Quite true! Definately put an empty cartridge in it - these things do not like to be empty, or have no cartridge in them. They scream bloody murder, and often!
The omnipod is the beast thing that I have ever used .Been on it for over a year.
Good luck .
My rep was very vague and we didn’t talk about other pumps, so it is totally possible that Animas will be first. It sounds like you have better info than me 
My endo want me on both, but until CGMs are integrated or covered by BCBS, just the pump for me.
BCBS does cover them - you need to be persistent and demonstrate medical necessity
Can you get the continuous glucose monitor with it? Will the insurance cover that?
How about Animas because you can change the sound of the alarms on it?
I love my OmniPod. I would not consider a tethered pump. Insulet states that once a diabetic has cut a hole into his pocket he does no longer mind tethering. Insulet recruits most customers from the MDI pool, not from the tethered pump pool. My favorite phrase from one of Sheryl Crow’s songs is:
It’s not having what you want
It’s wanting what you’ve got
This applies to pumps too. It perfectly explains why a lot of pump users are happy (or unhappy) regardless of their pump choice. All pumps work fine.
The only pump right now that directly interacts with the CGMS is the Medtronic one. Insurance coverage is a whole different story, and will vary on a case-by-case basis dependant on whether your insurance provider recognizes the technology, whether you have coverage for it, and then whether or not they deem you require it.
Animas is working to get the Dexcom integrated with the Ping, the latest is hopefully the end of this year (2011).
Well… this is one thing that while is possible, I personally can’t stand. I set most of the alarms to vibrate so that I don’t have to listen to it. The only ones left on high volume are the really important ones.
I didn’t really need it playing beethoven everytime I bolused… 
I have a 12 year old son who is a Type 1 just 9 months post-diagnosis. We did the research on pumps, looked at what was important to us, and came-up with a hands-down vote for the PING. We’ve been using it for the last 4 months and he LOVES it. I’ll share our thoughts with you:
1). The PING is completely waterproof. You can swim with it (and we have… repeatedly). They actually demo it with the pump in a fishbowl and the remote (which is not waterproof) on the next table. HEHEHEH.
2). The meter/remote communicates wirelessly with the pump. (Think here: It’s 2AM, your child is sleeping, you’ve just gotten a BG from an alternate site and he/she didn’t wake-up. GOOD. But you’ve got a 250 BG… and you’ve gotta correct for this. Do you want to wake him/her rooting around for the pump, or would you rather do your bolus from halfway across the room without interrupting their sleep? For me, this alone was a huge selling point).
3). A VERY bright and well-contrasted display. And the menus (to me!) make good sense.
4). The pump uses any standard Luer-lock infusion set. You’re not wed to any single manufacturer. You want a 90 degree? A 30 degree? PTFE? Steel? A custom length? It’s all out there, and the competition keeps them reasonable-ish with regards to price.
5). Integrated CGM (that apparently works pretty well, technology by Dexcom) coming in the new release.
6). A 0.025 u/hr basal increment rate. For fine-tuning on low-body-weight / high-sensitivity kids, this can be very useful.
7). Uber-cool colors and skins. This isn’t something I would have let influence me, but once I saw it from my sons point of view, this silly detail took-on a new importance. It mattered to him, so it went into the mix.
If I had to do it over again, I’d definitely keep the PING, but having said this, understand the MiniMed pump would be a very close second place for us. I really liked the MM, but the lack of a wireless remote and lack of true waterproofing was an issue.
The pump we definitely ruled-out was the Omnipod. No flame here (because I have a friend who swears by it and has a 6.0 A1C to back it up), but it just didn’t work for us. If you lose the PDA, it’s a stiff bill to replace. And if you’re talking about a juvenile application here, you’ll have a challenge getting it hidden under clothes. (My son took one look at it and said “no way Dad, I’m not wearing that wart!”. By contrast he simply stuffs the PING in a pocket and he’s in “stealth mode”).
So for what it’s worth, we chose the Animas PING. The tech support has been uniformly excellent and the quality of the product is just incredible. (But YMMV, as others report some fairly major issues with the Animas support, so go figure!).
A parting thought for you: DEFINITELY get your pump ahead of time, cut the needle off an infusion set, and do a full-blown “dry run” of at least a week on yourself. Get to know the screens and force yourself to live with it. No cheating. “Bolus” for all your meals, test your BGs for real, etc. Run it through all the paces. Once you can do this blindfolded, in the dark, upside down, underwater, shackled to the Kraaken and punch drunk, then you can turn it loose for a “dry run” with your child. This may seem like silly overkill but honestly it gives you the ability to troubleshoot problems remotely when the school nurse calls you with some wierd alarm.
Whatever pump you choose, if your experience is like ours, you’ll never go back to an MDI-based therapy! I think any of them can be made to work well. Its strictly a matter of finding one that meets your lifestyle. You will find the freedom of discreetly bolusing a welcome change, and you won’t find yourself cringing for your child every time he has to stick himself with a needle.
Roark
Hmmm, my endo said that she hasn’t had success with proving medical necessity for BCBS. I will push her again when I see her next week. Thanks!
from a medical biller who had to look over the letters time to time. The success is to write why the need for the pump is medically necessary. Reasons like to lower the A1C and to have your Blood Glucose to come down from what your average is to what is normal range for a healthier life and to decrease the insulin that can be costly if you do have to take more. Also to provide documentation of your sugar levels even the CGM documentation to show that MDI is not working well and a pump will work better for your levels.
Hope that helps
Excercise was my big thing. I was a wierd case (see my page, I wrote the story there…) but started working out a lot. I went from R/N to a pump but I just went throught the doc to minimed who did the work. I don’t recall calling BCBS at all. It was very smooth sailing. Except for the log. I hate logs.
Check with dexcom - they should be able to help - I hear that the changes at BCBS are recent
“BCBS” doesn’t ‘change’ things, the people they do business with, your employers, select benefit levels in conjunction with the BCBS marketing department who work with whatever regulators the Tea Partiers let off the leash. BCBS will sell them whatever benefit level an employer chooses for their employees.
Totally agree! We’re on the same page with the pump, although the meter with the black and white screen is a little clunky its definately convenient. I’m hoping that the new model of the meter (available here in Canada) will function cleaner.
Thats a great idea about wearing it myself before putting it on my son.!
Tell her to get descriptive. That is what mine had to do. The more detail the better.
Hi everyone, I’m still confused on one thing here.
Are CGM’s available for both Ping and MM? Does integrated mean that you would not need to enter your numbers into your pump to bolus? If so, Is MM the only pump that has an integrated system?
Thank you all for providing this information. I was diagnosed with T1 about 3 months ago and this thread has been very helpful so far.
mm has an integrated CGM but i found it uncomfortable, complicated and difficult to read. Animus uses a seperate CGM from Dexcom which means u need to carry a seperate receiver about the size of a cell phone or pager. I prefer the dexcom much and have been using for about 3 weeks. animus is about a year away from integration but IMHO well worth the wait - they will have an upgrade program so u can go ahead and get started now. But ask both companies for a demo and make your own mind up. They should let you try it for a week no charge