[Funnygrl]

Pumps have occlusion alarms that go off if something is blocked. The biggest problem I've ever had is pulling a set out in my sleep. The highest I've woken up from that is 290.

Even if you wake up 600, it sucks, but if you know what to do, you should be able to avoid dka.

Contrary to popular belief, dka isn't just high bg + ketones. You need to actually change your body's pH and start messing up your bicarb too. That takes a fair amount of time.

[Eddy]

(emphasis added to specify context)

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

Pumps have occlusion alarms that go off if something is blocked. The biggest problem I've ever had is pulling a set out in my sleep. The highest I've woken up from that is 290.

Good to know.

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

Even if you wake up 600, it sucks, but if you know what to do, you should be able to avoid dka.

Yes... although wouldn't that high be risking hyperosmolar coma?

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

Contrary to popular belief, dka isn't just high bg + ketones. You need to actually change your body's pH and start messing up your bicarb too. That takes a fair amount of time.

Ahhhh.... that is what I wanted to know. It seemed logical enough -- after all, it clearly took me a while to DKA when I was pre-DX and totally untreated. However, I don't know if I have progressed since then; i.e., I have no idea how quickly things would get ugly if I went without basal. I really don't care to test, either.

Thanks!

[Funnygrl]

Yes... although wouldn't that high be risking hyperosmolar coma?

Not really. That takes a long time to develop too. Even longer than dka often. Those people have really high bgs- like 900+. It takes a ton of glucose to alter the osmolarity of your blood. I'd even dare to say you need kidney damage, as your kidneys can excrete some glucose even in the absence of insulin. In clinical practice, I've seen HHNK once and DKA a handful of times. The HHNK was a man who hadn't taken anything for his diabetes for several months. The DKA's were all girls who hadn't taken their insulin for a few days or were taking less than they were suppose to("I forgot to fill it").

I really don't care to test, either.

Good plan.

All in all though, if you feel that you need background levemir, there's plenty of evidence to suggest that that's a good, effective plan as well (a la untethered regimen).

[solox316]

Originally Posted by Jan B

By the way she said it, you'd think the pump was pre-programmed to "off" teens.

Ok, I know I shouldn't have... But this quote made me seriously laugh out loud.

[duck]

Originally Posted by solox316

Ok, I know I shouldn't have... But this quote made me seriously laugh out loud.

Me too, this disease can jade you sometimes.

[kates mom]

My daughter almost died because of her MM pump malfunctioning. It said it was giving her insulin when it wasn't. Has anyone else experienced this? It happened Jan of 2002

[Jan B]

Originally Posted by kates mom

My daughter almost died because of her MM pump malfunctioning. It said it was giving her insulin when it wasn't. Has anyone else experienced this? It happened Jan of 2002

Hi Kate's mom and WELCOME. I'm so glad your daughter is ok. I have a cousin who ended up in the hospital for the same reason you mentioned.

When I get high, I feel bad, and immediately check my bg and bolus if I need to. Then I always check again in an hour or so to make sure insulin is getting to me. If I'm higher than I think I should be, I change sets (check to make sure cannula isn't bent). (I took lousy care of myself as a teenager and probably would not have verified cannulas were really in, etc.) Nowadays I check bg often and never believe the pump is 100% perfect. So far I've not seen the pump malfunction but I've had to change sets when the cannula is bent & obviously there is no way for a pump to tell you the cannula is bent.

Did you have a true MM malfunction or was the cannula bent?

[Funnygrl]

Originally Posted by kates mom

My daughter almost died because of her MM pump malfunctioning. It said it was giving her insulin when it wasn't. Has anyone else experienced this? It happened Jan of 2002

I'm glad she's ok.

How often was she testing? I'm guessing it would have become obvious her blood sugar was going up after awhile. Were you instructed to correct via injection if pump corrections weren't working? Were you in contact with MM's customer support and your endo office during this?

Did she end up deciding to go back on the pump?

[kates mom]

It was a true malfunction. They even wrote it on the hospital papers. She is now 17. We have always checked BS at least 6 times a day. It took 2 hospitals and a life flight to figure out what was wrong. She had water on the brain as a result of all of the fluids she was given. It was terrible. I just wondered if this had happened to anyone else. We are getting ready to go back to shots. She now has the 712 and before it was the 508. The rep said sometimes static can cause problems with the pump.

[Funnygrl]

I'm still a little confused, so just bear with me.

You said it took 2 hospitals to figure out what was wrong. At no point no one took a blood sugar, realized it was high, and started insulin via an IV?

[kates mom]

Oh, they did but she was 10 years old and children can go critical as quick as they can rebound back. At first they thought she had the flu..causing everything else to go out of wack. Every test possible was run on her. When they did blood gases that is when they life flighted her. She had fluid on the brain and they were thinking encephalitis.

[Funnygrl]

How scary, I'm gald she's ok.

[Gary_W]

I too am glad she is OK.

I'm amazed that static could cause a problem like this in the modern world.

Before I started selling medical equipment for a living, I used to fix it. Back then, I used to repair everything patient-related in the local hospital from defibs through infusion pumps. There was a pump 15 years ago (a general infusion driver for the hospital environment, not an insulin pump) that was affected by static, but when it was affected in this manner it would go to an alarm state. Once this was brought to the attention of the company in question via the Medical Devices Agency (a govt. body that deals with the safety of medical equipment) the company put out a warning notice to all users and set about modifying all the pumps so as the problem would no longer occur. The modification involved swapping out the control panel as (if a user was highly charged from a static point of view due to nylon clothing or whatever) the static could jump through the button membranes and affect the pump. The swapout fixed the problem. But bear in mind that even before this happened the pump failed in a SAFE MANNER; it did not over-infuse the patient and it gave an alarm so the user could decide what to do.

All pumps made these days have multiple interlocks and saftey features on them which ensure that, if a device fails, it fails in a safe way. That safe way may be 'no delivery' but it's safer than 'give the whole cartridge at once' for example. I'm afraid I cannot believe that the MM could fail due to 'static' and not tell you it had done so. It performs an awful lot of self checks every minute and if one of the checksums doesn't add up it will soon tell you that it isn't happy.

A big IMO here, but... The static problem told to you sounds like an off the cuff remark from a very dumb rep. If there was a genuine static problem with MM pumps, a rep certainly would not tell an end user whose daughter had suffered illness which may result in a lawsuit. Indeed, the company would be duty bound to inform the US version of the Medical Devices Agency (there will be one) and they in turn would take action. This action would be anything between a warning letter to end users, possible modification or total recall of the products. Not trying to be offensive, as I daresay this comment was said to you in good faith and obviously I only know the bits of the story you've posted here. But from my knowledge of the industry, such a dangerous fault would be dealt with in a manner other than a rep making a comment.

Gary

[Funnygrl]

Originally Posted by Gary_W

I'm amazed that static could cause a problem like this in the modern world.
...

A big IMO here, but... The static problem told to you sounds like an off the cuff remark from a very dumb rep.

Static was actually a well known issue with the 50x series, but has since been addressed. They recommended 50x users use the leather case to avoid some of the issues.

[Gary_W]

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

Static was actually a well known issue with the 50x series, but has since been addressed. They recommended 50x users use the leather case to avoid some of the issues.

Thanks for the info; I am hopeful that it 'failed safe' (or as safe as a pump can fail...) because telling people to use a leather case to fix it really isn't on...