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Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

blog.lauramichet.com

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Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#171

Post by adev_ »

UomoNeroNero wrote: post #125
UomoNeroNero wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh, and one more thing. I always keep a blood glucose meter in my backpack. You know, that medieval-age stuff with the finger-pricker and test strips. (You can buy one for about €10 in pretty much any pharmacy in Europe, but it’s better to already have one with you.) And pen needles, too.

P.S. As a European, I genuinely struggle to understand how you cope with your healthcare situation. In France, in a small mountain village, I walked into a pharmacy and, through a combination of gestures and sketches, managed to buy a box of rapid-acting insulin at full price (around €30–40). The insulin was clearly available. The issue was purely bureaucratic — technically I needed a prescription from a French docto…

> through a combination of gestures and sketches, managed to buy a box of rapid-acting insulin at full price (around €30–40).

Quick tip for people that might encounter such situations:

- Phone to the emergency number. In Europe, it's 112. In France 15 is also working. Explain your situation (they generally do have English support).

- In many European countries, it is a Doctor you will have on the line. They can forward a medical prescription by email to the pharmacy close by.

- Even if you are not insured, the only thing it will cost you is the price of the medicine. For insulin, it variates from 20 to 40€ depending of the country.

- If you are over weekend or in middle of the night, in many EU countries have emergency pharmacy system. Some dudes somewhere on duty will open a pharmacy for you and you have to come on site.

If you are in France and if you wake them up at 03h00am, you can probably expect the legendary 'frendliness' (irony) of French customer service but at least you will stay alive.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#172

Post by kelnos »

redserk wrote: post #31
chemicalsnakes wrote: post #16

Uh, okay, she didn’t advocate for herself on the phone and darkly alludes to not knowing what could have happened if she’d told them she wasn’t at her home and needed her replacement pump sent to another address. I think they would’ve sent it to the hotel without a problem. Her takeaway is that she should have been “meaner” on the phone, but I think just honestly expressing her situation would cover it. And “I don't…

Blaming her is not the right call on this. The technology is absolutely amazing for the quality of life it’s given us, especially those with medical conditions, but the failure of technology in these scenarios can lead to hospitalization or death. The customer care line requesting information about a plan means the patient’s care in a will-be life-threatening scenario was not prioritized. Deprioritizing patient care…

The problem is that when she was asked if she had a plan, she didn't give a thought-out answer. If she had said "no" -- which at that point was actually the truth -- it likely would have triggered something in the customer support rep's script that would have fixed the situation damn-near immediately.

It's annoying that this is how it works. It would be great if the customer support rep could be better trained, akin to a medical technician's knowledge at least when it comes to the medical condition at hand. But that sort of thing is just not reasonable to expect in the world we live in. Someone with a chronic condition needs to advocate for themselves. Even just "I'm not at home and need you to send the new pump to my hotel" would have likely fixed the entire problem.

I don't know if this is about "blame" or something else entirely. To me, this was very instructive and reminded me that we need to take charge of our own care. Even though it sounds like the author was never in any real danger (by her own admission), this entire situation could have been avoided with a single sentence, one that's incredibly reasonable and not difficult to say.

(I'm also baffled by her incredibly hostile attitude toward people who make insulin pumps. I can absolutely understand being angry at the idea that you need a piece of technology made by a third party in order to live. But calling the people who make that technology -- technology that has worked for her for 25 years before the first problem came up -- her "mortal enemies" crosses a line for me.)

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#173

Post by Rapzid »

chopete3 wrote: post #157
Neywiny wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't bring glucose tabs or glucagon with you or get more when you ran out? Was it an overconfidence in your ability to feel low?

Exactly my question. Something is missing in this story. We carry a bag of sugar, juice mix, biscuits and candy

Until you don't. Then you'll have a story with something missing.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#174

Post by mettamage »

UomoNeroNero wrote: post #119

Friend, you’re diabetic. Your survival is ultimately your own responsibility. Prepare yourself for a few hard truths. No one — including nurses and doctors who are not specifically trained in diabetes management — truly knows your situation. I had a TIA. I was barely functioning, hospitalized, semi-conscious. Not a single person in the ER, nor during the entire week I was admitted, stopped to think that maybe I wasn’…

> while you’re on vacation on some Greek island with no signal.

Not diabetic but my car was stuck on a mountain on a Greek island with no signal. In hindsight it was fun, but when it happened I initially feared for my health. We were at the highest road stuck in the snow with a car that had no business being in snow. Luckily my wife is a born and raised Michigander and she showed my Dutch ass how to handle real snow. She started digging in the mountain side to grab as much small rocks as possible since every Michigander has cat litter so that wheels can get traction.

Without it, we would still be stuck.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#175

Post by apple1417 »

jrflowers wrote: post #148

There are several strange things here. > Flagstaff did not have any insulin for me. This seems… impossible. They could be out of a specific SKU of Lantus pen , but that’s an entirely different thing from a pharmacy not having any long- or intermediate-lasting insulin. They probably had Lantus vials, or other glargine biosimilars, or NPH insulin or dozens of other types of insulin. > the Tandem tslim X2 requires the u…

>> the Tandem tslim X2 requires the user to "prime" the pump tubing with 10 units of insulin every time the pump shuts down or the cartridge is replaced.

> This happens with every pump in one way or another to avoid getting air instead of insulin

The tandem doesn't allow you to finish priming before it's used 10u. Even if you know it's fine, and can see drops of insulin coming out immediately, you've got to wait until it reaches 10u first. I took the author's complaint to be more about that.

I've only had my battery die a couple of times, and I use a fresh line every cartridge, so I've only found it mildy annoying. If you're American and often reusing them, I could see it being more grating.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#177

Post by dotancohen »

kys11 wrote: post #107
s1artibartfast wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that true for every type and format? You can walk into walmart and get regular and NPH insulin over the counter, no questions asked. Newer ones require a Rx. I do think that the US is obnoxiously conservative, and far more medications should be OTC. Instead, you cant even buy kidney friendly cat food without an expensive Rx from a vet and tons of controls. Heaven forbit someone buy it without proper consultation.…

[dead]

Tell us more. Which goes treatment ingredients should be avoided? Which are safe?

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#178

Post by DennisL123 »

UomoNeroNero wrote: post #119

Friend, you’re diabetic. Your survival is ultimately your own responsibility. Prepare yourself for a few hard truths. No one — including nurses and doctors who are not specifically trained in diabetes management — truly knows your situation. I had a TIA. I was barely functioning, hospitalized, semi-conscious. Not a single person in the ER, nor during the entire week I was admitted, stopped to think that maybe I wasn’…

> Friend, you’re diabetic. Your survival is ultimately your own responsibility. Prepare yourself for a few hard truths.

This.

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#179

Post by swiftcoder »

chemicalsnakes wrote: post #161
swiftcoder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It honestly might be helpful if we framed more conversations that way, when talking about the creeping dependencies on tech firms that fill our lives. Those of us without a medical dependency are lucky that catching one of the many tech failures modes won't actually kill us - but you'll still want to throttle more than a few folks if you ever have to recover from your Google/Apple ID getting banned, or PayPal running…

“Creeping” from what? More primitive medical technology that saved fewer lives?

The medical technology isn't the problem - the profit motive negatively affecting its continued operation (or not) is (and this is not just the technology firm, it includes the insurance company, the hospital/pharmacy operators, etc).

You can't have a reasonable customer relation with any corporation when you are a captive audience - let alone one when they could kill you at any moment, whether from negligence or plain indifference.

This plays out in less-lethal versions all over tech. Do you dare redeem that Apple Gift Card your aunt gave you for your birthday, knowing that Apple might nuke your whole digital identity from orbit[1]?

[1]: https://hey.paris/posts/appleid/

Re: Having your insulin pump die while you're on vacation

#180

Post by kotaKat »

chopete3 wrote: post #157
Neywiny wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You didn't bring glucose tabs or glucagon with you or get more when you ran out? Was it an overconfidence in your ability to feel low?

Exactly my question. Something is missing in this story. We carry a bag of sugar, juice mix, biscuits and candy

DR doesn't just stand for 'disaster recovery', it's 'didn't realize'. It'll always be the one day you didn't realize you forgot the kit...
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