Couple of Pump Questions

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    • #9908
      Stephen
      Participant

      Hi gurus! I have a couple of burning questions I wonder if anyone can help with :)

      1) My old infusion site has a hard lump at the middle where the cannula went in, is this normal and if so how long does it take to go away?
      2) Whilst I’m on my loaner pump, I only have a small reservoir. This is a little problematic as it’s only “just” lasting me two days. Is it possible / wise to somehow refill just the reservoir without replacing the infusion set?

      Thanks in advance!

    • #11596
      Tim
      Keymaster

      1) If it’s like mine, it’ll go away after a day or two
      2) Pass!

    • #11597
      Annette A
      Participant

      1) If there’s evidence of bleeding under the skin (ie its a little round bruise), it takes about a week to totally clear for me.
      2) I certainly change my Accutrend cartridge without changing the set (only when I have to, but I do), but it may be different for your Medtronic (?)

    • #11598
      Alison
      Keymaster

      1) That happens to me sometimes too, but by no means all the time. It generally disappears after a day or so. If it’s red and itchy or oozing gunk, its more likely to be an infection, in which case you need to get some antiseptic cream on it or consider seeing a Dr depending on whether it looks like your leg is going to fall off. I’ve never had an infected site but apparently they’re not nice.

      2) I don’t think it’s recommended for hygeine reasons, but in the real world you can refil the reservoirs if you want. Here’s how I do it with a Medtronic pump:

      Disconnect your infusion set from you and remove the reservoir from it and the pump.
      Rewind the pump (via the Prime menu)
      You’ll probably need to get the connector bit (that goes between the reservoir and the insulin bottle) from a new reservoir because you’ll have thrown the other one out after your previous site change.
      Fill up the reservoir as you would a new one
      Reconnect the reservoir to the old infusion set tubing and put it into the pump.
      Prime as normal (won’t take long as the tubing is already full of insulin)
      Reconnect the infusion set to you. No need for a fixed prime as the infusion set still has the old insulin in it.

      Personally, I’ve only done this a couple of times. Normally I just change the whole lot as I figure its not worth the hassel of doing the reservoir one day and then the infusion set the next.

    • #11599
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I was told to change the cannula and tubing at the same time so no risk of problems and to change every 2-3 days. I always use new of everything yes it costs money but actually I don’t need any contamination from anything. Good on you for re using though.

    • #11606
      Stephen
      Participant

      Thanks for the help everyone :) For the little time I will have with the smaller one (despite hating to waste!) I might just get on with changing it every two days!

      This probably brings me on to a new question though …

      3) If you’re due to change your infusion set and still have a healthy amount of insulin left in the reservoir, is it safe / wise to inject that back into the bottle so as not to waste it?

      I probably sound like some sort of freak don’t I :)

    • #11610
      Alison
      Keymaster

      Personally I wouldn’t put it back in the bottle, partly due to it being too much effort and also because it just doesn’t strike me as a good idea. If I’ve got loads of insulin (ie more than half a reservoir) left I sometimes just change my infusion set where it attaches to my body (because the reason for changing them regularly is to avoid scar tissue building up in your body so you need to change the set regardless of how much insulin is left) and continue to use the old tube and reservoir.

      I’m all for not wasting valuable resources, but I do think there’s a limit between being thrifty and not having a life – you’re borderline at the moment ;-)

    • #11613
      Tim
      Keymaster

      Humalog (and other similar fast acting guff) isn’t all that expensive anyway. Given pump users are saving the NHS a tonne of cash by not using Lantus (or other similar long acting stuff) which is far more expensive, then I think chucking away a bit of Humalog is not the end of the world.

    • #11615
      Stephen
      Participant

      Maybe that’s grounds for justifying CGM funding then!!! :)

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