Medtrum

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lauracarmen

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Morning, my daughter was diagnosed Sept 2022. We've been offered the Medtrum to try next week and I'm a little nervous. I wondered if anyone could give me there experiences with Medtrum and any advice? Many thanks
 
I think @helli is an enthusiastic Medtrum user.

There are some more mixed experiences of their CGM, but I think that includes earlier incarnations
 
Thanks for the shout @everydayupsanddowns .
Yes, I have been using the Medtrum for a few years. I started with the A6 pump. A year ago, I was one of the first in the country to migrate to the Nano. I love the size of it and I love managing it via a phone app, although there is a PDM that comes with the pump as an alternative.
I find the pump easy to set up, including changing sets every other day.
It was not my first pump so I knew what I was getting into. I say this because the quality has not always been top notch. Medtrum are fantastic with support and replacements but i would rather not needing to call upon them.
Unfortunately, I am sensitive to the glue used on the pump. Thankfully, the solution is simple - I use HyperFix tape under the pump.

I self fund the CGM as it interacts with the pump to auto suspend when I am going low and see my levels on the same phone app. This is fantastic for me - which it has to be when I could get the Libre on prescription.
Like all CGMs, it has limitations. But, unlike Libre, I can calibrate it which gives me peace of mind as I always calibrate when my BG is flattish and at ”normal” numbers.
 
helli said:
Thanks for the shout @everydayupsanddowns .
Yes, I have been using the Medtrum for a few years. I started with the A6 pump. A year ago, I was one of the first in the country to migrate to the Nano. I love the size of it and I love managing it via a phone app, although there is a PDM that comes with the pump as an alternative.
I find the pump easy to set up, including changing sets every other day.
It was not my first pump so I knew what I was getting into. I say this because the quality has not always been top notch. Medtrum are fantastic with support and replacements but i would rather not needing to call upon them.
Unfortunately, I am sensitive to the glue used on the pump. Thankfully, the solution is simple - I use HyperFix tape under the pump.

I self fund the CGM as it interacts with the pump to auto suspend when I am going low and see my levels on the same phone app. This is fantastic for me - which it has to be when I could get the Libre on prescription.
Like all CGMs, it has limitations. But, unlike Libre, I can calibrate it which gives me peace of mind as I always calibrate when my BG is flattish and at ”normal” numbers.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'm a little nervous of it going wrong, my daughters 11 and currently has the libre 3.
Since diagnoses she tends to hypo a lot, our team have said that the pump will help with that. I've seen little about medtrum so thank you for the information
 
Wh
lauracarmen said:
Thank you, I'm a little nervous of it going wrong, my daughters 11 and currently has the libre 3.
Since diagnoses she tends to hypo a lot, our team have said that the pump will help with that. I've seen little about medtrum so thank you for the information
Click to expand...
When the pump goes wrong, it stops giving insulin so should not do to your daughter’s hypos. And it has a very annoying beep which you cannot ignore when it has a problem such as an occlusion or patch failure. So, it is frustrating but i don’t consider it dangerous.
 
I've been using the Medtrum Nano since February this year following 12 years (since 2010) using tubed Medtronic pumps. Firstly let me agree with Helli that the Medtrum support is really good - advice and replacement patches (and bases) have all been forthcoming. Also, I really like the form factor - I love that there's no tube. I'm not sure I would want to go back to using a tubed pump again (partly this is because there is limited choice of location in siting a tubed connection to my body). I love being able to control the pump from my phone without needing an additional PDM. Like Helli the adhesive used reacts badly with my skin. I used an underpatch of HyperFix tape to begin with but it didn't sufficiently prevent the reaction so I moved on to DuoDerm Extra Thin dressings which significantly reduced the skin reaction for me.
When the Medtrum pump works it is really good.

That said, the patches are in my experience highly prone to failure - typically I've had them fail before they are 48 hours old (attached to me) but I've also had them fail immediately after they've been attached. Sometimes they've failed without a notification via the phone app. I've only known something has been wrong as my blood sugars go extremely high (I use Dexcom CGM so I can track this as it happens) - when I've removed the patch it's been obvious that the insulin hasn't been getting into my body but has pooled on the surface of my skin. I experience a patch failure of some kind at least every 4th patch and at times every third patch. I have no confidence in the patch as a result. Fortunately I work from home so that I have supplies on hand at all times to deal with a failure but if I was commuting to work regularly I would want to always have some form of backup with me.

Based on my experience (and I know one of the women at my diabetic clinic that also went on the Medtrum had not experienced anything like the failures I have) I would not choose Medtrum Nano at this time. I don't think it is sufficiently reliable currently.
 
When it works it's great. After 8 years with Medtronic, no tube to feed through clothing, no pump to hold while you dress, no tube to catch. No cannula to disconnect for a shower and control from my phone. A patch pump is just so much easier. BUT I have real problems with Medtrum Nano reliability. Of 126 patches I've used 63 have failed before the 3 day life. Occlusions are the most common reason but there have been several others: patch error, battery, comunication with my phone, during or immediately after priming etc etc. I haven't noticed insulin on my skin but I haven't specifically looked. It's extremely stressful. Often the failure occurs when it's very inconvenient when I'm away from home so I have to fall back on a pen. Every failure results in very high blood glucose and reduces my time in range.

My diabetic clinic think I'm doing something wrong, they suggest my failure rate is higher than anybody elses, maybe they are right but I don't know why. I'd correct what I do if I knew. What I do know is some boxes of patches have only 20% failures and others have 80% failures which makes me think the problem is some sort of patch manufacturing problem and not me. They don't want to go back to the CCG to change the funding. It's all just stress, stress stress which I'm having great difficulty coping with.

Please tell me what your experience is.
 
johnpd said:
When it works it's great. After 8 years with Medtronic, no tube to feed through clothing, no pump to hold while you dress, no tube to catch. No cannula to disconnect for a shower and control from my phone. A patch pump is just so much easier. BUT I have real problems with Medtrum Nano reliability. Of 126 patches I've used 63 have failed before the 3 day life. Occlusions are the most common reason but there have been several others: patch error, battery, comunication with my phone, during or immediately after priming etc etc. I haven't noticed insulin on my skin but I haven't specifically looked. It's extremely stressful. Often the failure occurs when it's very inconvenient when I'm away from home so I have to fall back on a pen. Every failure results in very high blood glucose and reduces my time in range.

My diabetic clinic think I'm doing something wrong, they suggest my failure rate is higher than anybody elses, maybe they are right but I don't know why. I'd correct what I do if I knew. What I do know is some boxes of patches have only 20% failures and others have 80% failures which makes me think the problem is some sort of patch manufacturing problem and not me. They don't want to go back to the CCG to change the funding. It's all just stress, stress stress which I'm having great difficulty coping with.

Please tell me what your experience is.
Click to expand...
Blimey - and I thought my failure rate was absurdly high. Like you, I agree that pump failure is very stressful. You're definitely not the only one with such experiences.
 
My failure rate of Medtrum patches is far lower.
I average one failure per box of 10 patches. That is one failure per month.
If I get more than 2 failures in a box, the whole box is replaced.
I always use extended bolus when a dose is "high" which, for me, is more than 4 units. This is partial due to earlier occlusion issues with the pump but more due to how fiasp works. Following this approach, I don't think I have had any occlusions this year.
 
Thanks for your advice and support. I've been told about the 4U normal bolus before and I've been doing that but for 6U and above.I was put on a 'superbolus' regime more than 8 years ago with a medtronic pump (which didn't have any occlusion problems). This meant I'd add the next 2 hours basal dose to the bolus and switch the basal off for that time.I needed to do that to stop getting a large blood sugar spike immediately I'd eaten so my boluses are generally between 6 and 10 all of which I need in my body before I eat. I've tried variations over the years, taking the bolus up to 40mins before the meal (ok when I'm high, very dodgy when I'm not), moving 3hrs worth of basal (BG is good but I feel dreadful) so I don't want to use an extended bolus above 4U and even using it at 6 does cause more highs. Maybe I should ask for Fiasp, I'm on humalog at present but I've been told there can be (unspecified) side effects. Helli I see you said elsewhere that the bases wear out after a few months, how do you tell it's the base and do you have problems getting replacements? Also when you get 2 failures in a box do you use the rest of the box or bin it?

Does anyone know why thee are more occlusions if the bolus is larger?
Best wishes
John
 
Since I was pretty negative about the robustness of the patches I thought I would provide my experience since Medtrum provided their latest base to me c. early December. I have had only one patch failure in that time (so c.15 patches more or less) and this failure happened nearly 48 hours into the life of the patch (and I usually change after 48 hours so it didn't feel like a significant error).

I would be interested in hearing if you @johnpd have experienced an improvement also?
 
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