Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Robin M on February 8, 2009 at 6:42pm

I changed a pod this afternoon and my sugars have gone to 321 just now. I am thinking it's an absorption problem. I have had no alarms for an occlusion, no kinks...it's just not being used. It's on mym abdomen and I normally do not have any problems there. I know I have poor absorption on my thighs so I am not using that spot anymore. Sometimes when I have used my leg everything would straighten out after half a day or so. So I am going to wait and see what happens before I go to bed. I injected for my meal tonight so I'll watch to see if it begins to creep up. I'm thinking that I'll be changing it before bed.

Permalink Reply by Jess on February 8, 2009 at 7:10pm

Can you have absorption problems in places that have worked well in the past? I seem to be having these weird things happening in more than one spot, and use those same spots and not have problems other times. Thanks for the response!

Permalink Reply by bonnie senner on February 14, 2009 at 8:28pm

I have learned to change my pods quickly when the numbers are going up (without reason). I have this at least 4 times per month

Permalink Reply by Sarah K on February 9, 2009 at 6:08am

How fast are you filling your pods? Check to make sure you don't have air bubbles in the syringe before you fill it, but watch how fast you are filling the new pods. I have learned that the faster you fill, the more likely you are of getting an air bubble. I took the backing off of a few of my used pods and there were air bubles there (pretty significant in size) that I know didn't come from the syringe when fillling. These got smaller I noticed when I filled at a slow, steady pace.

Yes, absorption could have something to do with it as well. I cannot use my stomach for this reason. I've learned that I have to use my arms, lower back and top of my butt. I haven't tried the thigh yet though.

Permalink Reply by bonnie senner on February 14, 2009 at 8:26pm

I cannot use stomach but thigh with tapping is good.

Permalink Reply by Susan Anderson on February 9, 2009 at 6:49am

We had many problems in the beginning with bad pods or beeping pods. We got quite a few of those beeping "bad" pods that they have since gotten rid of but it was pretty discouraging in the beginning. We hung in there thought and still really like the OmniPod. I think it takes a while to figure out where the best spots are for absorption. My son just turned 3 and has been on the pod for a year. The best spots for him are the back of the arms. We used the top of his butt for a long time and found that right after changing a pod - it took a while for it to kick in. Make sure that when you put on a new pod, you pinch up the skin. Then give yourself a little bolus - we do 0.05 bolus if his BG is normal. If he's high, we do the correction and then I up his basal by 10-15% for two hours. This normally takes care of the highs that we experience when we do a pod change. I've spoken to our Endo about this and he says some people normally go high right after a site change, they don't know why but suspect that the body is rejecting the cannula, etc

Regarding having the pod work for three days - for some people, it just doesn't. We normally get 2.5 days out of our pods. Due to the rough and tumble life of a 3 year old, our problems are more about the adhesive pulling away from the pod than the pod failing and not working. If you find you are going high 12 hours before your supposed to change, try changing it at the 2.5 days mark and see if that helps. I think the whole reason you want to change the pod every three days is because the body naturally will start to reject the cannula and the absorption may start to not work. That said, a bit about absorption that I've learned - some spots are just not great. Others may be fine all the time and then you accidentally put the cannula in a muscle and then you get little or no absorption. If Will runs continues to run high for 8 hours or so after a pod change, I just give in and take it off and try another spot. The pod won't beep because it has no way of telling you that it's in a muscle.

I have always called customer service whenever I experienced a beeping pod or a bent cannula. If you get an alarm, call them, they will tell you what it is, etc. I called a lot in the beginning. They are very helpful and can tell you what you need to do regarding insertion, etc.

Good luck!!
Susan

Permalink Reply by bonnie senner on February 14, 2009 at 8:24pm

Dear Susan,
You make me feel sane. I have had similar problem. I am probably not as active as your son but I do rigorous exercise daily and sometimes even with tapping the pod stops working properly. Thanks for your good info

Permalink Reply by Katsz on June 5, 2011 at 8:45pm

Tapping? What are you talking about? Never heard that before is that a technique to get a site working better????

Permalink Reply by PaulG on February 9, 2009 at 8:41am

The lower back doesn't seem to work for me. No alarms or anything but the insulin just doesn't seem to be absorbing. The customer support people at insulet keep telling me that any site should work but my doctor says people sometimes have trouble with certain sites.

Permalink Reply by bonnie senner on February 14, 2009 at 8:21pm

I too have trouble with certain sites they say should work. I have at least 4 bad pod per month how many do you have? (this is just BG going up no alarm)

Permalink Reply by Robin M on February 10, 2009 at 12:23pm

I had to change out this last pod my basal seemed to go in but my boluses did not. It took multiple corrections to finally get my BG right after breakfast. And then when I thought my body was finally beginning to use the insulin right in that spot I hit 361 last night. Now I have a pod on my arm and BG's are back on track.

Permalink Reply by Jess on February 12, 2009 at 9:14pm

Thanks for all the responses ... I think I'm on my next bad Pod. The site has been working great till around 10 tonight. Checked then and it was 200 and now after correction it is 350... So I gave a shot and such. The thing is that this pod is on my right arm which is a spot that has never had a problem before ... :\
Oh I also filled this Pod really slowly.

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