Insulin pump with no alarms?

I use the Medtronic 780G and G4 system. The pump alerts can be muted except for low blood sugar ones.

I recommend getting your head around having rare but very important.
Most pumps I know of have a few alarms . For example ,knowing when there is an occlusion is dangerous because, without long acting insulin, you are more risk of DKA.
But are you talking about pump alarms or CGM alarms? A pump would not report high or low BG. That is the CGM.

If you are investigating pumps for any reason, you should first check what are available from your clinic. It is rare to have all pump options available.

The alerts on my Tandem Slim pump can be changed to vibrate only so the pump vibrates for a high/low/occlusion/low battery/low insulin - however the Dexcom will alert via an alarm through your phone instead if high/low, unless you turn it to silent but an urgent low will alarm regardless as it can't be turned off.

megann said:

Hi,
I have been on insulin injections for 10 years since being diagnosed. My consultant recommended that i look into a pump at my last appointment as it would suit my lifestyle better, however I am quite paranoid about having any alarms or sounds alerting. I am training to be a midwife so these could go off when I am working and not able to turn them off straight away!

Is there any pumps in which all alarms can be turned off? I cant seem to find a definitive answer anywhere and this would be a strong indicator of which pump i research into more.

I am conscious of it being visible and strapped to me constantly, I am most drawn to the omnipod right now but have heard that it has alarms you cant mute.

Any help is appreciated!!

Click to expand...

Hi @megann,

I have recently started with an Omnipod DASH. This is programmable for varying insulin delivery over time and for different activities, (you still need to count carbs, possibly protein and bolus appropriately) but unlike the Omnipod 5 isn't a semi-self adjusting pump that relies on accessing CGM data in near real-time for basal doing. I went for Omnipod, as I really didn't want to explore tubed pumps, but having used a CGM for 5 years, that really helped with the physical impact of having a pump "glued" to my body. People often don't notice this pump, but if they do, I have found it a useful opportunity to share experience about T1 coping treatments. So far never had a negative comment.

My experience with Omnipod DASH is that it has a small number of very quiet alarms (not related to BG levels). Under most conditions, will only be louder if the current pump pod has failed, or if you have not changed an expired pod within a roughly 12 hour period. Both these louder alerts can be very quickly switched off via the Omnipod PDM controller device.

Personally I don't think I could ever get confident using a pump unless wearing a CGM 90+ % of the time. Fingerprick BG readings would never be detailed enough for me. I now use a Dexcom G7. This has options to silence or move to vibrate only for all high out of range BG readings. For safety you will always receive loud alarms for low BG, and/or rapidly dropping BG with imminent hypo, and these repeat frequently unless you are responding to your phone or PDM.

As a trainee midwife I suspect that you don't want to be responsible for patients if you are in/entering potential hypo states, and frankly the hypo alarms are your best friend. What CGM do you use? I agree with @In Response, it depends whether you are concerned about CGM and/or pump alarms.

Juicyj said:

however the Dexcom will alert via an alarm through your phone instead if high/low, unless you turn it to silent but an urgent low will alarm regardless as it can't be turned off.

Click to expand...

EllieM said:

You can always turn the phone off so as to suppress the alarms.....

Click to expand...

If you stick an earphones jack in your phone all alarms should come through the earbuds, ie no sound at all if you cut the cord to the earbuds. And you can still have the phone on vibrate.

People are suggesting ways to stop very important alarms.
As @oldgreymare mentioned above
you don't want to be responsible for patients if you are in/entering potential hypo states
Likewise, you don’t want to be responsible for patients when your pump fails and you are at risk of DKA.
The alarms exist for a reason and rarely go off.

The alarms also help you to avoid/reduce the severity of hypo's.

I know a few hcp's who wear an insulin pump, and on the very odd occasion their alarm's sounded, it's not an issue.