The importance of pump settings

[Anonymous]

Yesterday morning I was woken up by my pump/cgm alarm warning me of low blood sugar. I cleared the alarm and then saw an active insulin delivery screen showing 4.5units out of a 10unit bolus had so far been delivered. I hastily disconnected everything.

The first time I knowingly touched my pump was to clear the alarm yet somehow 1 minute earlier I had selected a 10u bolus with a blood sugar of 3.7. I cannot comprehend how I managed this action, 10 units is more than I bolus in a day.

I checked with Medtronic and the only explanation was that I must have somehow done this myself.

I have never given the maximum bolus setting on my pump a thought. On checking, it was set at 10 units, about 6 units more than I ever bolus for any meal. Last night I reduced it to 0.1u and also locked the keys for safety sake.

Has anybody else managed to operate a pump without any recollection. I am still a nervous gibbering wreck today after considering the potential for disaster if I had not cleared the alarm when I did and noticed the active insulin delivery screen.

[Tim]

Nope, it’s never happened to me. So far. Probably a good idea to have a look at the max delivery settings.

Only 10u a day? Coo! The magic pump calculator says that I’ve shoved in an average of 57.57u per day over the last 14 days.

[Anonymous]

My magic pump calculator 14 day average is saying 26.1u, a bit higher than usual thanks to my extra 10u just for the hell of it at 7am yesterday.

[Peter Childs]

It always shocks me the range of amount of insulin different diabetics need. I’m on 85units a day. mind you I don’t use a pump but I doubt that makes much difference….

[Anonymous]

I have managed a similar through sleepy button pressing. I had been struggling with lows at the start of the night and taken on multiple doses of fast acting sugar. Eventually my blood sugars started to behave themselves and I settled down to get some sleep. Once asleep I somehow managed to to put my temp basal rate to 0% for 2 hours, the resulting blood sugar was not pretty!

[lizz]

Yes, I have. I lazily press the buttons on my pump through my clothing to turn off alarms to bolus for meals or to do a blood sugar. If I press too many times, which I have done whilst low, or when I think it hasn’t canceled, I have bolused by accident. Usually though, the pump beep beep beeps to tell me I haven’t finished a bolus, which alerts me to the fact that I was about to give myself a surprise one! Perhaps in your low state you heard the cgm alarm and thought it was an alarm for something else and tried to cancel it but gave yourself a bolus instead?

[Alison]

Thankfully I’ve never done that. My magic pump average calculator tells me I’ve had an average of 49.95u per day over the last 14 days.

[Dave]

Wow – new functions I never knew I had!

To illustrate that everyone’s diabetes may ;

[Anonymous]

I’m with @alison probably about 50 units although I’d need to read the manual to find where my magic calculator is – I assume there must be one & I’ve never been able to find it.

I’ve managed to stop the pump by laying on the buttons in my sleep & I came close to bolusing once, everything was dialed in but I hadn’t laid on the confirm button.

I guess I’m lucky in that if my blood sugar steeply changes when asleep I wake up.

[Alison]

Does your pump not have a “Lock keyboard” function? On the Medtronic Veo, it’s an option under “Utilities” and means you have to press two buttons together to unlock the pump so it would be virtually impossible to bolus in your sleep.

[Annette A]

My daily totals ;

[Author]

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