting irritated and my blood sugar had been weird for the past 12 hours or so (bouncing between 50 and 250), and once I moved it things were perfect again. I used Skin Tac to stick it down, and it lasted the remainder of the two days I keep sets in for.
Also, in regards to air bubbles, are you making sure that the connection between your pump and tubing is tight enough? If this connection is loose, it can cause air bubbles to form. When I did my pump training the nurse told me to tighten this connection twice, just to make sure it's super tight (though not too tight—don't want to crack the cartridge). I know the Minimed connections are different than the pumps I have used (Cozmo and Animas), so maybe they are more prone to letting air in?
I also use pen cartridges to fill my pump cartridges. I'm not sure if pen cartridges (for the reusable insulin pens) are available in the U.S., but I find they form WAY fewer bubbles when filling cartridges than when using vials. I read about this in an article about insulin pumpers who were blind when I was doing research about whether I'd be able to use a pump. The first time I filled a cartridge during pump training, the nurse said that I had zero bubbles in the cartridge on the first try, and she'd never seen anyone do that.
Also, if you are having problems with infusion sets, I don't see the one size fits all approach with an Omnipod working in your favor.
I've been using Minimed with Silhouette infusion sets for 5 years. In that time, I have had one non-delivery which was my fault because I did not properly puncture the reservoir connection, and no failures. I change every three days. Maybe once a month I will leave it in four days, but really don't like to do this. Could you maybe try a different type of infusion set? Good luck!
I use Minimed and a quick set. I get a good 3 days every time, but will sometimes try to stretch it to 4 days. The 4th day is never good and always causes me issues. With the quick set you get the choice of different depths. One is a 6mm cannula and the other is a 9mm cannula. I use the 6 MM cannula but am thinking of going to the 9mm version. I really like the quick set. A change of sets might be in order.
hello
i was on minimed fo 8 years with the sure-t, had no problems, in fact i loved that set cause it couldnt kink and that gave me a feeling of safety. it could be that you just hit a bad serial number where all the sets are bad, have you changed that yet?
however, after 8 years i thought i needed a change and switched to omnipod last week. i am trying this system out for one month now and will then decide further.
i am planning on starting a discussion here soon, maybe next weekend, where i list up the pros and the cons of these two systems, because i am SO torn between them!!
they really are both great, but not perfect. so if you are interested, watch out for my forum entry, hopefully arriving soon! Maybe this will help you with your decision.
good luck with the sites!
YES!! Please keep me updated!!!