Hi All! We switched to tslim a few months ago. However, this past week my daughter was at school on lockdown from the active shooter in Georgia. While they were hiding, her pump ran out of insulin and it just kept beeping. She was unable to change it, and the alarms just kept going off to let you know it’s empty. I’ve tried adjusting the settings and turning everything to vibrate, but these still go off. Is there a way to make everything vibrate? She was so scared thinking that would be the reason a shooter would find her.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Hi @flwr_grl07. I’m so sorry your daughter had to go through that, and glad she’s okay, at least physically. I just wanted to suggest you contact Tandem tech support - I believe they are open 24/7/365 and you will probably get a quicker response. I’d love to help but it’s been a few years since I’ve used Tandem.
Hello @flwr_grl07 there is no way to defeat or silence emergency alarms on tslim. It’s the same for x2 and Mobi.
If the alarm under these circumstances is attracting attention, disconnect the pump and move far away from it by whatever means necessary.
Thank you! I will try reaching out to tandem.
Oh that is so scary. So glad your daughter is alright!
Wrapping the pump in a sweatshirt and sitting on it helps to mute the noise by quite a bit, but as far as I know there’s no way to turn off emergency alarms like that. I think you can maybe adjust the alert volume (high/low). But maybe not since Tandem really really really doesn’t want you to go into DKA due to running out of insulin. I’ve tried to turn it off but haven’t been able to find a way.
@flwr_grl07, welcome to Breakthrough T1D Community Forum! I do hope that your daughter will soon be well, that she doesn’t have recurring trauma - hope counseling is available.
As @Joe wrote, there isn’t any way that this critical alarm can be silenced - and that is for obviously reasons. I’ve tried everything. The only possible way that I know, is to put the pump to sleep - effectively turning off but without loosing settings programmed in for Profiles, etc.
A wlaa charger and charging cord is necessary for this operation. Plug in the pump as if she was doing a normal battery charge. Hold down the activate button. on the top of the pump, for about 45 seconds or until the screen goes blank, then disconnect the power source - the pump is now in sleep mode [the way my old pump that I’m keeping as backup is stored].
When she is ready to begin using this pump again, with New cartridge, simply plug it into a charging source; you may need to then press the activate button - I forget.
Brainstorming here. Since there is no way to turn off the alerts the next best thing is to dampen the sound. Practically speaking that likely means sitting on it or wrapping it in a sweatshirt or both if possible.
Short of finally something using the type of padding sound professionals use - which is bulky - I don’t know that they’re is anything that would block the alarms as well as you would like.
I did however find this sound dampening blanket on Amazon that you could cut to make a pouch that should be easy to carry - or even just cut a slice to wrap around the pump. It’s not meant to completely block sound and reviews are mixed on just how effective it is at dampening it but it might be worth a try.
As a former sound professional (Deck Sound, Jayne Eyre broadway tryout 1999), products like the one pictured won’t work.
@flwr_grl07 Any chance its a tslim X2? The X2 version can be put to sleep by connecting it to power and holding the quick bolus button down for 30 seconds. Thats what the manual says, I don’t have one to try it. A USB battery pack can be used for “power” in this case I’m only suggesting this so you as a parent can give your child an answer. Joe’s advice about disconnecting and moving away is the best plan.
Let us know if you start a change.org petition to allow a silent mode on diabetes or personal medical devices. I’ll sign.
Thank you so much @spdif. I created a petition https://chng.it/Sj4YdMSwXM
I was hoping to hear from someone in sound or other engineering who was knowledgeable about the topic. Thank you.
@flwr_grl07 I just signed the petition and will share it later. I think the feature should be available on all brands of pumps - I’m going to reach out to Insulet and suggest they incorporate it into Omnipod’s as well.