LifeAfterDx--Diabetes Uncensored

A internet journal from one of the first T1 Diabetics to use continuous glucose monitoring. Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

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Location: New Mexico, United States

Hi! I’m William “Lee” Dubois (called either Wil or Lee, depending what part of the internet you’re on). I’m a diabetes columnist and the author of four books about diabetes that have collectively won 16 national and international book awards. (Hey, if you can’t brag about yourself on your own blog, where can you??) I have the great good fortune to pen the edgy Dear Abby-style advice column every Saturday at Diabetes Mine; write the Diabetes Simplified column for dLife; and am one of the ShareCare diabetes experts. My work also appears in Diabetic Living and Diabetes Self-Management magazines. In addition to writing, I’ve spent the last half-dozen years running the diabetes education program for a rural non-profit clinic in the mountains of New Mexico. Don’t worry, I’ll get some rest after the cure. LifeAfterDx is my personal home base, where I get to say what and how I feel about diabetes and… you know… life, free from the red pens of editors (all of whom I adore, of course!).

Sunday, May 06, 2012

Blue’s Clues



Two come with each new pump, so I now have eight of them. The pair come in a little Ziploc baggie, the type you might put a pair of earrings in. The neatly folded piece of paper in the bag identifies the little blue clips inside as “Infusion Set Tubing Clamps.”

The same name is repeated, no shit, in 20 more languages.


But why would you want to clamp off your tubing? Wouldn’t that cause a No Delivery or a (((shudder))) Motor Error? I checked the manual and there was no mention of tubing clamps. I checked Med-T’s website. Again, no luck. I Googled and found about 20 people who posted questions at various pumper message boards, asking, “Hey, what the fuck are these little blue clips for, anyway?”

But no one had answered them.

So I emailed Ken, of Ken and Barbie fame, who was introduced to you at the beginning of our most recent adventure, about a month ago.

His reply was: “You know you are the FIRST person on the planet who as actually asked this curious question. The clamp is used as a troubleshooting step to test motor pressure and reservoir pressure should the need arise.”

Ah.

Lord protect us from the need arising.

2 Comments:

Blogger Jamie Naessens said...

I had to ACTUALLY USE this mysterious device once in a troubleshooting step with... um... can't even remember which pump company... but it was a long time ago, and it did eliminate whatever whatever they were looking for. I think a good clamping down with the molars would have done the same thing ;)

10:53 AM  
Blogger Scott K. Johnson said...

Here is where I admit to using these things for an off label purpose.

Have you ever wanted to change your reservoir/cartridge but not your whole tubing? What happens when you disconnect the luer lock (dunno how the MedT sets work)? Air is introduced into the tubing.

So I use one of those clips to pinch off the flow just after the luer lock, change my reservoir/cartridge, then 'fill tubing' (on Cozmo) to drip fill the luer part.

When I put it back on the cartridge there is a little bit of pressure created, so I have to be aware of that when releasing the blue clip.

Here's where I give the disclaimer: DO NOT DO AS I DO - DO AS YOUR CARE TEAM TEACHES.

:-)

11:39 PM  

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