Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Natasha Bowlds on January 13, 2012 at 4:28pm

This happened to us last year in December and January - we'd had almost no problems, and then suddenly a bunch of pods failed in one month (and I do mean a bunch - probably 15?). And over the past year the failures have been very few and far between. My son's on a CGM too so I don't think that's it. It seems that sometimes there is just a bad batch I guess?

Permalink Reply by Jgos on January 13, 2012 at 4:34pm

Natasha - thanks for that - it seems to me its a "bad batch", but insulet claim that each batch is mixed so to avoid this. ie a box of ten is made up from different production lines ? who knows.

Permalink Reply by Janice L Cotton on January 13, 2012 at 6:06pm

Something's up...I could tell by the tone in the rep's voice when I told her the lot number 30666--guess the devil's in the details :-). I had 2/3 of one box fail. Was I ever ticked off. I've had very good luck otherwise.

Permalink Reply by barbraann on January 13, 2012 at 5:17pm

I've also noticed that failures seem to occur in batches. I've started to pull from different boxes to mix things up and mentioned this to the Omni person and she didn't say anything about boxes being mixed. I also carry an extra 1 or 2 pods with me, all from different boxes.

Permalink Reply by Janice L Cotton on January 13, 2012 at 6:12pm

When I went out of town for last Thanksgiving I took along an extra pod for every anticipated pod change plus a couple of extra pods for spares just in case of a failure. Every initial pod change failed plus every pod resulted in insulin delivery halted because of an error other than an occlusion! Than goodness for the extra precautions. I returned home wearing my next to the last pod.

Permalink Reply by jla on January 14, 2012 at 1:12am

I too had a run of failures while on vacation in Hawaii in late 2008. I took twice the pods I thought I'd need, used them all because of failures and Insulet sent me more by overnight FedEx to get me home. Had more problems once I got home. They finally replaced the PDM and that solved the problem. I had 8 pods replaced by Insulet out of the 133 I used in 2011. (See my lengthy response to "Blood Glucose Meter Posted by smileandnod on January 13, 2012 at 12:39pm in OmniPod Users" about documenting pod use). At the time in Hawaii I wondered whether TSA exposure had damaged the pods but when the problem continued, I pretty much ruled that out. My 2011 pod problems were randomly spaced throughout the year. I began wearing a DexCom7 system in November of 2009 and can't see that it has interfered with the Omnipod. Good luck. I love my Omnipod System.

Permalink Reply by Jgos on January 17, 2012 at 2:20pm

Guys – many thanks for all your replies – don’t get me wrong – I love the OmniPod system (looking forward to the new release !!) . However I do think its good to have user questions put forward to help. Not only us but also the corporations (Insulet in this case) with some real feedback from the coal face. I am just amazed that it seems that we all run into “bad batches” – maybe we should request a quick switch out of the boxes we currently had at that time. ?

Permalink Reply by Janice L Cotton on January 17, 2012 at 2:39pm

I just called in yet another pod failure from lot number 30666. This one wouldn't allow me to fill it with insulin. When I called it in and explained that there seemed to be a problem with there being sooooo many failures with this lot number, even with the sequence "mixing", I was asked to return the final pod/pods remaining. They are sendine me a return envelope. Now...this is a first. By the way, they all came from the same box.

Permalink Reply by Jgos on January 17, 2012 at 3:00pm

Thats great - they ought to - and know how frustrating it is. I know its difficult for non T1's to understand. But when you are in the situation of a quick change (small room in the house) the last thing you need is a pod not starting !!

Permalink Reply by Janice L Cotton on January 17, 2012 at 3:20pm

Again...I must say that over all, I've had excellent results with the OmniPod. These recent failures have been very frustrating. I had one fail right in the middle of prayer at church. Yikes!!! The change out with the pod is sooo easy that you can almost do it in your sleep. But, you certainly don't want to have one fail during priming...followed by another failing to let you fill it with insulin. This happened to me last week. Insulet doesn't condone withdrawing insulin from a failed priming issue BUT hey, insulin ain't cheap!!!

Permalink Reply by Jgos on January 17, 2012 at 3:28pm

Janice I agree - its the times when it just doesnt work for you that get me. It seems to be an addition to the problem.

Permalink Reply by Herman on January 18, 2012 at 10:29am

Failures can happen but when your first Pod for try-out with salt water starts beeping when you fill it you think wow nobody has this much luck. I should go buy lottery tickets right now.
Just kidding but it happened to me.
The second one, also try-out, gave no 2 beeps when filling. I put it on and tried all alarms with the PDM but the pod was not responding.
Statistical I cannot have any failures for the coming year but that is not truth. I had 3 more failures. All pods came out of the same box but all 5 where replaced.
Now everything is alright. (knock on wood). I started December 2011 with the Omnipod. The results where great from the beginning. Nice values and almost no hypo’s. Where I use to have them 3 to 4 times a week including at night.
So I am a very satisfied user of the Omnipod system.

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