I've been podding for almost 2 years now & last night I had 2 consecutive pods fail to do the 2-beeps after filling them. I didnt know what to do so I discarted them & took a third pod from a different box which then beeped twice on cue. Would the other pods have worked? I didnt want to take a chance. BTW, the insulin was at room temp.
I would call Insulet to see what they think. Is it safe to assume that you have no doubt you filled them with enough insulin? We fill Caleb's just to the fill line and I think if there isn't quite enough, it won't beep. But I've also have the instance, at least once, where I swore I didn't hear the beep, but I attempted to prime and it worked. So either something distracted me, I had a moment of deafness, or it didn't beep!
I have been using the OmniPods for a little over 2 months now and have had a couple of pods not double-beep while filling. I continued and they completed the priming process and the PDM went ahead and prompted me to put them on - no error reported on the PDM. I used those pods without any issues for the full three days.
I am not sure I did the right thing in using those pods but they did work and BGs were normal.
I've been podding for about as long, and I've had a couple of pods do the exact same thing - no beeps. I continued to prime them, which they did just fine, so I attached them and went about my business. Probably not what Insulet would recommend, but I'm pregnant and have just enough to get me by between refills, and I didn't want to mess with it.
Had that happen to a couple of pods, two in a row from the same box. I didn't use them but it's good to know that they are usable if it happens again.
I called Insulet and they were replaced.
I usually try them anyhow and like others here have had pretty good luck. I'm actually wearing one now that failed the 2 beeps and has been working like a champ for nearly 2 days.
Thanks for all your replies. I guess I should have tried to use them ! I will next time.
Hey johnny,
I've had this happen with 2 or 3 pods. The first & second time, I set them aside and called Insulet to report them. The third time I figured what the heck, and I went ahead and let it go through the whole prime and insert process. I wore it for 31/2 days until it did a hard expire, and lo and behold, the thing did the "scream of death". I was totally surprised since I figured that the lack of the double beep meant that the piezo electric beeper was bad, but apparently that's not the case. Although it did not beep when the boluses finished. Kind of strange. I just made sure that I watched by post-prandial readings more closely to make sure that they were in range and not totally out of whack!
Cheers,
KCO
I started with the OmniPod in Oct. 2008. Somewhere I picked up a comment that even if the two beeps were not heard, to try and go through the priming procedure. If it primes properly, it might work. I've had that happen. If there's a problem, it won't prime. After I get the pod on and activated, I take a 1 unit dose and wait 1 hour before I give a larger dose of insulin. I do that because I had a pod failure one time with a larger dose the first time after a pod change and had a pod failure. Tech support suggested starting with a small dose to make sure everything is working then take a correction dose. Often with a pod change the BG's will have been high for a while so if you make the first dose a correction dose, it is often a large one I'm working on ways to avoid those high BGs at the end of the 3 day pod life by trying other insulins than the Apidra I've been on since using the pod. The problem with having a prescription for every two days is the cost. Since Omnipod says they last three days, that's what the insurance companies want to cover instead of the 1/3 higher cost of a two day pod life.
I never use them. Just not worth the stress and risk.
I call Insulet and they send free replacements every time. Never an issue.
Of course the risks can be mitigated by carrying spares and close monitoring of bg levels, but I would stay stressed out about it for the full 3 days.
I used to throw them away and get replacements, but now if they prime, I use them. I haven't had a problem doing so. Of course, I'm sure that's not recommended. You have to use your own judgment in these situations and keep up with your readings.
I actually just requested a replacement for a pod that didn't beep on filling, but now I wish I had gone on and used it. After I pulled the insulin out of the "failed" pod and filled a new pod (that beeped properly upon filling), I heard the other pod giving me those little reminder beeps from my closet, as if it was reminding me to finish changing my site. (I actually had to crack the pod open with a screwdriver to keep it from beeping at me every few minutes.) Now that I know that these initially-silent pods can work without problems, I'm going to try to prime and use the next one that seemingly fails to activate.
I had to change my pod yesterday and the new pod did not double-beep while filling. It primed just fine as well as delivered a bolus shortly after with no beep to signify the completion of the bolus. I ran through the diagnostics steps to check the "beeps" just to see and it did not beep three times inline with the PDM. I kept the pod on and went about my day.
Later in the morning I was in the work cafeteria to pickup breakfast and a co-worker came by to day hello and tapped me on the arm hitting my pod - didn't think anything of it. Later when I bolused for breakfast the pod beeped. This got me thinking, was the beeper thing stuck? Did he dislodge it when he tapped me? To test this out I put some pressure on the pod to make the beeper thing get stuck, ran the diagnostics and no beeps again. So I then hit the pod rather lightly and did the diagnostics and it beeped. So seem like a QC issue on the beeper.
It has been beeping fine ever since.
I thought about this some more and I think I may put to much pressure on the pod holding it down while filling it - I don't know why I do that but I do. Going forward I will ease up pod while filling and see what happens.
Not sure if this is helpful but wanted to post my experience.
I have had several fail to give the two beeps (probably at least 5% of the pods I use) and I continue to the āPrimingā and, if successful, use the iPod. I have never had a problem with them when using them. I have worked in software design and coding for 45 years and my guess is that there is a ābugā in the routine that detects the insulin being filled and so sometimes fails to trigger the double beep.
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I have thought sometimes maybe I just didnāt āhearā it. Some seem a lot quieter than others. But the first time I called on one they said to replace it, they probably have too for liability issues. But I try to remove most of the insulin and call it in and they replace it and pay for the missing insulin . I might try to go on to the priming stage and see as @Ken1 has said. I got a few there for a while, but none recently.