Why do my cannulas keep failing??

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Phil65 said:
.....Stop Amanda!!!!! This is your health you are talking about! Forget the cost to your PCT, you need to get the right cannula for you, not just putting up with it. As a heavy insulin user I use a new cannula every 2 days, sometimes daily and a cartridge of insulin will last me only 3 days, I don't feel guilty as it is what I need. Fair enough about ordering 3 months of spares to save postage......BUT only IF you know what you need! I hope you sort your cannula problems soon....I've had a bumpy ride with them and am still not entirely happy with mine
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I think Phil is right, it's a pittance in the scheme of things. I'm surprised your pump DSN doesn't have some packs that she can give out one or two of each to people. Either that or take back any that you decide aren't right for you so they can be given to someone else in a similar position :confused:
 
Well apparently a standard parcel up to 2kg is ?5.30.

For interest one box of tubeless and one box of tubed 8mm Flexlink weigh 0.41kg but once they've added the big box and the mile and a half of tape they stick on every mortal thing, it's 0.51kg.

I have some old invoices from 2011 and although they show the costs of the items, P&P is shown as a blank - so I have always assumed it's built in to Roche's prices?

The invoices were addressed to my PCT, no idea why I got them, but now I only get the delivery note.

But in any case - I agree with Phil. If I wanted to try other cannulas then I would expect to be sent 'a few'. When they were short of Flexlinks somewhere along the line they actually said to me, do you mind if we send you boxes of 4? They are our sample boxes. And I got 5 boxes of 4 instead of 2 boxes of 10. So I thought they must do this for all their cannulas. Obviously not - unless you have to speak to the Rep to obtain em?
 
Thank you🙂At 9am I left a message for my pump nurse to phone me, because the department isn't open on Fridays, but appreciate she is busy. However if neither she nor the Roche rep have phoned me by 5pm today I will phone the order line and arrange for a box of 10ml flexlink cannulas to be sent and I will also hve the steel ones which are on the way from Mary Plain. You are quite right Phil I should be putting my health first and it isn't right that I should be going into the 20s every 10 days or so because of the cannula problem. Especially not when I already have to deal with the erratic nature of the gastroparesis. Everything else seems to be working well and when I've had these problems they haven't been gastro related e.g. on Friday I hadn't even eaten anything! I've been changing the cannulas every two days to see if that will help and I am rotating my sites. Thank you for getting angry on my behalf🙂
 
Everything is now happily sorted out. The pump nurse and Roche rep spoke to each other and then phoned me I was given different options including different cannulas and 10mm flex-links. But the first option I'm going to try is changing my cannula everyday because I get on great with inserting the 8mm Flexlink and don't recall having any problems with it within 24 hours of insertion. If that doesn't work I will be sent 10mm samples. The rep was really, really lovely🙂
 
AJLang said:
Everything is now happily sorted out. The pump nurse and Roche rep spoke to each other and then phoned me I was given different options including different cannulas and 10mm flex-links. But the first option I'm going to try is changing my cannula everyday because I get on great with inserting the 8mm Flexlink and don't recall having any problems with it within 24 hours of insertion. If that doesn't work I will be sent 10mm samples. The rep was really, really lovely🙂
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Great result! I have posted the spare ones I had to you, so if it turns out they don't suit, perhaps someone else would like them. If you do get on with them then so much the better!

Another thought I had was are you checking for bubbles? The only time I've had problems with cannulas I got an occlusion alarm, whereas bubbles are the silent enemy!

I also find that if I position a cannula too far out to the sides the insulin seems to take longer, even though there's plenty of subcutaneous fat there - so maybe it's just getting used to which sites work for you?
 
Hi Mary

Thanks very much. The cannulas arrived today when I was out so OH is going to drive me to the sorting office to collect them on Saturday. We did wonder about air bubbles but a number of times when I had the cannula problem we completely primed the tube, didn't change the cannula, bolused more insulin and waited two hours. Each time the BG was about the same or slightly. However once I changed the cannula each time within two hours the BG went down. The pump rep said that fairly often pump users have to change their cannula every day. I've also been rotating the sites all round but the problems seem to be random. I can cope with changing my cannula every day....it's still much better than the seven injections that I was having and the overall control is so much better
 
Hi Amanda, very few would change a cannula every day.
The PCT would go bankrupt at ?10 percannula 😱 Wishfull thinking on your reps part me thinks for a bonus.
99.9% of the time problems with cannulas are due to using the wrong type or length. The fact you say when you bolused your bg stayed the same just proves the cannula is working otherwise your blood sugar would have gone sky high.
I suspect a different length or an angled set will solve the problem.

Have a look at this link http://www.accu-chekinsulinpumps.com/documents/ProfessionalsPocketGuidetoInfusionSiteManagement.pdf and read up on the cannula length for your body weight and size or lack of as the case may be.
 
Hi Sue thanks very much. I've read through the leaflet. It appears that I am on the right size cannula for my weight and that the 45 degree cannulas aren't appropriate for my weight. Also that the steel cannulas need changing every 24-48 hours, so not really much different from what I am doing. I did find all of of the information in the leaflet very helpful, thanks very much.
 
AJLang said:
Hi Sue thanks very much. I've read through the leaflet. It appears that I am on the right size cannula for my weight and that the 45 degree cannulas aren't appropriate for my weight. Also that the steel cannulas need changing every 24-48 hours, so not really much different from what I am doing. I did find all of of the information in the leaflet very helpful, thanks very much.
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From your previous post the evidence does indeed seem to point to either the site or the cannulas. Although the leaflet says you're on the right one, if it's not working for you then there's no harm in trying something different, if you can. Let us know how you get on with the steel ones. One benefit I found is that they have a tail, which for me meant I could put them in my back a lot more easily than the flexlink because of not being able to see what I was doing! The other thing about the steel ones is that you prime the whole cannula before insertion which gives me more confidence than inserting and then priming with 1 unit as you do with the flexible ones.

I think the reason the steel ones have to be changed more often than the teflon ones is that the body tolerates them less well.

Good luck with it all.
 
Thanks Mary🙂
 
Just another thought as well (brain strain) the combo has a luer lock connection, so this means you can use other makes of cannula with your pump, so worth considering if you can't find a Roche cannula to suit.
 
Pumper_Sue said:
Just another thought as well (brain strain) the combo has a luer lock connection, so this means you can use other makes of cannula with your pump, so worth considering if you can't find a Roche cannula to suit.
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interesting.....didn't know that, the problems I've had with cannulas! ......should be called "cannularfs" 🙄
 
Phil65 said:
interesting.....didn't know that, the problems I've had with cannulas! ......should be called "cannularfs" 🙄
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Lol love that expression :D

Not sure but think it's medtronic and the Dana pumps that do not have luer locks. Both do, do cannulas that have luer lock fitting though.
 
Gosh, which pump's cannulas are ?10 each!

Roche ones certainly aren't.
 
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