PDM flashing low (insulin, not battery)

When the PDM flashes “low” what does that mean? How much is left? Does it alert you right away when it’s empty or just when you can get a status?

when it is empty it will make an annoying sound until you acknowledge it on the pdm and say change pod now

My PDM always flashes “low” once it gets below 5 units of insulin. I have found that after it starts flashing “low” I can usually still dose about 7 units before it starts screaming. It will start yelling at you the moment it thinks it’s out of insulin whether your PDM is nearby or not. I have found that the 5 units is accurate and even though I can still dose 7 units my body reacts to it like 5 units. I suggest changing it out before it starts screaming at you for this reason. I think it keeps going a couple units before realizing it’s out. That might just be me though.

Since the insulin level sensor is in the pod, I’m pretty sure it comes when the PDM gets status from the pod.
When you see this, you’d better change ASAP. They probably built in a small margin but it’s not likely enough to cover an entire meal’s bolus or a lengthy basal period.

I’d bet the user guide has more to say about it, too.

My PDM alerts me that insulin is low AS SOON as the insulin reaches that level. You will/have set your PDM to alarm you when your insulin level reaches a certain number of units. I set mine to 10 units. Therefore, if you haven’t bolused for a while, and your PDM starts to beep, saying that insulin is “LOW”… you just reached a low amount of insulin (whatever you set it to). Your PDM will alarm you while you are bolusing if you cross that LOW point. For example, if I have 12 units of insulin… and i’m bolusing for 3.8 units… it’ll alarm me as soon as the reservoir only has 10 units. Hope that helps!

I have mine set to alarm me when I cross 40 units, at that point the alarm alerts me that I’ll need to change it after another 2ish meals. The number indicating how much insulin is left continues until it’s at 6 though. As soon at it’s at 5 that number goes away and it just starts flashing “low” where the number was. These are very different indications. As far as I know there’s no way to change when it starts flashing “low” but I do change the low alert based on my activities (don’t want it going off while sleeping, at a meeting, etc.).

It flashes that when it reaches below 5 units of insulin.

From my experience, I would say that the PDM is accurate +/- 3 units. I have bolused more than 5 units after the LOW sign has begun showing and I have needed let’s say 10 units for a meal and the PDM said I had 12 units left. I ran out during the bolus and had to guess at what I missed.