Omnipod Occlusion

Today just after I entered the data to bolus for breakfast, there was this loud long beep. It almost sounds as if your ear is ringing (if that makes sense to anyone). My Omnipod meter gave an error that an occlusion. It had only been 1 day since I changed this pod, so needless to say I was upset that I had to change the pod out.

Has anyone gotten this error and if so, is there a way to clear it out without changing the pod out?

Tags: beep, change, occlusion, pod, ringing

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rebecca on September 4, 2011 at 4:21pm

I get occlusions from time to time. Usually I know it's correct because the area actually starts to ache a little. Sometimes I think the pod's just being dumb. There's nothing that you can do (that I've found anyway). Insulet also refuses to replace them as the pod is working correctly, it's unable to deliver insulin so it alarms. It's frustrating as anything but I don't think there's really anything you can do.

Permalink Reply by daneenm on September 4, 2011 at 4:30pm

My son gets these every now and then. Often after he has hit the pod, but sometimes just out of the blue. The pod has to be changed because it cannot deliver as it needs to.

Permalink Reply by CyNdyM on September 4, 2011 at 6:38pm

I get them all of the time!!! that is why I am so ready to change to another pump! I dont know why it happens! and no, you have to change it, there is no other way that I know of....

Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on September 5, 2011 at 11:30am

An occlusion is a blockage and it effectively ruins the pod. You can get occlusions on a tubed pump, too, and have to change everything out. You wouldn't want to continue to use an insertion site and/or tubing after a blockage. The pod is designed to deactivate as soon as it detects an occlusion and you cannot reactivate it.

Permalink Reply by David on September 7, 2011 at 6:08am

I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago. The day after I changed the pod, there was a continuous beep (similar to what you described). However, my PDM would not connect to the pod and it was not clear what the error was. Is there an error message displayed on the PDM when there is an occlusion? I've been trying to figure out what happened.

Permalink Reply by Rebecca on September 7, 2011 at 7:41am

There are a great many reasons that a Pod will error out. The only one I've found that Insulet will not replace is when the PDM says there is an occlusion. Insulet does replace Pod Errors. Whatever happened to yours seems to have also resulted in a communication error. If you call them Insulet will usually replace these as well.

Permalink Reply by daneenm on September 7, 2011 at 9:24am

You will see a message about an occlusion when it has detected one. If you look in the 'my records; section on the PDM it keeps an error history and you might be able to tell from that. In the years that my son has been using OmniPod, we have had a couple of 'beep of death' situations where we get no error. It is as if the Pod cannot connect to the PDM, cannot register the error and just doesn't know what to do. However, in the over 1000 pods I figure he has used this has happened in less than 5. It is a pain when it does, though. At least when the PDM detects a communication error, you know what the problem is.

Permalink Reply by Stephen Gilbert on September 7, 2011 at 10:50pm

I had this happen twice... it was after i SLAMMED my pod into the wall (wrestling with a friend). I think that it has something to do with the radio on the pod not working right. The pod wakes the PDM up ever 20 minutes or so to update it on what's going on. I guess if this fails for some reasons other than the PDM not being in range, it just screams.

The other time was more... odd. I was setting up some wireless mics at my school for the band, and when i turned on one of the receivers, the "Peak" light came on and the RF light came on, even though the transmitter was off. Thinking it was just a glitch, i unplugged it, turned the transmitter on, and then plugged it back in. Same thing. Turned the volume up, and it was just distorted static... then my pod started screaming at me and it wouldn't communicate with the PDM. Maybe interference? When i replaced the pod, the mic worked fine, and the pod worked fine. -shrug-

Permalink Reply by Stephen Gilbert on September 7, 2011 at 10:47pm

There's no way to clear the error. It means the cannula is stopped up, and the pod must be replaced.

Permalink Reply by Jgos on September 8, 2011 at 3:36pm

Its a pain and it happens when fluid (or to be precise, blood, returns up the cannula) I am new to this but think its to do with the amount of movement the Pod has because its loose. If I cover the Pod with tubigrib it doesnt seem to happen. Just a thought.

Gos

Permalink Reply by KevinS on September 8, 2011 at 3:48pm

It will happen from time to time if you get some dried blood in the cannula. If the pod is only a day old I'll pull the reaming insulin out of it into a new pod.

Permalink Reply by Jazzy on September 8, 2011 at 6:42pm

Update. After I change my pod, it seemed as if the pod wasn't pumping. My sugar seemed to go up after bolusing for correction and not eating anything. So I called insulet and explained the issue that I thought my pod was not pumping. The rp led me through a series of questions about settings, readings, etc and told me that they would replace it. So I went on to tell them about the occulsion... they atually stated that they would replace that pod as well but he also made sure to tell me that Insulet no longer replaces pod for occlusions, but would "this" time since this was my first time calling.

Since my original post I hve not had any issues. So... I'm still pleased with my omnipod. "NO MORE TUBES"