Error....doom doom doooooom

Nothing shakes up a sunday night quite like some near death experiences eh? Okay, so maybe “near death” is a wee bit of an exaggeration…but definitely a life-threatening situation. Shall I explain?

so tonight whilst cooking a late dinner, I felt my pump vibrate, I ignored it at first because I thought it was just letting me know that it had finished bolusing….WRONG…oh lord was I wrong, about two minutes later it starts alarming and screaming about like I had never heard before. “BUTTON ERROR” was displayed and none of the buttons worked. I tried removing the battery, replacing it with a new one- nada. Then i called minimed. I was on hold, waiting for a live human being to pick up their “24 hour helpline” for an hour and six minutes!! completely unacceptable. In the meantime I called my new endo (whom I hafta say is completely useless. she probably gave me some of the worst and contradictory advice ever, needless to say I am finding a new endo Asap!), and then I called this woman who runs a pumper support group (that im going to on Tuesday-YAY!)…she was extreeeemly helpful, especially because I was slightly (okay, ALOT) freaking out cause I couldn’t get the damn alarm to shut up, and besides I had just given a dual wave bolus and was about to eat dinner and I had no idea how much insulin had actually gotten out of my pump before it went psycho ( I got most of it…i was .6 units shy when it suspended itself)…anyways with her help I calmed down. The pump wound up kicking itself back into a normal mode after 40 or so minutes. wtf pump?! I FINALLY got through to minimed’s helpline, and ordered a replacement pump which should be arriving Tuesday morning. Until then I just need to monitor my pump and my BG closely. Right now it is fairly high- around 250… I’m praying it doesn’t go higher and i really hope I don’t have to go back onto shots. I’m so rusty with that and the math! ugh. Minimed wasn’t too thrilled with my request for a new pump…and they gave me some lame excuse that my body’s static electricity was probably the cause for the error message. Maybe its just me but i find that hard to believe.

I’ve gotta admit I am more then a little annoyed/disappointed with my pump, “Pumpetta”…she doesn’t behave very nicely. Since Ive been on her, I’ve gotten 2 ‘ No Delivery’ warnings, ended up in the ER once and had to get fluids via IV and now this ‘button error’ alarm. I dont get it- we make high tech cell phones that can do practically everything besides get you out of debt, and yet they cant develop a better pump? I mean the thing looks like a beeper from 1995 and has failures all the time. Shouldn’t a life-saving technology be updated? an LCD screen maybe? sensor technology that comes standard? Fewer faults? waterproof?! seems like common sense to me to make such advancements but I guess the funding isn’t there maybe. who knows.

either way tonight has been extremely stressing. I’m tempted to have some tea to relax me…but then again tea tends to elevate my blood sugar. UGH…the balancing act that is this disease is ever so tiring.

at least music has no carbs! hah

current listening to Dark Tranquillity’s -’Nothing to No one’

I have had the dreaded Button Error message twice in the 6 years I have usef MIimed Paradigm pumps, I was always sent a new pump in a day or two, One of thesre pumps stayed dysfunctional and would not return to insulin delivery, and I had to go back to Lantus and MDI for 2 days, recommended by the Miimed phone rep and my doctor until the new one came in. I suggest that you not use your pump until you get a new one. Do you remember your pre-pump basals and insulin sensitivity and carb ratios? I actually had them eritten down from the pump and for non-pumping experiences like this. The pump is a mechanical devise and it can fail,But I havr found ther MM models to be reliiable, It;s just when they fail, it is usually for me ,teon ther weekend and before a meal when I am starving, Hope eveything works out for you. I do not know Why the MM pmps are prone to that BUTTON ERROR thingee.

God Bless,
Brunetta
Yhe No delivery messages I directly attribute to Lot 8 infudion sets. have not had a one since I started on Lot 2’s and Sure-T; 2 weeks ago. I beleive that more than 2% were defective.

I know Jim- wtf indeed!! lol. I did a little googling and apparently a “button error” is not all that uncommon! The minimed people said it can randomly happen (not for the usual reason, if you depress a button for more than 3 minutes) if you get the pump too hot, sweat on it, or if it has stress cracks and moisture seeps in. But I am pretty sure none of that has happened to my pump! but alas, yes it IS just a machine and it can stop working for a number of mechanical reasons. Sometimes that just gives me overwhelming anxiety but I have to remind myself that my pump is there to ease my worries not add more! hehe :stuck_out_tongue:

Yep pumped failed Sunday night- thank goodness for 24 hour pharmacies! My doc called in a prescription for needle tips (I use the pens) but thankfully my pump seems to be back in working order today so no shots for me! minor celebration…I will be receiving my replacement refurbished pump tomorrow…I’m kinda excited…my lil pumps been scratched up a lot haha.

I used to take emergency supplies with me everywhere but I stopped since I hadn’t had any issues- now I only take backup supplies if I am going out somewhere new/far/traveling where I wont have access to changing my set easily or something like that.

And thanksBrunetta for your comment. it is definitely important for all pumpers to have their rates & ratios written down just for safe keeping as well as good records…

My no deliveries I had back in hmm…maybe December? and they were do to my quick-sets getting bent and not entering my skin at all! After 2 no deliveries and numerous blood back-flows, I decided to quit using quick-sets and I switched over to the silhouette sets. I Love them and haven’t had any problems since!