Opinions on Ping & One Touch

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
#1

I’m another one of the new group members, with probably a dozen questions that everyone has seen before, so please bear with me. I’ve recently switched to use the Animas Ping which came with the One Touch Ultra meter.

This morning my husband woke me because he sensed I was low, and told me to test. I did so, but in my state of confusion, and the fact that the meter seemingly wanted me to make a decision (of which I apparently was not capable of doing at the time), ended up bolusing 2.1 units … which was my BG reading at the time (2.1 mmols=38 mg).

But my real question is, is there a way to stop this meter and/or pump to NOT let me bolus. I don’t want to go so far as to use the lock feature for the entire pump. But I’m sure that it is NEVER appropriate to bolus given the reading. In such cases, my Minimed 512, bought in 2001, would just block me, tell me deal with it and go eat something (something to that effect :wink: The One Touch Ultra … which I find hard to read at the best of times, was almost illegible, but somehow I managed to get into the wrong place. Given the fact that I am normally somewhat of a techno geek, I in effect became a slave to the meter. I apparently was driven to go further, trying to make decisions, like giving me access to the “EZ” menus, where I had no business being. As a result, I was put in a more dangerous situation than I was already in.

I had been using the MM512 until just recently, and decided to upgrade to a meter that would hopefully give me more independence and flexibility.

This is the biggest issue that I’ve had with this thing. I’ve had other issues too, but I think this is one of safety. Maybe it’s a setting?

So, am I then only one? That’s ok if I am… I’m just wondering what others’ experiences are with this pump and/or meter.

#2

Jamie,

Thanks for writing about this. When I’m low I’m capable of doing all kinds of unexplainable things.

If I understand you correctly, you now use an Animas One Touch Ping insulin pump. Is your pump paired with a One Touch Ping glucose test meter remote or the One Touch Ultra? Or are they the same thing, just two different names?

Here’s my take on the One Touch Ping meter remote process: I just reviewed the One Touch Ping meter rmote sequence for delivering a “BG Bolus.” Once the meter displays a BG number, if you want to deliver a BG bolus then you have to push the “Bolus” selection then the “ezBG” choice. The next screen displays a bolus calculation using your most recent BG along with any Insulin on Board (IOB). The pump displays any recommended bolus amount. The user must then increment (using the arrow keys) from 0.00 to the desired amount. Finally the user must push a button to request delivery of that amount.

I think that this long sequence of button pushing would discourage delivery of insulin to someone who is low. There are many points in the process to bail out.

I think once you gain more experience with the system, your habits will prevent you from going down this road again. I can’t think of any feature that will prevent you from doing what you did. Maybe you could use a different meter when you’re low.

As far as making the meter screen easier to read, I often turn on the backlight.

Good luck. You didn’t say in your post but I’m guessing that you live in Canada due to your reference to mmols. I’m curious if Animas is now pairing their Ping pump with an Ultra meter in Canada.

#3

Yes, I am indeed in Canada. I use the Animas Ping pump and the One Touch Ping meter, which I believe is at least similar to the Ultrasmart (not the ultra), and they are paired.

Apparently the lengthy button pushing didn’t seem to discourage me at all when I’m low, other than the fact I can’t seem to see what I want. In fact the options of the menus seem to make it more of a challenge to “succeed” in whatever I was doing. I did manage to bolus, which I found later in the history when I was more with it. This is of particular concern for my husband who is blind, and can’t necessarily get the info out of me when I’m low, and can’t see what an idiot I’m being lol

The MM pump would just tell me to move on… allow testing only, and block me from further menus until I was 70 mg or above.

So I think it still remains my challenge.

#4

Having to enter the units manually after the bolus wizard calculates is a potential problem. I didn’t like that extra step and that’s one of the reasons I chose a MM pump instead… but Animas has a good pump, more of a personal preference for me. On a MM pump you’d end up with a warning and then a recommendation of 0 units which if you click through will do nothing.

One thing I can appreciate is that if you have a number displayed to you and you’re incoherent, you might accidentally transcribe that into the bolus entry. On the MM x22 the bolus wizard displays the summary and has BG right next to food bolus amount… in mmol these are similar numbers and hence can be confused.

I suspect the americans wouldn’t have this problem with either since the insulin units are so much lower than BG, even in an incoherent state it’s hard to confuse 30’s or 40’s with 2.4, but in mmol’s yes it’s almost too similar. Never thought I’d say this, but I think the american choice of BG units is safer.

  • Jeff
#5

would it be worthwhile discussing this with your pump trainer as well ( if you have one available to you ) or call Animas ?

#6

I will absolutely be calling my educator on Monday. Can’t do much about it on the weekend though. I talked to Animas this morning as I was going through it, other than disconnecting my tubing, there didn’t seem to be much else to offer. I’m wondering if this is the right pump for me. I’ll be exploring that possibility and options available to me with the educator. Maybe she has some answers/suggestions too? (hope so)

#7

You know, that did occur to me too, that you just can’t confuse a 40 for a bolus amount, which even if you didn, it would give you a warning and not allow you to exceed the max bolus too. And that’s exactly what happened this morning. This is where my confusion lay in part… that and trying to sort through the multitudes of menus. I know, I didn’t need to do that, but seems I did. I liked the fact that my MM didn’t let me do anything too stupid… maybe I just need that assurance that protects me from myself?

#8

Jamie,

I think that the software designers must balance safety with everyday utility. Once you spend more time with the Ping (or any pump, for that matter) the force of habit will help you make the right choice. When you’re low all you need from the Ping meter is to see the number. Your very next, and only move, is to eat some fast acting carbs.

Since you are new to this pump and meter it’s understandable that you’re trying to learn as much as possible as soon as you can.

My complaints with the meter remote is that it scrolls way too fast. If I just “single click” the process seems to take forever. For times when you’re not low, screening up the desired bolus and finally hitting the OK button to deliver seems to take too long with too many “safety steps” built in.

If you stick with this pump I believe this will soon become a non-issue to you.

#9

That is quite possibly true, and I don’t want to be a total negative nellie. This is actually the second pump in a month - the first one refused to communicate with the computer, which was a bit of a disappointment too. Hopefully this one will do that better.

I agree totally with the scrolling - I’ve pressed too long and ended up with 100 carbs, and then down again, equally fast to 0 before I knew it. All the confirmations it seems to require are bothersome too, like just DO it for goodness sake lol. I guess I have the beginning of “old” eyes, and have difficulty reading the remote in certain low lighting, even with the backlight - one of the reasons I got the ping because of the bright display, and I didn’t expect such a dull display with the meter.

Just keeping a positive outlook with this pump is difficult for me right now. My last pump (the MM) was a basic one… didn’t do data uploads, but it was always clear about what it would and would not let me do, and it’s something I didn’t expect to be a problem for me.

I’m going to continue searching for the positives though, and give it some more time, but will need to explore ways to harness it into submission lol