PDM Died

I know other people have had it happen, and today was my turn. As usual I held out until the Pod was at 80 hours before changing. I was on my way home, so I pulled over and did the change. Less than 10 seconds after I starting the new Pod, I got the infamous PDM error. I called Insulet Tech Support from my cell, and it was time to do the reset. Of course I didn’t have a paper clip with me (I do now!), so I had to wait until I got home. Tech support told me that the pod would still give me my basal, but I would have to change it out when I reset the PDM.

Long story short, I tried resetting the PDM about 15 times. I called back to tech support after the thrid try, and a new PDM is being sent out to me and I should have it end of day Wednesday.

Fortunately I listened during training, and had obtained a script from my endo for Levomir and syringes. So I went trotting off to the pharmacy before they closed. Now I am back on MDI and having to calculate my boluses manually - what a drag. I am so spoiled!

I would be really nervous about hypos or hypers, except I still have my functioning Dexcom CGM to watch over me during the night.

So, do any of you remember for sure? Do the insulin syringes really hold 100 units of insurlin? I gave myself four units of Humalog with dinner, and it sure seemed like nothing in the syringe. At least the 19 units of Levomir seemed like I was actually “using” the syringe.

Thanks you all for reading my tale of woe and letting me know if I am right about the size of a syringe, or letting me know that I am totally insane (more likely).

You can get 30-unit syringes. I keep one in my PDM case for emergency use.

Thanks for the info. I’ll have to ask my endo for a prescription for them next time I see him. Is there more space between the markings so it is easier to do more precise dosages? My 100 unit syringes are marked in 2 unit increments.

Mine have numbers every 5 units and 1-unit ticks in between.

ugh! How frustrating for you! I hope that the new pdm comes quickly and that you don’t have any further issues along the way :frowning:

I’m pretty sure that syringes come in lots of sizes. Your endo might have some smaller ones that would help (like a bag of 10 instead of a box of 10 bagillion). I think it would be difficult to determine how much insulin I was actually getting when trying to do 4u in a 100u syringe?

Sure is hard to figure out. I really wanted to take 3.85 units.



My Becton Dickinson 329411’s are marked every ten units with ticks/lines every 2 units. Not very precise compared to being able to bolus precisely 3.85 units with the PDM!

BD actually makes them with 1/2 unit markings. We got them when my son was diagnosed and still honeymooning - and needing 1/2 unit with meals sometimes. It did take Rite Aid a couple of fillings of prescriptions to get them right though.

Thanks, nice to know.

Does any one remember, are insulin needs lower with the pump than with MDI? I think that is what I remember. I am being conservative so I don’t go hypo, but I also don’t want to be hyper either. Sigh. So much easier with the pod.

Brad,
I think pumpers usually need less insulin than on MDI. I agree the 2 unit increments is not good to work with. I use 50 unit syringes with 1 unit increments and I can easily dose within half a unit and even a quarter unit (sort of).

You should be able to get 10 syringes without a prescription - my inlaws were able to get ones with .5 units when we screwed up packing the diabetes bag one day (before pod).

Hi Brad,

Was the failed PDM a new model PDM, or the older version? I was just wondering if the new PDMs are more reliable than the old ones. Does anybody have some comparison data?

Cheers,
Gil

I never knew that.

It is a new one. That is only one I have had.

Yea, the replacement came about 1:00 PM. I’m back on the pod and very happy.