First, I want to say I’m not trying to bash Animas. I love my son’s pump and I think their customer service is excellent.
But, in the 16 months that my son has been on the pump, we have gotten 6 different pumps. In all fairness, only one pump died completly making us have to go back to injections for a day. The rest of the pumps kept alarming. If you receive 3 alarms in a 30 days period, they replace the pump.
We just got his newest pump on 06/30. This time it was because his cartridge would not load correctly. When I did a site change and loaded the cartridge, it would not load all the way to the bottom of the cartridge, causing me to have to prime for a LONG time before any insulin would come out. (Riley only uses about 10 units of insulin a day, so I only put about 75 units in the cartridge)
Anyway, his new pump is now doing the exact same thing. The cartridge does not want to load correctly. Has this ever happened to any of you?
Also, my son wears his pump pretty much all the time. He wears it swimming and in the bath. It just works better for him when his basals are not interrupted. Does anyone else wear theirs in the water that much? I’m just wondering if this could be causing the problems.
Sometimes i have to prime along time too - but find that if i manually prime(push the insulin thru the tubing prior to loading the cartridge) this seems to cut down on that- you could try that but it may not help in your situation.
I jumped in the pool with my animas pump and a seal was loose and the whole thing crashed and burned - LCD went completely out - then blinked for the next 2 days -
I would think that you would notice water damage inside if that was the culprit.–but that is just a guess. I dont take mine in the water ever anymore - but i dont have the issues with basal interuptions either. for an hour out i take that hours basal in a bolus - this seems to work pretty good for me, and may be an option for you to try. I highly recommend closing off your infusion set at the site with the ‘plug’ that comes in the infusion set box - i have found that not doing this causes me lots of trouble after reconnecting. (high BS, shortens infusion site life)
I have an IR1200. They have replaced it about 4 times over the two and a half years I’ve had it, for various glitches. Not the one you describe, the loading cartridge step has always worked fine for me. From what you wrote, it doesn’t sound like a water issue. I’d ask for another replacement. The pump I currently have has worked fine for over a year. I don’t mind that they have kinks to work out of their systems, since they are always very responsive and I get my new pump the next day. Beats the pants of the Minimed customer service, in my experience. I know it’s frustrating, though, when the same error keeps repeating. Maybe you happened to get two pumps from the same bad batch?
I’ve had my Animas 1250 a little over one year. I think the customer service is outstanding. I have had my pump replaced once because of “no delivery” alarms going off 3 times in August 2006. When they replaced my pump, the new one arrived in just under 24 hours. Since then, everything has been fine. I don’t wear mine in the water. I disconnected to shower or swim.
I have been using an IR1250 pump for about 10 months now. I have had troubles with the loading step as you describe and believe I can trace them to one detail. It has to do with being sure to tighten the black rubber cap that secures the cartridge into the pump very firmly. Don’t over-crank it, but be very firm. I’m not sure why this helps, but it seems to. Also, if the cartridge does not load to the point where the pump shows the correct amount of insulin prior to priming, all it has meant for me is that priming takes longer since it is during the priming stage that the pump drive rod actually engages with the cartridge plunger, and then finally begins moving insulin through the tubing to complete the priming. Hope this helps.
I have had my Animas pump go out due to water. I don’t wear it in the water much at all, but didn’t check it carefully when I did go in a lake. I believe it had a crack in it before I went into the water. This was while I was on vacation, so was not a fun experience at all. Because of that experience, I always take it off when I go swimming, just to be sure. Other than that, I have never had any strange alarms in the almost 5 years I’ve been wearing it. I wore Minimed before, and had it go out a couple times.
I’ve been using an Animas 2020 since October 2007. No problems so far. I prime the infusion set manually, so that has not been an issue for me. I encounter problems during reservoir changes if I try to fill too much insulin i.e. anything above 190 units, as compared to the usual 186 to 188 units.
I have an animas pump too and they have replaced mine several times. It is never a big deal though, I always have lantus on hand for emergencies and their customer service is great! I do not wear mine all the time, I take it off for swimming on the ocean or lake (only wear it in a pool where I could find it if it came out) and I take it off for shower and exercise. I do not think that his wearing it in the water is the problem. I know the endo here put all children on the animas b/c of their customer service and the durability of their pumps, also the locking feature to lock the screan to prevent overdose in young children.
Since you have not had the pump that long, I would keep at it, give it another chance. It will get better
