Blog Entries With Tag: Canada Border Service Agency

Blog: Anna's Blog

From: FatCatAnna

I noticed in a diabetic group the other day on Facebook - that some people have never heard of the stainless steel infusion sets that some of insulin pumpers use (Medtronic (MM) is a Sure-T, Animas is a Contact Detach, Accu-Chek is a Rapid D).  I know the ones made for Animas and Medtronic – are all made by the same company – Unomedical.

For some people, giving an injection, with a syringe or pen needle, even with the smaller gauges available AND length of needles, TOTALLY freaks them out.  I can understand with what we had back in the early years of needles meant for elephants buttocks (wait – I was using them on my human buttock as a child – yikeroos).  Times have changed, thank goodness, it's easier to inject, but still some diabetics who have had this disease as long as I have, can’t inject themselves.  Putting a CGMS or infusion set into place on their body - they cannot do. I find with the Contact Detach I have no problems with placing into my skin (it is 29 gauge).  With other infusion sets available, I find the introducer needle that comes with the plastic cannula infusion sets very daunting.  I almost fainted the first time I put one in place, it was sooooo long, compared to the 6mm / 8mm length stain steel needle.

                             Image courtesy of http://www.traveling9to5.com/

To help some of you understand what one of these infusion sets are all about - since some people think the needle portion of the infusion set had to be removed from the skin - here's a great video of a young boy putting in this type of infusion set at this link.  He makes it look so easy (and it is - though watching him made me realise - how long it takes to do this procedure - as it's about 6 minutes from start to finish to perform the task).

Hopefully the video helps explain what a stainless steel infusion set is for some of you who don't know what it is.  Personally, I find it causes less skin irritation for me - as I have a slight Teflon allergy in the plastic cannula's that are used in infusion sets). The other good thing is, it's less expensive to purchase than other infusion sets.  Also, I find due to the connecting port that is on your skin (there is the infusion site AND the connecting port – both glued to your skin) – less chances of ripping off infusion set completely – it’s like a safety chain in a way.  I'd posted about the Contact Detach a few years ago as well - if you want a less model type figure to look at - then you can check out my blog that contains the link.