interesting. sorry it happens to you, but it’s interesting nonetheless. take care!
It takes me about 5 minutes as well. I don’t find that to be much of a hassle at all. I do prepare the new cartridge prior to stopping the old one and removing the old set.
I swap out every three days and fill the cartridge with 250 units. I may go a few hours longer than 72 hours but generally swap out when there’s 15-20 units left.
I agree.
My average TDD (total daily dose) of insulin is between 18-20 units. The user manual for the t:slim X2 says that you should add 45 units to your expected insulin use which would then total about 105 units. So I would use 60 units and throw away 45 units. That would be an incredible waste of insulin–about 40% of what I purchase.
Some people pull out the unused insulin and put it into the next cartridge. Frankly that seems worse to me than just using each cartridge for a longer time.
I fill my cartridges with 150-200 units and use them until they get down to about 20 units. It is usually 6-8 days. At that point I change cartridges. My experience is that my numbers go bad once I get down to about 20 units. Whether it is bubbles in the cartridge or degraded insulin, I don’t know. But this is a lot less waste than changing every 3 days.
I change my infusion set every 2 days and only change tubing when I change the cartridge. I always save the extra tubing and this allows me to use Animas and Medtronic sets with my X2 by just substituting the tubing. A local woman gave me 20 (!) boxes of Animas infusion sets when her daughter switched to a different pump. I told her about substituting tubing, but she didn’t care and wanted to get rid of them. Another D-friend gave me some of his surplus of Medtronic sets. Because Medicare often makes it difficult to get a sufficient number of infusion sets, these gifts were quite wonderful.
I have used cartridges for about a week in all the pumps (Medtronic, Animas, Tandem) that I have used in the last 15 years. Saves time and I have not experienced negative effects.
In general I believe that Novolog does better than Humalog for extending cartridge life in an X2. Is that a scientific fact? I haven’t the slightest idea. It might be personal bias because when I started pumping many years ago, it was common practice to switch Humalog users to Novolog because it was considered to be more temperature stable. Is that true? I haven’t the slightest idea.
I personally do not pre-fill cartridges. I would have felt more comfortable doing it with Animas and Medtronic where you can see the insulin and bubbles inside the reservoirs. To me Tandem cartridges are a “black box” and it drives me crazy not being able to see the insulin. Since filling the tubing is the most time-consuming part of a cartridge change, I wouldn’t see much benefit with a pre-filled cartridge. But I would say, give it a try and see if it works well for you.
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That’s one of the things I’m not looking forward to when I switch to the X2: the “black box” issue. Too bad they don’t make them transparent. If they were, maybe it would be possible to notice bubbles, if present.
Tandem t:sport will have the more traditional style cartridge without the micro-delivery approach as found in the X2.
t:sport is due out Summer 2020. 200-unit max cartridge. Comes with Control-IQ. Fully controllable via mobile app.
An option.
I personally have no issues with the X2 cartridge nor any issues with air bubbles.
In fact, I very much like the Tandem micro-delivery technique and think it is an awesome feature.
But choice is nice.
If the Tandem micro-delivery is not comfortable with somebody - there are choices.
OK, so I looked that up. I don’t think I’d like having that attached to me, but thanks for mentioning it!!
Could you elaborate a tiny bit? Why do u find that technique superior?
The t:sport is not a patch pump.
It is a tubed pump. So for people on Omnipod systems, they likely would not find the t:sport to be a preferable choice to what they already use.
However the t:sport is smaller than the X2 and it is expected to be available with an armband or something along those lines so if somebody wants to optionally wear it like you might carry an mp3 or phone for music while running or something along those lines, that is expected to be an option.
Or you can carry the t:sport just as you would any other tubed pump. Save that it will be smaller and the user interface is via the Mobile App (with the exception of the Quick Bolus button which will be on the t:sport the same as it is on the t:slim X2).
In a nutshell.
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There is a video floating around somewhere that shows how it works. Really the best way to understand it. If you are interested in the details of it. I assume most people don’t really care about that aspect of it either for the better or the worse.
I think it is a nice feature but it was not on the top list of things that caused us to decide to go with the X2 pump.
Here is why I thought it is a patch pump.
" t:sport Insulin “Patch” Pump with Hybrid Wear
Update: Launch second half of 2020
Tandem has had the t:sport “patch” pump in development for several years, taking its current pump technology, miniaturizing it, and changing the approach to wear. The pump will have no screen , wireless control from a phone/handheld, and a variety of infusion set options. Users will be able to wear the t:sport pump like a patch directly on the body under clothes (very short infusion set) or in a pocket like a traditional tubed pump (longer infusion set). t:sport will be about half the size of the current t:slim X2, is expected to hold 200 units of insulin, and will include an on-pump bolus button – e.g., a bolus can be taken even if the handheld is out of range. t:sport will integrate the Control-IQ hybrid closed loop algorithm discussed above and receive data from Dexcom CGM, allowing for a truly on-body closed-loop system – i.e., users will remain in automated insulin delivery even when the phone/handheld is out of range. Tandem hopes to launch the pump in 2020."
Maybe u should point out the confusing verbage to them in the blog that I pulled that from which is diatribe.org.
I agree, it wasn’t the main factor driving me to go with Tandem, but the slower delivery was a very important consideration. I would sometimes experience stinging at the infusion site with my Animas and Diesetronic pumps, even when set at the lowest delivery speed. The T:slim delivery speed is very slow by comparison and I haven’t experienced stinging since making the change.
Here’s the video.
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Medtronic pumps (at least all the ones that I know prior to the 630) infuse boluses very slowly. there is one speed for up to 10U and after that the infusion is 2X (IIRC) as fast, but is still slow enough that never have I felt stinging when bolusing any amount with my Medtronic pumps. IMO, the boluses are too slow. A happy medium (ideally a user-adjustable speed) would be appreciated by me.
No harm at all. The insulin stores in a prefilled cartridge just as well as it stores in the vial and my cartridge always seems to run low at the most inconvienient time while I am busy, so reaching into my bag for a spare to do a quicker set change is totally worth it.
I typically open a new vial and just fill 3-4 cartridges each time when I am not rushing around and have 15-20 spare minutes.
How long do you let those filled X2 cartridges sit before using them?
Usually a week to 10 days. I keep one spare in my bag and the others in the fridge, always filling from my bag and then rotating another from the fridge to my bag as my “active spare”. I usally do fills on the weekend.
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How do you you cover/seal the end of the cartridge’s tubing pigtail to keep things sterile?
I use a t:Flex pump and still have a huge supply of old Luer Lock cartridges, so I don’t know if the new t:Lock cartridges come with a cap. The Luer Lock carts don’t. Hence my question. I’d like to fill a week’s worth of carts all at once.
Hi Rob,
I’m not pre-filling my t:slim X2 cartridges so I can’t help you with a sealing mechanism, but I do know the cartridges don’t come with a cap. Maybe someone else has suggestions for you.