# Medtronic mio infusion sets



## elliebug (Nov 28, 2013)

Hi, I am using these and I love them, however they don't fit into the 1l sharps bin provided by my GP. My previous pump was an animas one and they sent me 5l sharps bins to use. Medtronic don't. I can't be the only person with this issue! So I was wondering what others did! Thanks for you help


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## novorapidboi26 (Nov 28, 2013)

I have never even seen a sharps bin, now on the pump, or even when injecting........should I be embarrassed...

I currently use 2 litre bottles with the tops chopped off, a bit crude, but does the job, just seal it up when full and bin it.....


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## trophywench (Nov 28, 2013)

Are they stainless steel cannulas?  If not, then they go in the ordinary bin cos they ain't SHARP.

Sharps bin isn't a Clinical Waste bin, we don't get clinical waste bins!


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## everydayupsanddowns (Nov 28, 2013)

elliebug said:


> Hi, I am using these and I love them, however they don't fit into the 1l sharps bin provided by my GP. My previous pump was an animas one and they sent me 5l sharps bins to use. Medtronic don't. I can't be the only person with this issue! So I was wondering what others did! Thanks for you help



Call your local authority/check their website. They should be able to let you know the system in your area (it is local authorities that have legal responsibility for domestic clinical waste/sharps but they sometimes get the GPs to deal with it)



novorapidboi26 said:


> I have never even seen a sharps bin, now on the pump, or even when injecting........should I be embarrassed...
> 
> I currently use 2 litre bottles with the tops chopped off, a bit crude, but does the job, just seal it up when full and bin it.....



You're not supposed to do that any more as far as I know NRB...


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## elliebug (Nov 28, 2013)

It's the inserting needle that needs to go in a sharps bin, the cannula in plastic, i'd put a photo up but I have no idea how to!! I've rung Medtronic, my GP and the council and no one can supply me with a bin! I am picky about putting things in the right bin so couldn't put them in a bottle in the normal bin although I wonder what the council would say if I told them I would have to do this!!


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## Redkite (Nov 28, 2013)

We get a 5L sharps bin from the borough council, who also collect it when full.  However, I have a feeling the Mios may be able to be resealed in their casing and therefore safely disposed of in normal waste?  I could be wrong, as we only sampled a couple before deciding to stick with Sils.


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## novorapidboi26 (Nov 28, 2013)

everydayupsanddowns said:


> You're not supposed to do that any more as far as I know NRB...



What should I do then?


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## Northerner (Nov 28, 2013)

novorapidboi26 said:


> What should I do then?



I think that's what elliebug would like to know also!


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## Hanmillmum (Nov 28, 2013)

Hi, what about clipping the needle off to go into sharps bin - caution to be careful here though! It does also close back inside the casing as Redkite suggests. 

NRboi - can you not get your sharps bin on prescription up there?


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## elliebug (Nov 28, 2013)

Northerner said:


> I think that's what elliebug would like to know also!



Yep  
I could put the cover back on but I would still be putting a used needle into 'normal' waste which I'm fairly sure you're not supposed to do!! Also the cover could come off. I will investigate the clipping option (need to get hold of a needle clipper) why is this so complicated?!


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## trophywench (Nov 28, 2013)

It shouldn't BE complicated!

In England the Local Authority is OBLIGED to provide a safe system for the disposal of sharps in their geographical area.

Ring up your LA Refuse Collection service and ask what the system is.  If they are being idiots, phone or email your Local Councillor.  If they are also an idiot, contact your MP.

I have no idea if the same applies in Wales or Scotland, esp Wales as they've already devolved.

So Scots people - is devolution really a great idea or what?

(LOL, shall we all email Alex Salmond and ask him what his plans are for future sharps collection?)


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## ingrid (Nov 29, 2013)

Hi Ellie, with Inset IIs I use pliers to pull the intro needle off & just put that into the sharps bin - I think Mios are the equivalent to Inset IIs? So the needle may come off in the same way? It seemed the easiest method of removal for me. Because of that, my 5L bin is about 1/10th full in 1 1/2 years of pumping (I also put the coverless cartridge needle and lancets in, though I only use about 2 lancets per year and reuse my cartridges, ahem, so don't get thru too many of those)! All the rest goes into plastic recycling. 

But that doesn't solve the problem of how to get a sharps bin in the first place, sorry!


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## Pumper_Sue (Nov 29, 2013)

ingrid said:


> Hi Ellie, with Inset IIs I use pliers to pull the intro needle off & just put that into the sharps bin - I think Mios are the equivalent to Inset IIs? So the needle may come off in the same way? It seemed the easiest method of removal for me. Because of that, my 5L bin is about 1/10th full in 1 1/2 years of pumping (I also put the coverless cartridge needle and lancets in, though I only use about 2 lancets per year and reuse my cartridges, ahem, so don't get thru too many of those)! All the rest goes into plastic recycling.
> 
> But that doesn't solve the problem of how to get a sharps bin in the first place, sorry!



Hi Ingrid,
please don't reuse your cartridges more than once, this is due to the lubricant wearing off and making the pump work extra hard and damaging it. I doubt that can be fixed under warranty.


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## everydayupsanddowns (Nov 29, 2013)

I only had a few Mios to try (didn't get on with them) but from memory the needle is fixed to the big plastic 'self serter' spaceship thinghy.

I'm not sure you'd get a needle clipper easily in there? Pulling off with pliers might be your only option?

Here's the official guidance:

https://www.gov.uk/healthcare-waste



> If patients treat themselves in their own home, any waste produced as a result is considered to be their own. Only where a particular risk has been identified (based on medical diagnosis) does such waste need to be treated as hazardous clinical waste.* Local authorities have a duty to collect household waste including healthcare waste from domestic properties*. Under the controlled waste regulations, the authority may charge for the collection of specific waste streams, including clinical waste.





> Where hypodermic needles are produced in the home, *on no account should soft drink cans, plastic bottles or similar containers be used for the disposal of needles*, since these could present serious hazards to staff if they were disposed of in domestic waste. Sharps bins can be obtained on prescription (FP10 prescription form) and can be returned to your doctor for disposal when full. The duty on local authorities to collect and dispose of clinical waste generated by households also applies to sharps waste and again the local authority may make a charge to cover the cost of collection.


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## elliebug (Nov 29, 2013)

The council will collect full bins, and my GP will prescribe small bins, this does not solve my problem! I'm going to have to try and dismantle them. Grrrr


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## everydayupsanddowns (Nov 29, 2013)

elliebug said:


> The council will collect full bins, and my GP will prescribe small bins, this does not solve my problem! I'm going to have to try and dismantle them. Grrrr



Have you had a conversation with a GP? (maybe phone consultation rather than you having to traipse in)

Seems hard to believe that they will not/cannot prescribe an appropriately sized container - even if the rottweiler on reception won't budge?


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## ingrid (Nov 30, 2013)

Pumper_Sue said:


> Hi Ingrid,
> please don't reuse your cartridges more than once, this is due to the lubricant wearing off and making the pump work extra hard and damaging it. I doubt that can be fixed under warranty.



Hi Sue, oh dear I know it's not recommended practice ;-) I tend to refill them only once or twice, get through about 2 per month. When I withdraw the insulin into a used cartridge, it always feels as smooth as the first time. I read on US lists, and also met someone self-funding here in UK (he couldn't get pumping approval for years), who really do reuse the same reservoir/cartridge for months or years on end - scary! Sometimes needs must & all that. I'm very careful to initially push n pull n twist the plunger around inside the cartridge slowly several times to spread the lube - as instructed to (I do occasionally follow instructions  ). I can hear when the motor struggles when I have a bad set - quite a useful indicator! - and have never noticed any similar extra exertion from reused cartridges. But you do have a good point, I may have an ickle think....

There's also the fact that I'm on my 3rd Vibe - all 3 have shown incorrect IOB (I set in 4.5 hours but IOB shows up to about 6.5 hours, current one up to just under 7 hours) & I've reached the point where I can't be bothered sending yet another one back, setting up another refurbished one, only to discover it has the same problem! Animas have not got back to me as promised with error reports or investigations into this issue. So, I suppose, if anything further were to go wrong, I still have the dud IOB reason for returning another Vibe (actually I'm on my 4th in 1.5 years as they initially sent the wrong colour so I was started on a loaner and that was replaced a couple of weeks' later). 

Anyway, thanks for your concern 

And back to Eliie - do have a yank with the pliers. The needle might come out ok like with the Insets. I just got used to keeping the pliers hooked on the side of the sharps bin & doing it without thinking after each change, the rest of the spaceship is all plastic so doesn't need any further dismantling, just binning elsewhere. Hope it works for you!


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## Pumper_Sue (Nov 30, 2013)

Hi Ingrid, I've had an animas for the last 2 + years had a cozmo before that and loved it.
I'm not over impressed with any aspect of the animas pump. Last pump was returned as it kept losing time. It lost 7 mins in 21 days which is not good. The Vibe buttons stick as badly as the 2020 and I can not see an improvement in the vibe from the 2020 overall.

Ellie, I did find a video on the net the other day showing how to load the pump and use the mio cannulas plus disposal of them. (Now can't find it again) It showed the nurse doing the demo removing the white centre of the mio and disposing of it in the sharps bin.


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## elliebug (Nov 30, 2013)

I'm going to go back to my dsn and see what she can do, to be honest, the prospect of keeping pliers by my bed with a toddler about is less than appealing, it's hard enough keeping the usual bits out of reach now he has learnt to climb!! I will go back to my GP and see what they say. I was really hoping someone would say 'I had this problem, I emailed X at Medtronic and they sorted it' wishful thinking I know but it is nearly Christmas!!


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## Pumper_Sue (Nov 30, 2013)

Just a thought Ellie if there's a problem regarding prescribing the bin can you noy buy one? They are not very expensive a matter of a couple pounds I think and you can have the VAT deducted as well.


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## trophywench (Nov 30, 2013)

Sorry, I just assumed the needles extracted easily out of all cannulas, as they do in the Roche ones.  It's potty designing something that a 'weak and feeble woman' can't deal with !  (I'm very like Elizabeth I myself LOL)


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## bev (Nov 30, 2013)

elliebug said:


> Hi, I am using these and I love them, however they don't fit into the 1l sharps bin provided by my GP. My previous pump was an animas one and they sent me 5l sharps bins to use. Medtronic don't. I can't be the only person with this issue! So I was wondering what others did! Thanks for you help



Hi Ellie,

My son uses mios and we dont use a sharps bin!We just screw the plastic cap back on and its safe then. Even Schools are told that mios dont need a sharps bin as they are not considered a risk due to it being contained within the plastic. I wouldnt worry just put them in the normal bin.Bev


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## ingrid (Dec 1, 2013)

Oh Ellie, so frustrating  Sneaky idea - don't suppose there's an Animas pumper (or Roche if they do them) in your area who could accidentally order a 5L bin with their next order, which they then discover they don't need....? 

Sue - coincidentally, Nanette, the administrator of the Insulin Pumpers UK forum has just changed from a Cozmo to a Vibe and has been recently lamenting all the oh-so-useful features she now doesn't have! It sounds like a real shame Cozmos are no longer made (?) or available here. A few of us have been having a bit of a Vibe moan over there! I'm still incredibly grateful to be on a pump though and they all seem to have their '+'s & '-'s, and my own main criteria for choosing the Vibe was the size and brightness of the screen compared with the other available pumps, so <hmph> just have to put up with the moany issues about it I guess (though useful to have a moan with people who understand  )


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## Pumper_Sue (Dec 1, 2013)

ingrid said:


> Oh Ellie, so frustrating  Sneaky idea - don't suppose there's an Animas pumper (or Roche if they do them) in your area who could accidentally order a 5L bin with their next order, which they then discover they don't need....?
> 
> Sue - coincidentally, Nanette, the administrator of the Insulin Pumpers UK forum has just changed from a Cozmo to a Vibe and has been recently lamenting all the oh-so-useful features she now doesn't have! It sounds like a real shame Cozmos are no longer made (?) or available here. A few of us have been having a bit of a Vibe moan over there! I'm still incredibly grateful to be on a pump though and they all seem to have their '+'s & '-'s, and my own main criteria for choosing the Vibe was the size and brightness of the screen compared with the other available pumps, so <hmph> just have to put up with the moany issues about it I guess (though useful to have a moan with people who understand  )



Oh I'm def grateful for my pump as I do not have a flat basal so no hope of control without a pump.
There are no more cozmo's due to Medtronic filing a law suit against the company about something regarding the bolus  and the way it was worked out. Medtronic swore blind that the company had taken it from them. So The judge ordered that any pump sold in future Medtronic had a cut in the price of it and and also Smiths medical were also fined or told to pay a large fine or compensation.
So Smith's medical said fine ok sod you and stopped selling the pump.
Medtronic thought fantastic all the Cozmo users will come over to us.......... Over my dead body as far as I am concerned.

The Animas is a very poor second but a lot better than nothing. As to the screen it's fine as long as the sun isn't shining. Once the sun's out find a dark corner to read the pump


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## chandler (Dec 1, 2013)

I use Medtronic Mio sets.  My DSN told me to bend the used inserter needle so it sits behind a white plastic lug.  Then you can pop the coloured lid back on and put in the bin.  

I didn't want to do that, so she said I'd have to go to my GP's and ask the nurse for one of their 5 litre sharps bins - this size isn't available on prescription.  The receptionist is happy to take my old sharps bin away and give me a new one from their nurse's cupboard.  

I know it's meant for sharps, but I chuck all of my used test strips into it as well.  Don't forget there's also needles at both ends of the tubing and the blue thing in the reservoir pack.  The DSN said I should put all of those in the big sharps bin if I went down that route.  So that's what I do.  The 5l bin does me for about 2 months.

It's possible to pop out the white section containing the inertion needle if you push it from behind - it reduces the volume of sharps waste a little.

I did ask the chemist about disposing of full sharps bins.  They said they had an obligation to accept one if a customer handed one in but, since they don't have a collection system in place, it would cost them around ?45 a time to get rid of them.  They asked politely if I could hand them in to the GP instead as they already have collection procedures in place.  If I have to get a new one at teh GP's, guess it makes sense just to walk in and do an exchange.


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## trophywench (Dec 1, 2013)

I cut the needle end off the tubing with scissors and just lob that in the bin.  however it's awkward getting the reservoir needle part into these horrid oblong bins they will keep supplying now - we cut the 'fingers' back a bit with tinsnips to make a bigger hole.  After all, you close the non-retractable 'lid' down on the whole caboodle before you hand them in so not much chance of anyone getting spiked.

Dried blood never hurt anyone - you wouldn't put a used plaster in a sharps bin after cutting your finger, or a sanitary towel or tampon, would you?  So it's wasteful to stick em in the sharps.  In surgeries/hospitals they'd go in Clinical Waste bins in case the patient had some awful disease or something!and we don't have them either so it's the normal kitchen bin then the dustbin for those.


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## elliebug (Dec 2, 2013)

Hum, my reply vanished, sorry! Not ignoring you  I had cottoned onto taking the coloured outer bit off and have been doing this, it does seen to make a big difference! I'm at the GP tomorrow for my whooping cough jab so will ask about sharps bins then. I don't actually know anyone else in real life on a pump otherwise I would be asking to borrow their bin!! I did have a quick loom into buying them but the postage was more expensive than the bin, I don't see why I should have to buy them but if thats the safest way of disposing of them where my little boy can't get them I'll have to!


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## Pumper_Sue (Dec 2, 2013)

Ellie, if you feel you must have one thus need to buy it go into your chemist shop and order one. There's no charge for it that way.
I can walk into my local agricultural store and buy one off the shelf. Vets have them as well.
Can you not use a needle clipper to clip the needle off and then dispose of that way?


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## elliebug (Dec 2, 2013)

Sue, genius, my in laws have a farm! Why didn't I think of that!! I don't have a needle clipper either so that's also on my list of things to nag my GP about


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## trophywench (Dec 2, 2013)

LOL - my first supply of disposable insulin syringes (we couldn't get disposables on scrip then!) was via a Rep from Arnolds Veterinary Products Ltd !

A box of 144 x packs of 10, BD Plastipak syringes !  Cost me a WHOLE month's salary, but I never ever ever needed another box ......


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## ingrid (Dec 3, 2013)

Pumper_Sue said:


> There are no more cozmo's due to Medtronic filing a law suit against the company about something regarding the bolus  and the way it was worked out. Medtronic swore blind that the company had taken it from them. So The judge ordered that any pump sold in future Medtronic had a cut in the price of it and and also Smiths medical were also fined or told to pay a large fine or compensation.
> So Smith's medical said fine ok sod you and stopped selling the pump.
> Medtronic thought fantastic all the Cozmo users will come over to us.......... Over my dead body as far as I am concerned.
> 
> The Animas is a very poor second but a lot better than nothing. As to the screen it's fine as long as the sun isn't shining. Once the sun's out find a dark corner to read the pump



That's terrible!!!! Really dreadful reason for non-availability of that great little pump I've heard so much about. Grrrrry grrr grrrrrrr..

And yes, you're quite right about bright sun and the unreadable Vibe screen (*_*) 

It's funny, this pumping business and sharps disposal - for about 40 years I never gave a second thought to safe disposal of sharps, don't ever remember any doctor or nurse mentioning it. Then, once on a pump, like the rest of you (I think?), it seemed to be an important issue which we're told about by pump reps/DSNs. Even if we can say hand on heart we know we personally don't have any nasty lurgies to pass on to council workers who might accidentally prick themselves on our sharps, they won't know that and will have to get tested, and worry and worry and worry until they get the all-clear. And yet, none of this concerned me pre-pump! And maybe the majority of insulin users still don't use a sharps bin method of disposal? Dunno. It would certainly help the uptake if councils/surgeries made it an awful lot easier - if I'd ever been offered a sharps bin, I can't imagine I'd have turned it down. Hope your in-laws can get you sorted now, Ellie  

Although it will take me a long time to fill my sharps bin, I've thought about disposal - what would happen if I couldn't find anywhere that would take it when full, and decided I might just take it to the hospital and park it next to another 'in use' sharps bin....maybe say something to the staff, maybe not, but that way I'd know it would get disposed of ok. Perhaps that's silly and irresponsible, but why make these things so hard for us? There comes a point where you get so sick of it all, you don't care, you just go for the easiest solution. 

Truth be told, I hate having a sharps bin, it takes up space & looks horrid! Maybe it needs a crocheted cover or similar (like some people's spare loo rolls do) to encourage acceptance and love LOL 

Goodnight all.


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