Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Laura S. on August 23, 2011 at 2:25pm

You dont have to change the cartridge until it is empty.
Not sure I quite understand your question.
Mine always ends up around 170 something when I start a new cartridge.........

Permalink Reply by MossDog on August 23, 2011 at 5:06pm

I use the 43" tubing and after it being primed and fill cannula I end up with 176 units.

It sounds like you are using a decent amount of insulin as you have to refill the cartridge before you are due for a site change. Do you notice your site gets a bit hard (as in when you press down on it it seems more firm than other places directly around it) towards the end of the three days? I notice this happens frequently to people who use more insulin. Do you notice a change in your blood glucose on the 3rd day of an infusion set?

If you answer yes to either one you MAY need to start changing every 2 days. If you notice neither I can't think of a reason you would NEED to change the infusion set every 2 vs 3 days.

Permalink Reply by Joe Burnham on August 23, 2011 at 6:50pm

Ways to increase battery life:

Turn the screen display on the pump down as low as it can go, and still be readable (you can always temporarily brighten it up by mashing the button on the TOP of the pump).

Do ALL your bolusing, suspending, basal rate changes, etc. from the REMOTE.

Put all non-essential alarms on "medium" or "low" settings.


After I did this, I routinely get 4 to 5 weeks on a lithium battery before I have to change it out.

As far as insulin used after a prime, I usually end up with between 175 and 180 units in the cartridge, if I prime with 200 units. I use 26 inch tubing.

..Joe

Permalink Reply by Ernie on August 23, 2011 at 7:13pm

Well because I use 1.5 units per hour, I have to change cartridges every 2 days, and up to now I always just changed the cartridge ONLY and did the infusion set the next day, but yeah when I just take out the old cartridge and put the new one in, no priming or filling of inset it still reads 178

The display thing is a good idea however if I did that then it would make my unit go to sleep much faster and it might shut down the upload, I always could change the screen settings when I upload on a weekly basics

Thanks for the input, please keep them coming!! :-)

Permalink Reply by MossDog on August 24, 2011 at 4:14pm

FYI- You cannot suspend or change basal rates from the meter remote

Permalink Reply by Joe Burnham on August 24, 2011 at 6:58pm

Oops...sorry...my "bad" on "suspending, basal rate changes" from the remote. MossDog is right, those can't be done from the remote. Guess my brain wasn't fully engaged!

To my knowledge, the display brightness has no effect on how long the pump stays "awake"... and once you start an upload of data from the pump (once communication has started with the IR remote, and is being accepted by EZManager) the pump will not go to sleep.

Permalink Reply by solo79 on August 24, 2011 at 7:35pm

Most I ever gotten filled was 192 then primed for 8 then fill cannula .5 that's the very best. Do you ensure to get all the bubbles out of the cartridge? I know even the smallest bubbles show up sometimes.

Permalink Reply by dxclancy on September 14, 2011 at 7:55pm

After loading my cartridge, it has never said more than 191. And after priming I'm usually 181. Don't think I've ever had more than 181. There is almost always 10-20units left in the cartridge when my pump say it is completely empty. Which I have manually pushed into me if I wanted to take a shot but wasn't at home to swap out.

All my alarms are on vibrate, I bolus exclusively from the pump, and occasionally use the combo bolus, and get much more than a month out of my battery. Probably closer to 2.