I’m at 2 weeks with my new Ping and I love it; I wonder if I’ll still learn new things at 2 months? 2 years?
Anyway, I set the “Auto Off” function to alarm me if I hadn’t “pushed any button” in 12 hours as I live alone. I don’t know if it would actually awaken me if I were semi-comotose. I was dreaming my friend Cheryl called me when I was still asleep and said “Is this area code 206?” She meant to call her mother in Michigan (it would be interesting if 206 actually were the area code there!).
Anyway…I did finally wake up and hear the alarm. It was 6:50 AM and 6:50PM was around the time I bolused for dinner the previous night. But I’d also checked my blood sugar with the meter remote shortly after 11PM. Doesn’t that count as “pushing any button”? If not, then I will discontinue the alarm as I like to sleep!
I don’t use the remote but I would think that would not count. I have also been woken up by that alarm. I now try to just push a button before going to bed - you don’t have to bolus but just play with some buttons!
Oh that’s right…when I test, I’m not pushing any buttons…duh! It probably would work if I just clicked “On” rather than just turning it on by sticking in the test strip?
Just out of curiosity why don’t you use the remote? That was actually the thing I liked most about the Ping!
I do use the remote some to bolus from & like the food database. I prefer my Aviva meter. The One Touch strips run about 10 points higher for me. I only used the 10 they give you with the pump so I didn’t really give it a fair run, but …
I’m starting to lean towards not using the auto off. I’m not sure if it would wake me from a comotose state too well and if I hadn’t pressed a button in 24 hours it might mean it’s too late anyway. I’ll have to think about this one some more. Thanks for the input
But if you were close to comatose or comatose and did not respond to the alarm then the pump would shut off automatically possibly bringing you out of that life threatining low (just FYI- I choose to turn the Auto Off feature off as I do not live alone). Perhaps you could just set it to 16-20 hours so it is there if you need it but less likely to be bothersome.
Thanks, MossDog; I knew I wanted to think about it some more before I decided to discontinue the safety feature!
My trainer didtell me the part about the pump shutting off delivery if I didn’t respond and I think it had already done so this morning as it asked me to re-prime. Duh! That makes a lot of sense and as I do live alone I think I’ll keep the feature and just choose whether to set it for 16-20 as you say or just be sure and “hit a button” before bed so I don’t get awakened. Thanks much for your comment, it was very helpful.
Glad to help. It was a tough decision for me as well. On the one hand it is great to have the safety feature. On the other hand if it is a case of you just over sleeping and the alarm not waking you (the alarms NEVER wake me) the pump could shut off which could be a risk on the other side with hyperglycemia/DKA.
My bad habits were the ultimate decider for me. I tend to not eat breakfast and will sometimes skip lunch so there is real good possibility I will not touch a button if my blood sugar is good during the day. On the bright side my bad habits make it so I can test my basal rates frequently
I don’t have that factor at least, just about anything can wake me up, until it becomes a regular in my life. (My cat moves around and I don’t wake up, train whistles blow all night). I did have to dream an alternate explanation for the noise before I reluctanly woke up, but I woke up.
Yes, it sounds like you would be getting alarmed a lot unless you got into the random button pushing habit before bed! I’m pretty comfortable living alone; I figured I’d be 80 before I considered that a risk factor…sigh.
Touching a button on the Meter Remote doesn’t count. . . You have to touch a button on the pump itself. Just wake up the screen with the OK button before you go to bed . . . Use the pump as a night light like I do!
I had the same issue and so, just got into the habit of pushing a button on the pump (not the meter) each night as I go to bed. I don’t usually (never) sleep 12 hours :).
I just looked it up in the manual and it says “There were no buttons presses on your pump or meter remote within the allowable Auto-off time limit.” If it were just the pump mine would always be going off as I do all the functions with the remote!
No me neither, Colleen! I had bolused (with the remote) for dinner at 7 and then I did take my blood sugar at bedtime but just stuck the strip in so I didn’t “push any buttons”. So it was 7AM when it woke me up (12 hours since I’d pushed a button). I’m going to just get in the habit of pushing “on” on my meter when I go to take my nightime blood sugar so that will count for me! Just one of many lessons to come for me. All this new learning will definitely prevent me from getting Alzheimers!
I’m 19 months into my Animas 2020 (Ping without remote or monitor - Ping isn’t available in Australia) and I still learn new stuff from time to time, despite super-intensive reading and learning in the beginning. So yes, you probably will too.
It’s a safety check. If you haven’t pushed a button in the pre-set time, it shuts off and stops the insulin. That way, if you were in trouble, you wouldn’t continue to get insulin.
