Went to work and left my PDM at home…oops…I have two questions.
All of the sudden I heard this beeping sound and started looking all over the restaurant for what it was…after five minutes my bar partner pointed out that it was me!!! No PDM with me so had to go home and see a Pod failure message. did it fail because I did not have the PDM? Could i have just pulled it off without the PDM?
I have a bsal change programed to bump my rate up at 9 pm to get me ahead of the game for my late meal after shift and combat overnight highs. If I do not have my PDM does the pod store the program?
It’s been a while since we used the PDM but if i recall correctly, you do NOT need to have your PDM with you if you don’t plan on bolusing for anything. The basal rates are programmed to continue whether you have that with you or not. Again, it’s been a couple years since we’ve used one so i could be incorrect there. Someone who knows for sure will add or correct later.
As far as the error, screamers happen and would have probably happened had you had the PDM with you or not. That’s a wonderful added bonus to podding.
The failure had nothing to do with the PDM being there or not. It can have an occlusion or some electrical malfunction, regardless of whether the PDM is there.
Once a basal program is set - either a temp basal or a standard basal program - the pod will run that basal program. The PDM does not need to be with you for the basal to run.
Without the PDM, you can’t change the basal program, but it will run exactly as programmed. In fact, once you insert a pod, you can put the PDM away for 72 hours and that pod will churn through 3 days as programmed for the basal.
There are 2 ways to turn off the beep.
With the PDM, by deactivating the pod.
Removing the pod and using a paperclip or pin and inserting it into the little silencing hole on the pod.
So basically if you want to quiet a pod, all you need is either your PDM or a paperclip.
Here is a thread on silencing it with a paperclip:
My brother in law gets relief and satisfaction by putting alarming devices into the freezer. In his case, it typically is the smoke alarm that gets this treatment.
We tried to silence one at a park and tried a rock as a hammer, and failed miserably. All of the parents at the baseball game watched me walk up to my son who was catching at the time, rip something off his arm and go a few feet away and bash the thing with a rock, all while it was happily screaming away. Can’t imagine the talk at the dinner table that night.
Have you had better luck with the hammer, or do you use a sledge?
Yep, hammer silences it for us no problem. You have to really whack it and it needs to be on a hard surface when you do it. Liam takes longer when he’s whacking it, but when I do it, 1 or 2 swift/hard strikes of the hammer makes it silent.
I’ve also thrown one against a brick/cement wall repeatidly to silence it and I’ve also driven over one in the past when we didn’t have a means to silence with us at the time. All kinds of creative ways to get stress out and silence PODs all at the same time. We should start a thread…“All the wonderful ways you can silence PODS”, and then post videos or play-by-play pics.
thanks all…my team is still laughing about watching me walk through the building looking for the noise…Ironically my pod was 2 hours from expiring today as I paddled out…awesome 2 hour session on my new board with a little beep following everywhere…
I like that idea! I will try drowning one in a pan…that will be a good test of water resistance too. If it doesn’t stop, the pan can go in the freezer.
Once it starts that song it is doing nothing else; no insulin, nothing. It is probably worth leaving it attached for a few minutes, pulling it off immediately can allow injected but not yet adsorped insulin to escape and, given that you aren’t getting any more, every little helps. To stop it whining in public just stick your hand over it and press; this reduces the volume substantially.
You can pull it off at any time. Just stick it in something so the noise doesn’t get out then you can use the PDM to “deactivate” it and avoid the paper clip thing. I carry Lantus as a back-up; 6IU as required will keep me going for ever.
While the thing is certified to be safe to 30ft repeated immersion kills it; i.e. going down and up in the water as little as 3ft (which is a 10% change in pressure) is eventually going to pump enough water in there to short out the electronics. When diving I go to Lantus (6IU twice a day) turn off the basal (or turn it to the minimum on the older Eros pods) and wait for it to fail. Until it fails I can use it to bolus, after it fails it’s back to the Fiasp pen.
Oh; little trick. If it is full of insulin it takes longer to fail, simply because the interior air volume is less. So if you want to chance it, change it before going in the water, fill it with insulin and you stand a much better chance of it surviving.
We should start a thread…“All the wonderful ways you can silence PODS”, and then post videos or play-by-play pics.