[TrueWorship]

I have an older Minimed pump and I've been using the Sure-T sets for about 6 months without any problems. I've made it through half the box I have with no problems. Now all of a sudden I'm getting No Delivery notices. When I get the notice I disconnect my pump and I give it a fixed prime to see if the humolog will come through the tubing. If it comes through the tubing fine, then I can assume the problem is with the set and or site and I can change and move that. If no insulin comes through the tubing I first change just the tubing and see if that solves the problem. I've had this happen occasionally and don't really mind going through the whole process to find out what's wrong. However, this week it's happened about 3 times. I'm getting frustrated and my blood sugars keep going high because of it. Does anybody have any idea what could be causing this problem and what else I could possibly do? Am I just having some really bad luck? Or am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

Jenn

[TrueWorship]

I'm at a complete loss for what to do now. I just bolused for my breakfast and got another no delivery notice. I disconnected and primed to see if the insulin was coming through the tubing. It was coming through, so I changed the set. Primed it and the insulin was coming all the way through. I inserted the Sure-T set and bolused again and got another no delivery notice. It's a metal cannula so I know it didn't get bent or anything. What could possibly be the problem? Is it a problem with my pump? Could it be giving me false No Delivery notices? If that's the problem there's not much I can do about it... My pump isn't under warranty anymore and I can't afford a new one... If anybody has any idea what the problem could be, please let me know. I'm frustrated to the point of tears by now. This is the second time today that I've had to deal with No Delivery notices and it's not even 9 am yet.

[notme]

Call Minimed. Even though your pump is not under warranty, they may have some suggestions. If insulin is coming through the cannula when it is detached, then it could be the motor is not able to push the insulin through when there is resistance. Have you opened a new box of Sure-T's? Maybe a bad box? I doubt it is a false "no delivery" message.

Please call MiniMed and see if they can help.

[fgummett]

Hi Jenn, I wish I had the answers. Minimed might still be able to at least suggest a course of action even without a warranty... it can't hurt to give them a call. Did you try a new battery? Did you run it through it's self-test cycle?

[poodlebone]

Can you disconnect and try to bolus, rather than prime, to see if that works? What area(s) of your body are you using? Have you been rotating your sites and do the alarms occur in different areas?

[TrueWorship]

I have been rotating areas. I've tried using spots that I hardly ever use. I even tried using sites where I know I can feel it sting when the insulin goes in. I just found an old Silhouette set and I'm trying that now. So far it seems to be working. If I continue having problems I think I'll try to call Minimed. And I think I'll order a new box of sets too, just in case. I was in the middle of the box before I started having problems, but who knows. Thanks for the suggestions everybody.

[fgummett]

If you do suspect the sets make sure you get free replacements... those are not cheap either I've only ever used Silhouettes so of course I prefer them

[TrueWorship]

Well it's now the end of the day and I haven't gotten anymore No Delivery notices. However, my blood sugars have still been high all day. But not high enough for me to think I'm not getting any insulin. I think maybe tomorrow I'll pick up a new bottle of insulin too. A strange thing happened with my last bottle of Humalog. The bottle was almost empty and I was getting ready to pull the last of it into a reservoir when I noticed little white flakes floating in it... I threw the bottle out and switched to a new bottle. But I thought it was strange. I've never seen that in a bottle of insulin before. Has anybody seen this before?

[lelggren]

I've never seen it myself before, but I think that others on here have. If I remember right, that means that your insulin is crystallizing and you need to throw it away. Don't quote me on it though. You could even call customer service for Lilly's products, and see for sure Glad that you didn't have any more alarms!

[notme]

I have seen it before. Your insulin was no good. That could be the reason for your "no delivery" and your high numbers. If the insulin crystalized in your pump it might be putting up enough resistance for you to get a "no delivery" alarm. You will also have very high numbers since the insulin really has no potency at that point.

[TrueWorship]

So I think the insulin was my problem. Once I saw the crystals in the bottle I threw it out, but I get the feeling this bottle did the same thing. It explains why my pump keeps clogging and I get no delivery notices. It also explains why once I changed everything out it would happen again. It explains why I still couldn't get my bloodsugars all the way down to normal. And unfortunately it explains why my bloodsugar is now over 400 even after correcting and why I've not been able to sleep tonight because I've been feeling so sick. I made the mistake of not having a spare bottle of insulin in the fridge so I had to wake up my poor husband (who didn't get to sleep last night because of work) to go to the 24 hour pharmacy to get me a new bottle of insulin. That is why I am now on the computer at 3 in the morning writing this. But now I've learned that when I get repeated no delivery warnings I should change the insulin, and I should always keep a spare bottle in the fridge. Why does insulin crystallize? Is it because it got too warm? Should I try keeping my insulin in the fridge instead of at room temperature after it's opened? Or just in the summer? If you have any ideas let me know. I would love to not have to go through this fiasco again.

Thanks,
Jenn

[notme]

I have had two bottles that I remember that went bad and had crystallization. Both times they were bottles I left out on the counter and did not refrigerate. It was summer and the house got warm. I keep my opened bottles in the fridge now and haven't had the crystallization problem again.