I hear you, Sarah. I have been trying to clear up a bill I don’t owe for a box of infusion sets I never ordered and returned. Still calling weekly and asking for an update 7 months later and still receiving invoices. I’m with Omnipod now and shouldn’t have to still be fighting Animas about infusion sets they sent me, charged me for, etc. My insurance retracted their portion of the payment (because they didn’t owe it since I returned the product) and now Animas says I owe the 90% that the insurance company took back, too! I’m so frustrated with dealing with that. I wish I could just get it settled. (And please, don’t hang yourself. Don’t give billing departments the satisfaction.)
Sometimes it seems like diabetes is 10% of the problem and dealing with incorrect medical bills is 90% of the problem once we have reached an age where we pay our own bills. For awhile I had 2 insurances. You would not believe the billing errors when I had 2 and was not yet at an age where the billers would expect that. Every procedure came with a battle. I guess no one wants to hire someone who can actually keep clean records eventhough plenty of people are out of work and plenty of capable people are probably available. But I have to say the companies that are make pumps are the worst in this area because a portion of a pump is a lot higher than a portion of a lab draw. I feel like they go after every penny and they are big, rich companies. So we have to fight to make sure we do not get forced into paying more. Let the community know if you run into problems with Omnipod. If not then maybe eight years later I will get one of those. They seems harder to hide though. It really ruins the rest of the day to get an invoice like that. Just makes one want to smash things. If your bill is under a certain amount maybe you could try small claims court.
For the people who have moved to the omni pod pump… can you give me you pro and con’s? I think I would love it ; but my main concern is that I am very self conscious, and think that it would be much more noticeable than my current insulin pump (medtronic) that I wear in my bra… I love to hide my pump. It makes me feel more comfortable. thanks and let me know. amy
I love my Omnipod. I wear it around my waist mostly. It is not really that noticeable. Most people will never know unless you tell them. :0)
Hi Everyone I have a pumping question - Madison has a MiniMed 722 - they offered us a CareLink usb device however the teacher informed me that it can only be used with a PC and no Mac. I know there are some Mac users here, how do you upload your pump #'s?
Hi Cristina -
You should definitely accept the carelink USB! I have a mac, and although you do need access to windows to upload from the pump, you can then access the site analyze data and create reports from the mac side, with a little tweaking…
I run windows via boot camp on the mac, and upload every week or so, but there are many options. The details can be found on a few earlier threads, I’ll post the links if I can find them…
Hey Everyone.
So Im scheduled to start pumping this week. I have the MiniMed Paradigm, Ive been on Saline to get the hang of things…lots to learn, but I’m excited.
I read in the forums about some Horror stories, of pumps malfunctioning, emptying the whole cartridge at once, even read that some have died from this…Needless to say this scares the hell out of me. My excitement has turned to fear…
Any words of wisdom to ease the nerves??
Fear not, Tyler. I’ve pumped for ten years on like seven different models of pumps and never had a pump malfunction like those crazy one-in-a-million stories. You’re going to love it!
For those that have a MAC and want to use Carelink can install a virtual machine in your mac to emulate windows, and use the actual hardware you aready have ( your mac) .
Can use a sotfware call Pararells </<br /> Hope it helps !!
Ok, I am freaking out a little bit! I started the pump for the first time ever on Monday (1/18) I have been doing okay. First few days a lot of lower sugars than I am used to. But today I have been high! And just now I was 511 without any real reasoning! I pulled out my infusion set and there is a red lump that looks a lot like a bug bite - did I mention that in this site (unlike the first one) I had some sting when insulin went in especially today. Did I want to long to change it or something? What went wrong! ? ! ? ! I am changing sites now!
When my sites die, they die real good.
I know how many days I can get away with and if I forget to change, the bg’s are a real indication of that.
There are also more lumps and bumps the longer I leave one in.
You are doing the right thing, but might want to judge exactly when this happens to you.
Rose - you’re OK - put some neosporin on the red spot, and when you change sites - Wash your hands, use alcohol preps on your insulin bottle, and on your skin where you’ll be putting your new site. Change your infusion set everytime you fill your insulin cartridge - never leave it in there more than 3 days. It’s possible that you stuck your infusion set in where there was some old scar tissue from an injection.
Check & correct often! 
Hi Rose, yes it sounds like an infusion set problem. You might need to try a different type of infusion set if this happens again.
When I see highs like this, I give an injection right away to be sure that I have insulin in me. Then I change the infusion set. If the problem continues, I change the insulin.
I have been pumping for 5 years and only had 2 experiences like this. So it should be rare! If you find an infusion set that works well for you, this shouldn’t happen often.
PS Just about every pumper gets little red dots when they pull a set out.
We call them pump bumps.
Nothng to worry about.
And if you are using IV Prep you dont need alcohol.
Hello Everyone I’m not on the pump yet but I’m soon to be Not sure which one to get. My doc suggested the Ping and I like what I see but I haven’t really researched anything else.
How many of you ‘pump’ folks have heard about the new pump for Type I Diabetics? It apparently reacts to SITUATIONS, and YOU no longer have to deal with making changes to it after exercising, or whatever! It’s being called a “robot pancreas” and while it isn’t approved yet for people, it is working VERY well, according to this article I read or saw on TV. Wouldn’t that be GREAT?
Did anyone find the "saline " process helpful? I’m doing this tomorrow with my official hook up happening on Monday.
I’ve also got the new Paradigm VEO Pump. Is anyone on this specific model?
Caleb went straight to the hard stuff.
I didn’t do saline either. Went straight to the insulin. That was over a decade ago though.