Medtronic Extended Infusion/Reservoir (7-day wear)

I’m wondering if anyone has tried the new Medtronic Extended Infusions sets and Reservoirs. I never knew such a thing existed…

My first reaction is, What about site healing?? Will it leave holes in my infusion sites??? The video on the site gave no info; just kind of a commercial where the diabetic world is running around with infusion tubing hanging from their arms(!?), LOL

See link below:

Medtronic Extended Wear Infusion Sets
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My first pumps are Medtronic and while I usually used the shorter tubing I kept some of the longer ones (at the time) so I could wear my set on my arm and put my pump on my waistband or in my pocket.

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Hi Dorie! Thanks for the quick reply… These new Medtronic infusion sets and reservoirs from that link are meant for extended wear; not length of tubing although this is my fault for not specifying this in the title or my first blurb… :face_with_open_eyes_and_hand_over_mouth:

If I can, I will try and edit… sorry :frowning:

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@lolaveed70 I heard about the release of the “new” sets and had the same thought. Here’s my opinion: if you can tolerate the adhesive, the idea is you will make less holes over the same time period. I average 3 days now, if my average became 6 days then I only pierce my skin 60 times a year instead of 122. The 60 holes have longer time to heal. I have always kind of figured that I get more irritation from leaving the set in the 4th day (as I do from time to time) so I have always thought… 2-3 days, less scarring… but it’s a feeling and I do not have concrete evidence to evaluate if less holes per year or less time in place per year produces the least amount of scarring. I may try them just to see, while I still have my vintage medtronic pump.

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No prob. Once upon a time I wore my sets for a week, then they changed it to 3 days. Hopefully the longer wear time will work well for you!

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Vintage pump? What’s that like? LOL I’m always afraid that something will happen and I’ll be in a bind with no alternate therapy (that 24-hr insulin goes bad in 30 days once it’s opened) :frowning_face:

Anyway, irritation/infection has been an issue for me leaving the infusion sets in a day longer (4 days). Luckily nothing major has come of it, so far. This is exactly what I was wondering - whether less punctures would be better for healing/scarring or worse. Thanks for that :slight_smile:

PS - Of course they say on the site that these new infusion sets are exclusively made to work with 670 and 770 systems :expressionless:

@lolaveed70 thank you I do see that now… no integration with my vintage pump! it’s way off warranty for 4 years now. I have another pump if this one fails its already programmed. Its my personal war with Medtronic after they wouldn’t budge on my deductible. My last “upgrade” I agreed to send them data and they essentially paid my deductible, the one before that they “bought” my old pump back (which paid my deductible) this time… no deal I have to suck it up and shell out! so I said no. =) good luck.

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@lolaveed70 Im looking at the website and all I see is 1 kind of reservoir so … technically … and since we’ve already established I don’t always follow the rules… I don’t see how I couldn’t use the extended set and reservoir in my vintage pump, since all the medtronic reservoirs are the same. hmmmmmm.

Hmmm… A Medtronic rep who has been helping me with my current upgrade (still haven’t received the transmitter yet due to a medical supplier issue - my insurance won’t cover purchases directly from Medtronic for some reason :confused: ) said that the supplier should have a $500 buy-back bonus so why wouldn’t Byram (my medical supply company)?

High-deductible plans kill me. It’s like almost nothing is covered (for me, at least) until December if I’m lucky :woman_shrugging:t3:

@lolaveed70 Gary Scheiner, the author of Think Like a Pancreas, did test of the new extended wear (7 days) for Medtronics. He posted about it on Instagram (Integrated_diabetes_services). Since I don’t wear that pump, I didn’t follow up to see if he posted anything on his blog, etc. You may want to check it out.

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Thanks! I will check out that IG profile… :slight_smile:

I opted for the 7 day infusion sets with my last refills. They do require a different resevoir. I’m not sure what the actual difference is. I’ve only had them for a month but they seem to work pretty well. With me a full 3cc reservoir lasts about 10 days and I haven’t had any noticeable irritation. With their standard infusion sets I start to feel a little irritation day’s 4 or 5.

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Thanks for this. I always get swelling (start of infection??) and scarring if left on for more than the recommended days (it’s always only one day for me). I’m very tempted to ask them to change my scrip to these.

@MikeW yes I see the plastic is different, seems to be the only thing. Plastic is very permeable allowing exchange of oxygen (oxidizing reactions) as well as carbon dioxide (pH changes) more or less depending on the formulation of the plastic parts. Yes, to use the extended infusion sets you need the extended reservoir.

Great question. I have been wondering about it, and I will try the longer ones. I don’t have any issues with sensitivity and the tape. I have been wearing the standard set for 4 days now for a month or so, and besides one that turned in to a blood gusher upon removal and took a long time to stop bleeding, they have been fine. I am on blood thinners, so it doesn’t surprise me. I am really surprised it doesn’t happen more often. I agree with the comments about more time for the sites to heal between. I also think the standard 3cc would last me just about long enough. I currently fill it to 1 and a half for four days…

Just found this post. I have been waiting for the doctor to fill our prescription for extended sets for my daughter. We’ve kept the old one on for 5 days before not to waste insulin without a problem. We are excited to only change once a week like her Guardian sensor. I’ll come back with an update but now I am just hoping the doc will finaly help us out and write the darn script.

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Unfortunately, I’m now finding out that my insurance (MVP) won’t cover them because they are billed as “I.P. Kit, Weekly”; or something like that (don’t quote me!). The rep from Byram Healthcare said that the other infusions sets & reservoirs are just billed as-is; not as a kit. Such ridiculous restrictions. I’m so disappointed.

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Sorry to hear. They always find a way to make it complicated!

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Hi, before I switched to Omnipod 5 I was getting lots of scarring and pain on my sites from Minimed. The rep gave me one of the extended ones that were not openly available yet for me to try and I selected an unscarred new area, but in my case I couldn’t keep it longer than 4 days and had a small bump when I removed it. Everyone is different but……

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Just a quick addition - a couple months after posting this I spoke to someone from MVP to ask for an explanation of the restrictions they had previously cited. They informed me that these new extended wear infusion sets were currently restricted for use by Medicare recipients. They said they would be including coverage for commercially insured(?) patients sometime later this year or early next year, I believe (don’t quote me on that, lol).