Pump Occlusion

Monday this week, my pump alarmed with a pump occlusion. At the time, I couldn’t figure out why – it was nothing obvious then.

It was clearly a while (no idea how long) before the pump alarmed me, and I was extremely surprised to see that my BGL went up so quickly.

I changed the site with a completely new inset, then took a new cartridge and filled it with insulin. On rewinding the pump, it all went a bit strange. I hadn’t rewound properly and I had to call support for some assistance. A few minutes later, no problem, but I ended up with a cartridge with only 100u of insulin instead of 200u. No problem, I thought, I’d change it again in a couple of days, which I did yesterday afternoon. Somehow I’d napped through the 20u-left alarm. Lucky I woke when I did, I guess.

These things happen on a pump. In retrospect, I’d used my lower belly where I’d been injecting insulin for the past few years. And I’d occasionally had trouble with with absorption because of hard, fatty deposits that some people are prone to with insulin injections. I’m pretty sure I stuck my site into one of those places that were half-healed, but not quite.

Pump occlusions do happen, but insulin pumps alarm as soon as they detect it, so you can take action as soon as possible.

Otherwise everything is going really well. I’ve never had such good, steady BGLs – and this was one of the major reasons for me to go on a pump. Absolutely no regrets!