# Beep, bleeps and blops. Accu-chek Combo sounds.



## icarusman (Oct 18, 2010)

Having recently received my Accu-chek Combo, I have been getting to grips with the pump before I get plugged in, in a few weeks time. I have just one thing that is troubling me just now. I have set up my pump, with an empty cartridge so that I can practise at setting basals and delivering boluses.

I just wanted to know if it is normal for the pump to emit a sound during the bolus delivery. It's not a beep, like happens with virtually every event on the device. I can't really describe it sufficiently. Has anyone else noticed this? Or should I be getting in touch with Accu-chek?


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## sugarfreerach (Oct 18, 2010)

a bit like a "sutching" noise? It happens when the pump is pushing the insulin into the tube and into your body. Thats the only thing i can think. a bit like shunk shunk shunk shunk...


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## icarusman (Oct 18, 2010)

That's it! Phew. I'm pleased to know that it's working ok. Have you been using the bolus advisor? I've been doing the computer training, and am a touch bewildered by the amount of data needed to set it up. Did your clinic help you to set things like the post meal BG rise and time to insulin effectiveness?


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## sugarfreerach (Oct 18, 2010)

ive got the accu check spirit, so not as jazzy as yours but i think accu check are generally the same. To be honest its a bit like driving, you can have all the lessons in the world but until you drive yourself around for a bit you dont learn how to drive properly! Once you get the insulin in you can see how the sugars will be and react etc. its a lot easier when your living with it x


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## Ellie Jones (Oct 18, 2010)

I've also got the older spirit, and you can hear the delivery of the bolus, and if you listen and it's quite you can hear the piston shunt of the basal, which is approx every minute!!!

To me it sounds like a shunting steam engine in the distance LOL...

I didn't get my pump until I got to hospital for training, was up and runing on insulin by 11am, 2 days of training, but were told to play with the controls but remember while doing so, detach the pump first!!


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## rossoneri (Oct 18, 2010)

Yes the Combo makes the subdued clicking noise when the piston is pushing the insulin out.  You also get a beep and/or vibration when the bolus delivery starts.  There are at least a couple of reasons for this: -

It confirms a bolus you have requested is being delivered.  This is particularly useful with the Combo because quite often the Bluetooth connection from the handset fails.  You get a warning for this and it is quite easy to solve - press cancel, move the handset closer to the pump and then retry - but there is a danger that you can think you have requested a bolus without it actually being delivered.  The Bluetooth failure would probably happen a lot less frequently if Roche had made just a minor improvement to the design of their handset wallet.
It alerts you if a bolus is being delivered by mistake or if it is much larger than you expected.  This is very unlikely but there have been cases of this sort with older pumps.
The noise is subdued so you can deliver a bolus at say the dinner table without disturbing your fellow diners too much.


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## Twitchy (Oct 18, 2010)

I must admit the tsk..tsk..tsk sound freaked me out a bit at first, but oddly I find it really reassuring now! I understand you can use the bleeps to bolus using the pump but not the handset without looking (if that makes sense?!) on the quickbolus, but nearly 2 months in & I haven't had the bottle to try that yet!   I think somewhere in the advanced menu you can set either the bleeps or the vibrations off, but not both - can't say I'm inclined to do either though!  Love this thing...


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## Jennywren (Oct 23, 2010)

The noise is very strange to begin with but you soon get used to it , i now find it quite reassuring because i know if had the insulin , can look a bit strange thjo when in a cafe and ive got my ear to my chest !!! ( to hear if insulin being delivered )


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