Pod deactivated frustration
When we sat down for lunch, I used the PDM to deliver both an extended bolus and an immediate bolus. Following the second beep-beep confirmation that my bolus was delivering, I placed my PDM back into its usual spot in my day pack.
When I was getting into my car after lunch I heard a long continuous tone - I think it was coming from the pod. I fished the PDM out of my pack and when it awoke it reported "pod deactivated." Not only that but it also told me that neither of my lunch boluses was delivered!
Needless to say, I was irritated and frustrated with this Omnipod-caused hyperglycemia that I knew would follow. All insulin had been stopped for about 30 minutes when I finally discovered that the Omnipod had quit.
I immediately injected some insulin via a syringe to cover for the missing insulin but I knew that I could not recover the 30 minutes in time. I decided to drop my friend off at his home before I returned home myself and place new pod. I guess I could have changed to a new pod in the car with my friend in the passenger seat. But that would have been socially awkward to me.
Once I had the new pod in place, I called Insulet customer service to see if I could figure out what happened and hopefully avoid a similar thing from happening again. The customer service rep took down my report and had me look up the alarm history and tell her the alarm code that was store in my PDM. I asked her what that number meant. She said that she had no idea but would report it to engineering. I told her that I would like to know what's going on but she said that engineering does not communicate with customers. Bottom line: I would not find out why my pod deactivated.
The customer service rep politely told me that I would receive a replacement pod. I told her that I appreciated that but at this point I was more interested in what actually happened than I was in getting a free replacement. She apologized and said that there was nothing more that she could do. I expressed that this was not her fault but I wanted more transparent info. I said that living with the normal challenges of T1 diabetes was hard enough without having to fight the vagaries of a treatment system like the Omnipod. She apologized again. I told her that I know she has a hard job and does not have the authority or knowledge to answer my questions.
The call ended amiably but I am not happy with pods deactivating like this. I have worn insulin pumps since 1987 and I have rarely experienced this level of unreliability. It's ironic that Insulet's commitment is to make "diabetes a smaller part of our lives" but when there's trouble they holds us at arm's length using polite, yet deliberately ignorant, customer service reps.
I've been on the Omnipod system since July and was hoping to be a long term customer. This incident and a few others makes me think that "living without tubing" isn't all that great. I may be forced to go back to a tubed pump for another 4 years. Well, if I do that, at least I can say that I gave Omnipod a fair trial.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by jla on -
Did you happen to run out of insulin before the 72 hours was up because I believe that will make the pod deactivate too.
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Permalink Reply by Terry on -
Ok - your question made me go back and re-examine the insulin amount status that day. I had a low reservoir alarm at 8:16 a.m. That means I had 20 units onboard at that time. The pod deactivated alarm occurred at 12:43 p.m. Between those two alarms I used 3.6 units for basal and 8.55 units for breakfast, which leaves me 7.85 units for lunch.
My carb history shows that I dosed for 15 grams of carbs for that meal. (Interesting that the carb history is intact yet insulin delivery for that meal is missing.) Fifteen grams of carbs = 2.5 units for me. That leaves 5.35 units. I usually take an extended bolus to cover protein and fat anywhere from 2.8 units over 2.5 hours to 3.6 units over 3 hours. Even if I took 3.6 units, that would have left 1.75 at the end of 3 hours.
The alarm went off soon after I finished eating. I calculate that I had more than 5 units in the reservoir when the pod deactivate alarm went off.
If I had run out of insulin, I also think that the pump alarm would have been an "out of insulin" alarm instead of a cryptic "pod deactivated." Don't you think so?
I should have gone through this exercise sooner. Thanks for asking a good question!
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Permalink Reply by jla on
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I recently have had times when I would swear I have taken insulin but there's no record of it but my PDM is old and seems to be getting sticky. I would have to go back and check the manual to see if there's a level of insulin at which the pod deactivates and what message one is supposed to get when you run out of insulin. It appears that you were very close. I've had T1 for 46 years and, as imperfect as they are, the Omnipod and my DexCom are the best tools I've ever had. My A1c's are not great but still better. I'm pretty active and am 67 with no major complications.
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Permalink Reply by Terry on
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When the incident in question happened, the PDM informed me that the boluses were canceled. That's what prompted me to immediately take some insulin via a syringe. Yeah, one of the major benefits that a pump has over MDI is the fact that it remembers much better than I can!
Good for you that you've managed T1 well enough to avoid any complications.
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Permalink Reply by Terry on
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Meh - It's always good to know I'm not alone in this. I would be very interested to learn what you discover.
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Permalink Reply by meh_mtl on -
Hi Terry, just wondering what alarm code you got when your pod did this.
Mine was 19-000-0000-00064.
I spoke to my rep on the phone yesterday, he is also a omnipod user.
he advised that he doesn`t know what causes this, but as this has happend to him as well and his thoughts are that it`s possibly too much air in the resevior, as it always seems to happen at the end of the pods life.
again this is just his thoughts as a user, he has no official word on the subject.
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Permalink Reply by Terry on
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meh - The alarm code was 19-000-0000-00051. I did have another pod deactivate alarm on November 3. It was the -00064 code that you noted.
Every pod that I've dismantled (about 5 or so) had a rather large air bubble in it. Not sure how that happens as I'm careful about not injecting any air when I load insulin.
I'd love to know what the alarm codes mean.
At least your experience and your rep's experience confirms that what happened to me was not a solitary incident. Thank you for your feedback.
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Permalink Reply by jla on
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Were all these pods really low on insulin like the one I asked you about. There might be a connection there. We need to collect and document more data. I think I had one do something similar recently but I was probably over the 72 hour time period and into the "extension" time so didn't pay too much attention to the time details or insulin remaining when it deactivated before the 80 hour limit. I often have 20+ units left at 80 hours. I'm a low user and onlyput in 100u at a time. I'll take more careful note of what's happening towards the end of the time limit and report back.
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Permalink Reply by Terry on
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I don't recall specifically about the November 3rd deactivated pod alarm. Like you, I fill my pods so that I can get three days of service. I always add some extra and that usually means that I waste about 20 units or so per pod. I use about 40 units/day, so I try to fill about 140 to 150 units. The pod that started this thread only had about 5 units remaining in it, I calculated, when it failed.
Unfortunately, I don't think Insulet is much interested in these kinds of efforts on our part. They are very cooperative about replacing pods when you call in but they don't want to tip their hand and share any "behind the scenes" info. In fact I think their customer service reps are deliberately kept out of the loop when it comes to what Insulet considers "engineering issues."
That being said, I do think that we can learn from each others experience. I would be happy to learn anything that you discover about this issue.
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Permalink Reply by jla on
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For some reason, I have gone for about 5 months now without a pod failure which they replaced. I used to have at least one a month. When I have >18u left, I pull any insulin left in my pod out with the syringe and push as much air out of as I can before I pull from the insulin bottle (i.e. I recycle it). After I add the new insulin to the old, I carefully push all the air out of the syringe before I insert it into the pod. I wipe every opening with alcohol as I do this and have not had trouble.
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