So a month ago my Medtronic 722 got a motor error. I got it going again. A couple weeks later, motor error. Restarted. Immediate motor error. Restarted. After 12 hours, a couple more motor errors. Oh, well, time to switch to my backup pump, an ancient non-loopable Medtronic 723. I intended to use it in open-loop mode just to keep track of BG and carbs and IOB.
Well, there’s a LOOP gotcha. When I removed the 722 from LOOP, that erased my basal schedule from LOOP. Completely gone. I still had the carb ratio and insulin sensitivity factor, but no record of basal. Good thing I could look it up in the 722 itself…
Of course, 12 hours later I got a couple motor errors in the 723.
Now if I had searched the internet properly, I could have learned that sometimes the Medtronic motor error can be triggered by a problem with the reservoir, tube, or infusion set. But I didn’t think to look it up, and assumed that both Medtronic pumps were out of service. So I went to my other backup pump, an out of warranty t:slim with basal-IQ. It got an occlusion alarm on the infusion set that I had been using with the Medtronic pumps; changing the set fixed the pump.
But for looping, I had decided to try Omnipod Eros. Not covered by my insurance, they only cover Dash. The best price out of pocket that I found for Eros pods is $300 for a box of 10, directly from Insulet.
Here’s the Omnipod gotcha. I mentioned on the call with Insulet that it had to be the Eros pod, not the Dash pod, because I wanted to use it for DIY LOOP.
Turns out that was a blunder. They can’t send me Eros pods, because I told them I would not use them consistent with the FDA approval, and so if Insulet sends them to me that would put them in legal jeopardy.
The local Insulet rep called me and told me of a work-around. I can send a clear statement asserting that I will only use the pods in strict conformance with the conditions of their FDA approval. Then they would be able to supply them, but it would have been better for me to avoid that whole issue.