Vibe Upgrade - Am canceling mine

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
21

The one thing I love about my Animas pumps is I have had the best control ever. The smaller basal and bolus increments have helped me a lot. I use very little insulin for a type one - but even less being on Victoza. I can use anywhere from 15 units to 30 depending on the carbs. My basals are .45 to as low as .325 - which I can do with Animas. My lastest Ping went a full 3 years without a major problem (the internal clock died - but I did not realize it except I had to reset the date everytime I changed the battery.) The pump itself, worked great! Animas swapped it out for me in December and my warranty is up at the end of June.

I also like the lithium battery - and being able to use alkaline if I am stuck.

The other reason I switched to Animas from Medtronic was as you said - the luer lock connector. Having the freedom to try different infusion sets is a big plus. Also - I love the color screen, I can see it in most lighting - except bright sunlight, Medtronic has just kept that awful menu system with the problem circles like - forever! Their screen is so tiny....

I am intrigued by the T Slim - I also like the POD - but because I use so little insulin - it would be a waste changing that out every 3 days. Plus - I am not sure I want a big egg shaped thing on my body. I can pretty much hide my pump and many think it is a pager.... LOL. The tubing has never bothered me - gotten in the way - sometimes - but pretty easy to hide.

I am wondering how the rechargeable battery would be for me... since I am not always good about recharging my phone. I think it is rarely quick though like my Samsung S5 - quick charge and I am good to go.

Oh - I have reused the reservoirs sometimes - but mostly do not. Sometimes, if I need to change my infusion set and there is insulin in the reservoir, I might refill the reservoir and reuse it. It works fine but reservoirs are probably the only things cheap with this disease....

22

I like my Animas for the same reasons. AndI had more air bubbles filling my Revel pump than I do with the Animas, plus I felt like the connectors were questionable. I hope my old Ping hangs in there because a new one is going to cost me a 50 percent DME.....

23

On the reusing reservoirs, I just want to be sure that I am on the "legal side," where I'm not giving the appearance of encouraging people to reuse reservoirs.

When I was using syringes, I was religious about not reusing them, as this was during the whole AIDS freakout during the 80's. Then, after I graduated from High School, and I had to start buying my own syringes (yeah, $20/box...), I rethought about the re-use thing, and the reasoning about it, and the realization about it, and it was, "how am I going to get any bloodbourne pathogen from... myself?" So, I would re-use them up to 3-5 times, where the issue became the sharpness of the needle.

Moving on to reservoirs, the same thing comes to pass... what is the failure mode? It's the internal lubrication of the reservoir. I can get 2-4 safe reuses out of them, so that is my limit on them.

For me, it's more a matter of convenience and laziness, not economics. I currently have the best insurance I have ever had, and I show that gratitude to them by making it cheaper for them by shopping around for the best deal. I like win-win situations, not win-lose. However, if there is a win-lose situation, I like to be on the side of "win".

Well, after looking at this post, I just realized something... I have a dog poking me in the leg, and utter confusion, so I guess it's time to check my blood sugar...

24

Jeffythequick - Did you get your VIBE yet? I am still having second thoughts on reordering it.

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Sorry for not responding sooner... I was traveling to Charleston, SC, and my computer with the password stays home.

I did get a call from them on Wednesday, and there was a problem with my debit card, but I expect to get the pump this week sometime. The woman on the phone told me that the refund would come within two weeks (verbally) of receiving my Ping, and I am having second thoughts, as I want the G5 version of the Dexcom, as it will talk to my iPhone (and Apple Watch, when it comes out).

Still looking at the T:Slim, as I will be ready in 20 months.

26

I got the debit card situation figured out. They had my old card, and we got it straightened out. I get the Vibe on Friday.

Let's just say, this is not a conversation that you want to have in an office environment...

"So, I'll get the Vibe on Friday! Cool! Now I have something to do this weekend."

I got some strange looks from my co-workers.

Anyway, my stance on Animas has softened...
1. On the refund, it's now approximately 10 days. That's a verbal promise, but it does look like they took my concerns into account.
2. They sent out a "What's different between the Ping and the Vibe" sheet to my e-mail. That was nice.
3. They sent out a "Write your settings down" sheet, which is nice as well.
4. They sent out a "Getting Started with your GCM" sheet. This was pretty, but useless. It just says, "Go to Animas.com for info."

The lady that took my call at Animas was very nice, and I've gotten past the $700 deposit. Now, it's just a matter of waiting.

27

That is great! I am going to upgrade. Am loving the Dexcom - but am running a half marathon in June and am hoping that the combined unit will be less of a nuisance. I do like the remote meter on the Ping - and the meter is right in line with my A1C.

28

I had no idea there was a "totem pole" type process for purchases of insulin pumps! It is one thing to already deal with healthcare, but to also have to deal with negativity with the manufacturer is too much. I recently got the Vibe, but I miss the Ping capability! Also, the dexcom integration system did not seem very accurate. I am using the dexom g4 system and love it so much better. The CGM is actually turned off on my Vibe. Are you still using an Animas pump and will you be switching companies? And which ones do you have in mind?

Regards,
D

29

Denise - I am looking at either another Ping in June or going with a TSlim.

30

*facepalm*

So, Animas stresses that I have to be there to sign for the pump when it arrives, so I took time off from work to ensure that I am home to be there. Mrs. thequick had some appointments that she had to tend to.

So, Animas sends me the tracking information, and every time I click on it, it is invalid. I call Animas, and apparently they had a fresh shipment of apologies yesterday, because, due to a snowstorm, the pumps didn't go out. I did get apologies for my "inconvenience."

(rant on)
Saying that this is an inconvenience is, well, like saying that I went to 7-11, and they were out of 64oz cups for my diet coke ration for the morning. Taking half a day off, which amounts to about $200 out of pocket is more than an inconvenience, but more like letting the gas out of my car, and apologizing for the inconvenience of calling a tow truck with gas.

A few words to the wise: If you're going to miss a deadline, let the person know AHEAD OF TIME, especially if you are stipulating a set of conditions that they must meet to get what you're selling.

Geez, Louise...
(rant off)

So, I'm waiting for the phone call on the pump, and when they're going to ship it. Animas' #1 priority needs to be the customers, and communication. If they had sent me an e-mail, given me a call, or smoke signal, I could have taken different measures.

I'm not unreasonable, but I lead a busy life, and I think I'll just have it shipped to the UPS office, so I can pick it up at my convenience.

31

OK, no follow call from Animas. The lady was telling me about 8" of snow they got in Pennsylvania, so the pumps didn't go out.

OK, I'm willing to be corrected on this, but I have worked with UPS, and what they do is have inventory management for large companies, or companies that have to have things shipped in a hurry. The whole idea is this: Have the inventory at UPS, and they can just grab it, label it, and send it from their hub, eliminating the transport from the supplier to the customer. The hub is in Louisville, KY.

On Friday, there was 8" of snow in PA, and ice fog in Louisville for part of the day. I think what happened was the Animas people couldn't get to work on Friday, so it didn't go out.

I have it held for pickup on Monday, as that's when UPS says it will be there in Redmond, WA. It's in Portland, OR, now.

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JeffytheQuick - We drove through PA on Friday. They got snow on Thursday, but Friday was a bright sunny day. Trucks were moving along. Animas could have easily let you know the shipment was going to be delayed.

I waited one Saturday a couple of weeks ago waiting for a replacement pump it showed up the week after. The rep had put in the order, but the Animas shipping department sent it via Fed_x for the week after the Saturday it was supposed to be here. So they shipped out another pump - which I also had to wait for....

33

Yeah, I need to correct my writing... It was supposed to go out on Thursday, but again, can't these people do their work from home? I have a laptop computer, and I deal with stuff that isn't supposed to be out in the open, but maybe it's a HIPPA thing, where the patient's medical stuff can't go outside the walls of the building.

Oh well, by 8pm tonight, I'll have the Vibe.

Plus, while I'm at the UPS office, I'm packaging up the Ping and sending it back.

34

I think Animas is really paranoid about security because every email I get is encrypted using Cisco's encryption. Drives me crazy because I deal with Dexcom via regular email. LOL Probably a Johnson and Johnson thing.....

You will need to give us a review of the VIBE.

I am in talks with the TSlim folks about going with their pump at the end of June. So looking forward to getting a demo. Sadly I would go with Animas if they were sending a rep up to Dartmouth Hitchcock and not ignoring their customers in NH. It is sad when 2 CDEs say they do not know who the rep is from Animas.

35

Denise-do you actually turn off the CGM on the Vibe or do you just not start a sensor session. Did you remove the transmitter number from the pump?

At the moment I am going back to the Dex G4 receiver. I tried to use both of them for a while, but it was too cumbersome to calibrate two devices. Although I like the idea of having the CGM as part of my pump, the Animas screen is too small for the graphs and it also takes too long to load the graphs. I mostly just used the info screen with the static Dex number along with insulin-on-board.

Thanks for any info.

36

OK... Here goes:

Out of box experience...well packaged, it looks like a new pump. There's a box in there (if you've done a warranty return, it's the same type box.), a Verio IQ tester and the pump box. One not for the Animas people reading this: when you have pictures of people doing cartwheels on the box, it'd be nice if they were wearing a pump.

Opening up the meter will come later... When you've seen one meter, you've pretty much seem them all.

OK, the pump. Printing out the sheets sent by Animas (Animas people: Good job on that!) That took about 15 minutes with a 5 year old shooting me in the back with nerf bows and arrows...

Opening the box...

Open life's possibilities! (in 13 languages!)
Contents:
Clip (nice, beacause my Ping one broke about 18 months ago.)
Vibe
Battery

Insert Battery.
Familiar chirps and buzzes Verify time comes up. Enter info. Everything must be confirmed. You can't bypass anything on the screen, or the "Confirm button" will send you to the item that needs to be confirmed.

Entering the values in the new pump was pretty straightforward.

Starting CGM calibration. The funny thing is there is a delay, then it pops up with the standard, "Don't use the CGM to adjust doses". I swear on a stack of Insulin Inserts (that we all read with each new bottle) that I will never ever ever use the CGM to do dosing. Really...

OK, Now for priming and changeover.

(NOTE: For those of you doing this in the parking lot of UPS, you can. It comes with a battery for the Vibe, so you can just do a pump setting to pump setting changeover.)

All in all, it's pretty much a warranty replacement like, with the addition of the book, the meter, and yes, the free skin. Since Animas has changed their policy to 14 day turn around on refunds of the $700, I went with the black skin. I will write about the meter in a different entry here.

PS. Kept the batter cap and the reservoir cap. Animas told me to just send back the pump, so that's what I'm doing. Plus, those two items are 4 months old, so they should be good backups, if needed.
37

Verio IQ Meter:

It's pretty nice! Low blood needed,

USB charging, which is nice. I'm kind of getting sick of changing out NiMH batteries from the Ping meter, so this makes it good. One bad point: You have to take the meter out of its case to charge it. Bad design.

Testing is straightforward, after setting it up. The screen is nice with the pseudo-video of where to apply the blood.

It's a nice meter. No complaints.

38

How is the CGM? How is it going? I am thinking about the Verio IQ as my next meter. Probably more accurate than the PING - although I have no complaints as my readings were right in line with my A1C....

39

The CGM is good, and there are some good features about the Vibe over the Ping:

When doing the EZCarb Bolus, and it comes time to dial in your dosage, you just press the up button, and it's at the recommended dosage. I like that a lot.

CGM-wise, it's a bit of a pain to get out of. The good of it is that if you are doing a bolus for food, and it's near calibration time, it will prompt you to use your BG setting for the bolus wizard to calibrate the CGM. I said no, so I haven't been down that road. The "hard to get out of" is when it alerts you to high/low blood sugar, it takes you directly to the CGM screen, and then you have to wait 2 seconds, then scroll down to "Main Menu" to get out of the CGM.

I would have preferred to have the BG on the main screen with an indicator line (up arrow/down arrow), so all the info I need is on the main screen, and I can see 3 hour trending, if I wish to dig deeper. It's a quibble, not a deal breaker.

After all of the headaches, I'm just waiting for the $700 to return to my bank account, as I used a debit card for the transaction. They promised 10 days from receipt, and the pump was received this morning.

40

Are you using a Dexcom G4? I am having issues with ??? during exercise and it sort of defeats the purpose of CGM for me if I cannot see trends during running. I am wondering if you are seeing this behavior in the VIBE.