[Subby]

I've been getting by with putting my sets in my stomach where the problem doesn't occur, but the insulin just isn't near as consistent from that area and I'm getting grouchy and run down by loosely unstable BGs. Ironically these unstable BG's also sap my motivation and initiative, leading to most things going in the "too hard" basket - like calling about my pump.

So I finally kicked my own backside into gear and got around to calling Medtronic about my biting pump - after waiting over a week for a reply from them via email (to other users, I recommend you don't bother with email correspondence).

The lady on the helpline was really quite cagey about the whole thing. She kept suggesting I just hit a nerve but I kept referring her back to the fact there was a huge amount of pressure, born out by the fact the line was almost impossible to screw off. After debating for a while I got a fuller picture of what she thought was going on:

- The cannula was hitting nerve/muscle and getting blockage, however not enough to provide feedback to the pump, as the scenario meant forward pressure (but not quite blocked enough to create backwards pressure)

- Therefore it was just an unfortunate circumstance but the pump is working fine.

- She's sending out a crimper or some such to do a line block test over the phone, to check the blockage awareness, anyway.

I'm happy with this explanation as far as it goes - I think it makes sense that there is a small window there where there is a lot of resistance at the body end, but not quite enough to block off the flow, create back pressure and therefore not set off an alarm or cutoff. It's just a really unfortunate and painful occurrence.

I wrote all that to see what others with pump/occlusion experience might think. Does that sound like a fair and reasonable assessment, or is it a bit of a fob off? Should I have somehow gotten occlusion warnings by the time it's pushing insulin at a very strong (and painful) rate? I just am not quite technically minded enough to be sure.