Alarm While Priming - Am I doing something wrong?

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on October 29, 2009 at 12:11pm

Susan, this has happen to me. I too couldn't extract my insulin from the pod. Customer service told me it was a communication error between the pod and the PDM, there was an issue with the pod. I have been using OmniPod since this past January and so far I've only had one box that was bad. Like you it appeared that ever other pod had some kind of issue. The only suggestion I can give is to make sure you don't bump the pod while its priming. I make sure everyone is away from the table and I don't even touch the table while its priming. I will get up from the table and stand next to it just to make sure I don't bump anything.

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on October 29, 2009 at 12:20pm

I have had two or three pods that have failed while priming and at least one of these that I couldn't pull insulin back out of. It is really frustrating. The worst part for me is that I can't get the sound from the pod to stop until the PDM thinks it should be finished priming. Grrr... I haven't had this consistent for a box though, it seems to just be random pods for me. Good luck finding an answer.

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Permalink Reply by elaine peterson on October 29, 2009 at 12:24pm

I have had 3 fail from one box just recently. Until then, my only failures were when I just started on the pod. I was rushing all 3 times so I sort of felt that maybe I had done something wrong.......
Not that I am glad you had this experience, but it does sound similar to mine....I was not able to draw the insulin out of one, one wouldn't connect with the PDM, and two did not beep at all after being filled, so I am glad to think that maybe it wasn't me.
How frustrating that you had to deal with being out of town. We will love our pods all the more when the kinks are out.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Rizzo on October 29, 2009 at 12:30pm

A recent box of mine had 4 priming failures, too. Sounds like a pattern to me...
Customer service has told me in the past to make sure the insulin is at room temperature before filling and to leave the pod in the plastic case while it is priming. But doing those didn't keep me from the 4-out-of-10 failure rate for that one box a few weeks ago.
Anyway, if you find it difficult to extract the insulin, make sure you have removed the plastic cap that is over the cannula/needle. I've found that with it off the insulin comes out of the reservoir a bit easier.

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Permalink Reply by Bradley Ringer on October 29, 2009 at 12:52pm

Great tip, Eric. I never would have thought about removing the needle cap. In my first 5 weeks, I have only had one problem, an occlusion, so the cap was already off.

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Permalink Reply by Lee Barrett on October 29, 2009 at 1:46pm

I have had a few recently too.....Weird! Thanks for the tip Eric about making sure the insulin is at room temp. I cant recall if mine was cold or not.
Not sure how everyone gets their insulin out, but I grab my knife and open the pod and then stick the syringe directly in the bottom of the reservoir. Works every time, no matter what. I do this out of sheer anger because I despise losing a pod and despise losing insulini even more.
Take that you stupid failed Pod!!!

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca on October 29, 2009 at 2:27pm

I usually just draw my insulin back out through the fill port. There have been times when I've had to listen to it screech for 30 seconds or so though and would have been happy to use your more aggressive technique.

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Permalink Reply by Tifany Kondraciuk on October 29, 2009 at 6:08pm

I draw mine out from the fill port as well, mine didnt scream at me though.

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on October 29, 2009 at 8:55pm

For those of you who are handy with a power drill, the piezo speaker (the part that makes noise) is a round, flat disc located in the top of the pod. My husband killed this one after I had thrown it away without deactivating it and the garbage can was screaming all morning until he found it.

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on October 29, 2009 at 8:48pm

I called Omnipod after my third pod in a month did this - all from the same lot number. They replaced all three pods and gave me no grief about it. Each time, I was able to extract the insulin.

One time though, I was an hour from home and about to go into a restaurant for dinner and didn't have a second spare to replace it. I was glad I had a syringe. Ugh. I was sooo annoyed. Now I take twice the pods I think I'll need if I'm going to be too far from home to run back.

I've pumped for 9 years, so using room temperature insulin is a given for me. (My endos have always said it's unnecessary to refrigerate insulin once it's opened anyway.) And when I know the next pod will require a fresh bottle, I remember to get it out of the fridge with my 12-hours-till-expiration alarm sounds.

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Permalink Reply by Jaybear on October 29, 2009 at 9:52pm

After having a box with a few duds, my local Insulet rep mentioned all of the tips here and also gave me a tip yet mentioned -- after deactivating a pod, move it far away from the new pod that you're activating in order to prevent any interference issues. In addition to the other tips (room temp insulin, keep the pod in the plastic during priming, etc.), this seems to have worked for me.

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on October 29, 2009 at 10:15pm

Good point, Jaybear!

I learned the tip about moving the deactivated pod farther away. All three priming failures I had were in close proximity to the old pod. Now, I deactivate it, take it off, and either toss it away from me (especially in the car - I'll toss it into the backseat) or I'll put the old pod in my recycle bag in the closet and go back to my pod change. I haven't had a priming failure since. Thanks for bringing that up!

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