[IP] RE:Animus Pump problem
John,
Thanks for the evaluation of the Omnipod.. very valuable. This is stuff
Omnipod won't tell you about, nor will any of the healthcare folks tell you
either.
I have an Animas 1250 too and it has some problems in certain circumstances,
which I deem serious. Animas hasn't done anything about them because it's a
programming issue within their firmware of the pump itself. Being a firmware
programmer myself, I know these are not easy to fix.
I am reaching out to the Animas users in this group if they have found this
particular problem which annoys the heck out of me... Here it is -
I set a bolus of 4.25
The pump bolused 0.25, then 3 more units, when it stopped and claimed an
occlusion.
The pump firmware says I should disconnect the infusion and
PRIME again.
I check the IOB value which shows 3.24. I need an additional unit to get to
the 4.25 I selected The pump shows 88 units left in the cartridge, which means
it started at about 91 units before the bolus began.
I select PRIME, then continue and immediately release. I
hear the pump bolus for one unit. The total shown on the pump is now 87
units remaining in the cartridge. It shows 0 units were primed (which is
false)
since the total has moved from 88 units down to 87.
I believe the pump firmware needs to be fixed to be accurate and reflect
what the pump is actually doing.
First, the occlusion detection was false. I have seen this happen
periodically. My guesss is about every 2 months, it claims an occlusion
during a bolus.
Secondly, the report on the priming is inaccurate, which would make an
important difference if... I did not disconnect. Since it would have
delivered an additional unit of insulin but was not accounted for.
I know.. Animas would say you "should disconnect" but not all infusion sets
are of the quick-set variety and there may be a good reason not to disconnect,
especially if you were not home, had access to all the supplies you needed
etc. It's annoying because when you PRIME, you can't set the amount to do a
PRIME function. You have to hold and let go at some point... not a wise thing
if you are connected.. That's why you "should disconnect". The problem is in
the firmware where you shouldn't have to do this step.
Conclusion: The firmware needs to be fixed.
>
> Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 11:31:32 -0400
> From: "John Connors" <email @ redacted>
> Subject: [IP] 45 Day eval of OmniPod
>
> So my pump expires on April 17th of this year and I have been going back and
> forth with regards to Animas and Omnipod. I have had an Animas 1250 for the
> past 4 years and have no complaints with it. I was emotionally attached to
> this pump which makes my decision even harder. I decided since Insulet
> offers a 45 day trial, I would give it a shot and try it out.
>
>
>
> I received the Omnipod on Friday and got right to work transferring all my
> settings from the Animas to the Omnipod. First thing I noticed was that the
> Basal rates can only be entered into 0.50 increments. Not a good thing for
> me as I am very sensitive to basal delivery and most of my basal settings
> are in the .025 settings. The second thing is upon setting up my first Pod
> and placing it on my Arm and hitting go, I figure Okay no errors on the PDM
> so all is good right? Checked my BG 2 hrs later and it was over 300...
> Couldn't find any problems with errors and the PDM told me everything was
> Okay.
>
>
>
> Removed the POD and noticed the Cannula was full of blood, one would think
> this would cause an inclusion alarm... Tossed the Pod in the trash $26.00
> along with 200 Units of Insulin in the barrel , setup a new Pod, this time
> on my lower back waited 2hrs and checked BG again and finally back to
> normal.
>
>
>
> I attempted to extract the insulin out of the Pod but it only got 1/2 of
> what I put in and lots and lots of air bubbles. This is a big drawback to
> the Pods if one should go bad, thowing Insulin away is as precious as the
> pump itself.
>
>
>
> I noticed also, it doesn't let you change the basal rates once they are
> programmed into the Pod, you can set temp basals but you cannot edit the
> current Basal program. The syringes they use to fill the Pod get lots of air
> bubbles, not sure why but with the Animas I rarely got any bubbles in the
> syringe.
>
>
>
> You can't find out how much Insulin you have left, it only tells you that it
> is > than 50 units. Weird...... You think it would check the status of the
> Pod and report back the amount left in the resourvore.
>
>
>
> The Bolus takes forever to deliver, I gave a 3.3 unit bolus a short while
> ago and it took 2.30 minutes to administer... Very slow...
>
>
>
> I have yet to find the IOB and or BOB feature as friendly as the Animas. The
> calculations are also different than that of the Animas. Typically I have
> the same thing every Sunday AM., An egg and cheese english muffin... 35
> carbs with a small glass of milk. My BG was 71 so the Bolus I was to take
> per the PDM was 30. I do as the PDM recommended, checked my BG 2 hrs later
> and wham... BG is 290.
>
>
>
> What I like...
>
>
>
> The idea of not having tubing, def a plus with young children and lots of
> door knobs in the house, the freedom to have more places for the infusion
> site. the integrated BG meter, graphs and trends of Basals, Boluses and
> BG's.
>
>
>
> Perhaps it will take some getting used to and in fairness to Insulet , I
> will give it a month to see if it works out, so far after 24hrs, I have to
> say my Animas was much more easy to use and allowed many more options in
> terms of Basaling, Bolusing etc.. I think Insulet needs to add more
> functionality to the PDM including the ability to download more than 4 days
> worth of data. Time will tell and I shall report back with updates.
>
> Best
> John
>
> Dx 1972
> Type 1
> .
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