Hey everyone, my Omnipod set-up is on its way! There is one thing I wanted to ask you about: beeps and noises and alarms. I gather that when a pod is bad it lets you know right away with an awful racket. Does that typically happen when you’re getting it ready to wear? What other beeps and noises does the system make? I teach college English, I could probably handle a subtle beep but a really loud alarm could be awkward during class. Also I’m going on the job market later this year and I’m kind of paranoid that a pod might “go off” in the middle of an interview!
~Karen
Hey back @ you. The pod makes a “click” when it delivers your basal. I got all hung up with checking to see if it made that sound at the same time every hour…it does. This is so quiet that the only time that you’ll probably hear it at all is when there’s total silence. It will double beep when you fill a pod with insulin. This is a confirmation that you’ll want to hear. There is a beep that you can choose to silence when it delivers a bolus. There are reminder beeps that tell you that you’ve suspended insulin delivery…a loud beep that you can set as a reminder that it’s __ hrs before time to switch out a pod. There’s an auto shut off reminder…4 loud beeps when it hasn’t “heard” from you requesting a bolus for several hours (not sure exactly how many hrs right now). This is a safety feature which helps by not delivering insulin when you might be low. Then there are those extremely loud screeching alarms when there’s a malfunction of some sort. I think that;s it. Many of these alarms and beeps can be either shut off or adusted so that the only noise that you’ll hear during class are the safety/warnings that you really need to be aware of.
Great response Janice. Karen you may consider starting the pod on the weekend so you will be familiar with the normal sounds. A few days ago I changed my daughter’s pod and we were both saying, “what is that?” Pod had all the same beeps, insulin delivery clicks, but they were different. The sounds were much louder than normal. I called Insulet and they did not believe there was a problem with the pod sounding different. My daughter’s blood sugar went as high as 308 and when her blood sugar came down to 230 with no active insulin, I corrected her. I gave her .50 u and the maximum she should drop is 100 points. Her blood sugar dropped 164 points and she was 66. I think there was something wrong with the pod. I changed the pod and now all sounds are good.
I wish you well with your pod experience. My daughter loves her pod. Happy pumping.
Y’know, I don’t find the beeps - even the occlusion screech which I just had 2 min ago - all that loud. Yes, when you’re in a quiet room, you definitely hear them. But if you’re in an even moderately loud place, I’ve often not heard them at all. I got an occlusion in a middle Eastern restaurant once, a not-overly-loud nor super-quiet place, and didn’t hear it until we left the restaurant and I got in the car. Even walking to the car, talking at a normal voice with my husband, I didn’t hear it. And I’m usually super sensitive to high-pitched noises.
That said, working at my desk, I hear all the various noises and clicks. You get used to them pretty fast, and get to know what they’re for. “Oh, my temp basal is still on.” “Hmm, must be low on insulin” and “Geez it’s still clicking, how long does it take to deliver 3 measly units?!?”
I actually had 3 pods in a row that sounded a little “musical”. I actually liked the sound. I thought that perhaps Insulet had changed the sounds of the pods. They had not. By the way, your PDM will tell you what the alarms are about.
Mine made a mean noise to me, like a deeper noisier version. Pump works fine though, but scared me.
When the pod fails for any reason, it makes a loud, continuous beep. I had two of them go bad at the office. The first one didn’t stop wnen I turned the pod off with the PDM. I had to stick something sharp through the casing and make it stop that way. The second time, even that didn’t work and I had to put it in the freezer. If you can turn off the screech with the handheld, you could wait a bit to change the pod. But if you can’t turn it off, you’ll need to do a bit of fiddling.
The last pod I had sounded a little flatter than the other ones. The current sounds pretty normal.
I sometimes experience high BG after a pod change. I bolus for the high and it seems to bring me back to normal. If it doesn’t, there’s something wrong and you should change the pod.
On the whole, it’s a great little gadget and it is pretty easy to use and wear. Good luck!
I have had the Pod for almost a year since I started in August of 2009. I also teach college English, and in a full year of teaching I only had one Pod go off during class. I had an occlusion, so it was a high-pitched beeeeep that only the first few rows of students heard.
You have the benefit of teaching adults, so I would not hesitate at all to tell them that you are a diabetic and that you have an insulin Pod that delivers your medication. This fall I intend to make sure that I am wearing my Pod on my upper arm so I can actually show the students. I let them know that generally I do not have any issues in class, but if the alarm will go off for any reason, I need to go to my office for a moment to take care of it. Adults are very understanding, and I use this the first day of class to say, “…and if any of you have health issues that I should be aware of, please let me know after class today.” My “confession” usually makes telling me about health issues that I SHOULD know about much easier for students. Additionally, my nursing students are generally fascinated with it and want to know more. I don’t make a big deal about my medical needs, but I am honest about it, and students are happy that I respect them enough to be honest with them.
When my Pod went off in class, I said, “Excuse me, folks. My insulin Pod is sounding off. I will be right back.” I went to my office (across the hall, thankfully) and pushed the buttons to turn the alarm off and to deactivate it. Since I only had about 10 minutes of class left, I returned and finished the class before I changed the Pod. Take my advice: always carry a spare Pod with you, and always have a secondary back-up safely nestled in your desk drawer. I was able to change the Pod and go on with the rest of my teaching schedule that day.
You cannot control totally what might happen to any given Pod. Just follow the directions for filling it, and if it is going to go “bad” it will let you know then. The Pod does, as others have said, “click” when delivering insulin, but that is so soft that if I don’t listen for it, I do not hear it. It beeps when the bolus is done, but again, people don’t notice.
I would not worry about the job interview. If it were to go off, just explain what is happening. If someone will not hire you for that reason, you would not want to work for that person anyway!
I’m the same as you… especially if I am sleeping on top of the pod, It usually takes me a couple min. or so to wake up from all the screeching…I remember once, waking up and thinking something was going on in the street outside my apartment, I realized after I got up(and out from under the covers) that it was my pod!
The only time it could be a problem would be if you misplace your PDM. I lost my PDM in the airport in Malaysia and they reported it as a bomb to security because of all the alarms and screeching once they found it! Meanwhile, my pod (on the other side of the world) was screaming… pretty rare situation though.
best of luck!
I found this strand interesting but wondered if anyone notices the sound differences when you load the pod with insulin and the pdm pings a response. To me this is interesting because of the range of sharps and flats it seems to make- no, i am not at all musical- flunked piano lessons!
Thank you for this info - I am on day one of podding and my basal is suspended until the Lantus is done with me - I keep hearing this tiny “beep” about every hour or so, that’s what it’s telling me!