Medtronic mio infusion sets

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elliebug

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Type 1
Hi, I am using these and I love them, however they don't fit into the 1l sharps bin provided by my GP. My previous pump was an animas one and they sent me 5l sharps bins to use. Medtronic don't. I can't be the only person with this issue! So I was wondering what others did! Thanks for you help 🙂
 
I have never even seen a sharps bin, now on the pump, or even when injecting........should I be embarrassed...😱

I currently use 2 litre bottles with the tops chopped off, a bit crude, but does the job, just seal it up when full and bin it.....

:D
 
Are they stainless steel cannulas? If not, then they go in the ordinary bin cos they ain't SHARP.

Sharps bin isn't a Clinical Waste bin, we don't get clinical waste bins!
 
elliebug said:
Hi, I am using these and I love them, however they don't fit into the 1l sharps bin provided by my GP. My previous pump was an animas one and they sent me 5l sharps bins to use. Medtronic don't. I can't be the only person with this issue! So I was wondering what others did! Thanks for you help 🙂
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Call your local authority/check their website. They should be able to let you know the system in your area (it is local authorities that have legal responsibility for domestic clinical waste/sharps but they sometimes get the GPs to deal with it)

novorapidboi26 said:
I have never even seen a sharps bin, now on the pump, or even when injecting........should I be embarrassed...😱

I currently use 2 litre bottles with the tops chopped off, a bit crude, but does the job, just seal it up when full and bin it.....

:D
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You're not supposed to do that any more as far as I know NRB... 😱
 
It's the inserting needle that needs to go in a sharps bin, the cannula in plastic, i'd put a photo up but I have no idea how to!! I've rung Medtronic, my GP and the council and no one can supply me with a bin! I am picky about putting things in the right bin so couldn't put them in a bottle in the normal bin although I wonder what the council would say if I told them I would have to do this!!
 
We get a 5L sharps bin from the borough council, who also collect it when full. However, I have a feeling the Mios may be able to be resealed in their casing and therefore safely disposed of in normal waste? I could be wrong, as we only sampled a couple before deciding to stick with Sils. 🙂
 
Hi, what about clipping the needle off to go into sharps bin - caution to be careful here though! It does also close back inside the casing as Redkite suggests.

NRboi - can you not get your sharps bin on prescription up there?
 
Northerner said:
I think that's what elliebug would like to know also! 😉
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Yep 🙂
I could put the cover back on but I would still be putting a used needle into 'normal' waste which I'm fairly sure you're not supposed to do!! Also the cover could come off. I will investigate the clipping option (need to get hold of a needle clipper) why is this so complicated?!
 
It shouldn't BE complicated!

In England the Local Authority is OBLIGED to provide a safe system for the disposal of sharps in their geographical area.

Ring up your LA Refuse Collection service and ask what the system is. If they are being idiots, phone or email your Local Councillor. If they are also an idiot, contact your MP.

I have no idea if the same applies in Wales or Scotland, esp Wales as they've already devolved.

So Scots people - is devolution really a great idea or what?

(LOL, shall we all email Alex Salmond and ask him what his plans are for future sharps collection?)
 
Hi Ellie, with Inset IIs I use pliers to pull the intro needle off & just put that into the sharps bin - I think Mios are the equivalent to Inset IIs? So the needle may come off in the same way? It seemed the easiest method of removal for me. Because of that, my 5L bin is about 1/10th full in 1 1/2 years of pumping (I also put the coverless cartridge needle and lancets in, though I only use about 2 lancets per year and reuse my cartridges, ahem, so don't get thru too many of those)! All the rest goes into plastic recycling.

But that doesn't solve the problem of how to get a sharps bin in the first place, sorry!
 
ingrid said:
Hi Ellie, with Inset IIs I use pliers to pull the intro needle off & just put that into the sharps bin - I think Mios are the equivalent to Inset IIs? So the needle may come off in the same way? It seemed the easiest method of removal for me. Because of that, my 5L bin is about 1/10th full in 1 1/2 years of pumping (I also put the coverless cartridge needle and lancets in, though I only use about 2 lancets per year and reuse my cartridges, ahem, so don't get thru too many of those)! All the rest goes into plastic recycling.

But that doesn't solve the problem of how to get a sharps bin in the first place, sorry!
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Hi Ingrid,
please don't reuse your cartridges more than once, this is due to the lubricant wearing off and making the pump work extra hard and damaging it. I doubt that can be fixed under warranty. 🙂
 
I only had a few Mios to try (didn't get on with them) but from memory the needle is fixed to the big plastic 'self serter' spaceship thinghy.

I'm not sure you'd get a needle clipper easily in there? Pulling off with pliers might be your only option?

Here's the official guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-waste

If patients treat themselves in their own home, any waste produced as a result is considered to be their own. Only where a particular risk has been identified (based on medical diagnosis) does such waste need to be treated as hazardous clinical waste. Local authorities have a duty to collect household waste including healthcare waste from domestic properties. Under the controlled waste regulations, the authority may charge for the collection of specific waste streams, including clinical waste.
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Where hypodermic needles are produced in the home, on no account should soft drink cans, plastic bottles or similar containers be used for the disposal of needles, since these could present serious hazards to staff if they were disposed of in domestic waste. Sharps bins can be obtained on prescription (FP10 prescription form) and can be returned to your doctor for disposal when full. The duty on local authorities to collect and dispose of clinical waste generated by households also applies to sharps waste and again the local authority may make a charge to cover the cost of collection.
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The council will collect full bins, and my GP will prescribe small bins, this does not solve my problem! I'm going to have to try and dismantle them. Grrrr
 
elliebug said:
The council will collect full bins, and my GP will prescribe small bins, this does not solve my problem! I'm going to have to try and dismantle them. Grrrr
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Have you had a conversation with a GP? (maybe phone consultation rather than you having to traipse in)

Seems hard to believe that they will not/cannot prescribe an appropriately sized container - even if the rottweiler on reception won't budge?
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Hi Ingrid,
please don't reuse your cartridges more than once, this is due to the lubricant wearing off and making the pump work extra hard and damaging it. I doubt that can be fixed under warranty. 🙂
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Hi Sue, oh dear I know it's not recommended practice ;-) I tend to refill them only once or twice, get through about 2 per month. When I withdraw the insulin into a used cartridge, it always feels as smooth as the first time. I read on US lists, and also met someone self-funding here in UK (he couldn't get pumping approval for years), who really do reuse the same reservoir/cartridge for months or years on end - scary! Sometimes needs must & all that. I'm very careful to initially push n pull n twist the plunger around inside the cartridge slowly several times to spread the lube - as instructed to (I do occasionally follow instructions 😛 ). I can hear when the motor struggles when I have a bad set - quite a useful indicator! - and have never noticed any similar extra exertion from reused cartridges. But you do have a good point, I may have an ickle think....

There's also the fact that I'm on my 3rd Vibe - all 3 have shown incorrect IOB (I set in 4.5 hours but IOB shows up to about 6.5 hours, current one up to just under 7 hours) & I've reached the point where I can't be bothered sending yet another one back, setting up another refurbished one, only to discover it has the same problem! Animas have not got back to me as promised with error reports or investigations into this issue. So, I suppose, if anything further were to go wrong, I still have the dud IOB reason for returning another Vibe (actually I'm on my 4th in 1.5 years as they initially sent the wrong colour so I was started on a loaner and that was replaced a couple of weeks' later).

Anyway, thanks for your concern 🙂

And back to Eliie - do have a yank with the pliers. The needle might come out ok like with the Insets. I just got used to keeping the pliers hooked on the side of the sharps bin & doing it without thinking after each change, the rest of the spaceship is all plastic so doesn't need any further dismantling, just binning elsewhere. Hope it works for you!
 
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Hi Ingrid, I've had an animas for the last 2 + years had a cozmo before that and loved it.
I'm not over impressed with any aspect of the animas pump. Last pump was returned as it kept losing time. It lost 7 mins in 21 days which is not good. The Vibe buttons stick as badly as the 2020 and I can not see an improvement in the vibe from the 2020 overall.

Ellie, I did find a video on the net the other day showing how to load the pump and use the mio cannulas plus disposal of them. (Now can't find it again) It showed the nurse doing the demo removing the white centre of the mio and disposing of it in the sharps bin.
 
I'm going to go back to my dsn and see what she can do, to be honest, the prospect of keeping pliers by my bed with a toddler about is less than appealing, it's hard enough keeping the usual bits out of reach now he has learnt to climb!! I will go back to my GP and see what they say. I was really hoping someone would say 'I had this problem, I emailed X at Medtronic and they sorted it' wishful thinking I know but it is nearly Christmas!!
 
Just a thought Ellie if there's a problem regarding prescribing the bin can you noy buy one? They are not very expensive a matter of a couple pounds I think and you can have the VAT deducted as well.
 
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