Hi all - its been well over a year since I have been on forums. Willow is 11 now and in middle school and does very well with mostly self management of her diabetes. We are up for renewal of our pump (or I should say the warranty expires in early February) and we are looking at new pumps. We currently use the Animas Ping and lately have been having TONS of priming issues. Usually the day of a new site and for about 24 hours she will have priming alerts about every half hour or so. Its more annoying than problematic - but when I have talked with Animas - they explain that prming issues are not real issues - it just is a signal that you need to prime the tubing. In the past 3 months we have been having this issue a lot and have had the pump replaced and still have the issue. We have changed lot numbers of cartridges, and sets. Making sure nothing is expired or even close to expiring. We have tried multiple placements on her body - thinking that maybe the arms were getting scar tissue or something. Is anyone else having this issue? Are there things you have treid that minimize your priming issues? thanks! Vicki
YES! It's so annoying. Everything you describe has happened here too, including getting a new pump, it will work for a while but then starts up again. One thing that has helped some has been changing out caps more regularly (battery and cartridge), I now keep extras on hand all the time and they get switched out, it does seem to help. No other help, except to say that it happens here too, regularly. We still have another 1.5 years warranty.
I have this problem too on occasion. The only thing that seems to work for me is to just prime ~10 u through the tubing. It always makes me feel bad, though. What a waste of insulin.
Sounds exactly what happened with my DS - couldn't figure out what was wrong, and then the pump was out of warranty, so we decided to go with Medtronic (need to change my sig!). One of the main reasons is that I am hoping for the CGM low blood sugar cut off by the time he goes to college in 1/12 years!! So far so good with the Medtronic - still worried that the problem was either a site issue or cartridge issues so we are watching how it goes.......
I've been pump looking myself since my warranty is about up. I haven't had any problems with the Minimed, but I have been very heavily considering the Ping. Just something different, and even though it is still a long way off...they are moving in the direction of the Dex integration. My insurance won't cover the Tslim at this point. However, I have read a lot of threads about these priming issues on other forums. They all seem to be more recent, too. A few websites suggested making sure the reservoir was in very good, and the cap tight(or that you need a new one). How often do you have to replace battery caps? Does Animas pay for that, or is it out of pocket for you guys? The Minimed doesn't have a battery cap, so that isn't a problem. Still having priming issues now? Or has it been resolved?
Sorry...I don't mean battery cap, the cap that covers the reservoir. I can't edit my previous post without being logged out?!
My daughter has the Ping right now and the warrenty is just up. We have liked the pump but are switching to Minimed since that is what our office deals with. Over 90% have the minimed and Animas just got rid of their reps in Maine. But even before that info I had been looking in the minimed since they seem first with technology. We will hopefully get a new pump in the next couple weeks and then can already for free upgrade to their even newer pump this summer. I can certainly say for Minimed their customer service has been amazing with us. You do need to replace the battery cap and the cap that secures the tubing to the cartridge out of pocket. We would have the prime alarm go off here and there and usually had to start from the beginning (rewind .. reload etc.) So we have been happy with the Ping .. but like what I read about the Minimed and the future. The T-slim looks cool but seems from what I have read Medtronic and Animas are ahead techology wise. The iPod like design did not seem like it would hold up well with kids .. not mine anyway. But I know the son of who helped design it ... so who knows what the future will bring with it. Crystal
