Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by bballmom on January 24, 2013 at 5:36am

An occlusion means that something has blocked the flow of insulin and none is being delivered. It doesn't happen that often to us, maybe once every couple months. It usually is caused by a bad site, either a site you've used too much and some scar tissue is building up, or the site has bleed a little and the cannula gets a little blood clot around it. Occlusions can happen with all pumps though not just the Omnipod.

Permalink Reply by Mom 2 Kyle on January 24, 2013 at 5:56pm

My son already has some scar tissue on his belly (his favorite place to inject) from MDI. We have had some problems with his CGM because of this. It will be nice because the Pods can be worn in a lot of different areas that a pump with tubes would be difficult to do.

Permalink Reply by jms1313 on January 24, 2013 at 8:04pm

This is true - however my daughter has gone from preferring her shots in the bum to having her pump on her stomach - I have to make her move it around. I think they tend to find where they are most comfortable wearing it and want to use those spots the most. it is important to rotate spots.

Permalink Reply by Ren on January 31, 2013 at 12:37pm

Hi Mom. I've been using the OmniPod since October, 2011 and I can honestly say that I have no desire to find anything else. Well, except the smaller incarnation. As to your questions:

1. "Quite often" has not been my experience. I believe that has happened once (perhaps twice) in that amount of time.

2. You can customize some of the alarms. For example, I have mine set to alarm when I get below 20 units in the reservoir. I'm actually thinking of lowering that number but you get the idea.

3. Not in my experience. I've had probably 6 bad ones in 1.5 years. And to be fair, I think I have to place the blame for a couple of them squarely on my shoulders. The barnacle (pod) beeps twice when it gets the minimum amount of insulin necessary and honestly, I have a little trouble hearing the pitch so I've presumed it was bad when it wasn't. I can say that because after filling a second one, the first one started doing the clickety-click noise they go through while priming.

4. I place mine in a minimum of four areas: upper right arm; upper left arm, lower right abdomen; lower left abdomen. I have tried my lower back/hip area but didn't like the restrictions on what I could wear with it in that spot. I also use stretchy band thingies to cover it when I'm wearing it on my arm.

One thing experience has taught me: do not use rechargeable batteries (huge bummer, but this can void your warranty) and do not use Duracell batteries (they don't fit *quite right*). Using Duracell, my PDM failed twice which in turn caused my barnacles to be rendered useless and require replacing.

Permalink Reply by Mel on January 31, 2013 at 2:09pm

I have been using the pods for over two years - at ten pods per month that's over 240 pods. I love the pod system, and it is definitely a big improvement for me as compared to using insulin pens.

As far as your questions are concerned:

(1) The pods do not 'often' shut off. In fact, they have never shut off for me. On two occasions I improperly placed a pod on my body and the alarm went off notifying me to replace the pod. During a pod change on three other occasions the new pod did not prime and I had to send them back to Insulet for free replacements. (The problem stemmed from leaving the discarded pod on the sink near the new pod; as a result the electronics of the new pod got confused. Now I remove and dispose the old pod in the kitchen garbage bag and then I prime and install a new pod.)

(2) The pods do not "scream" a lot; the pods "beep" to alert you that a pod change is coming up, and they "beep" at the start and end of a bolus delivery. (During the PDM set-up some of the beeps could be deleted, if you wish.) If insulin delivery is ever terminated you will hear a loud beep, but I think this is a positive item, not a negative one.

(3) Out of a total of 24 boxes I have encountered 2-3 bad pods.

(4)I don't understand how you can place a tubed pump on more body parts that the Omnipod - it doesn't make sense to me.

Recently I have been in touch with several doctors who are on Insulet's Board, and I have mentioned to them that I appreciate that the new, smaller pods will shortly be made available. However, I also indicated to them that the PDM's screen is difficult to see in direct sunlight, and also the PDM's Food Menu needs to be updated. Other that these two items I really don't have any issues with the pod.

Customer service is terrific - and they are always available. (I had a problem on Christmas Day and they helped me out!) Good luck!

Permalink Reply by NatalieHodge on February 2, 2013 at 4:55am

kennedy is 12 and has been on omnipod for over a year. here is how we decided...

1. Tubed pumps are obselete technology.
2. No combined device (with dex) was available. ( and still isn't)
3. Cost ( cash pay and we pay 300 monthly for pods) tech is moving fast in diabetes now, and you don't want to " lock yourself in" to any tech for a four year period.
4. Ease of use. This thing is so easy to use, my 12 year old does most of her stuff now.

Now to address your thoughts and what to expect... Expect a pod failure once a month. That's about how often we experience those. Either an alarm that you know about or an unexpected high that you cannot resolve. ( Omnipod replaces both of these pods)

Ok, I see that answers one through three!

we wear pods on back and thighs so far, she is new to diabetes so she doesn't have longstanding diabetes absorption problems, but we notice that each site seems to have it's typical time for a pod to get going, and we bolus 1.5 units with pod change to keep from a post pod high, that works pretty well.

The other recommendation I have that really helped us with the pod is to also have a dex. It resolves so many of the questions about what is going on with your pump. We have only had it a month, but things are so much better!!

Kennedy has dawn phenomenon a little, her midnight to 5 rate is .55 and her 5 to 12 rate is .85. This keeps her pretty flat!

That said, I highly recommend omnipod!! Our first month we were quick to blame wacky blood sugars on the pod, but it was mostly just the diabetes!!
Best of luck!!

Permalink Reply by Steve D on February 3, 2013 at 8:57am

Hard to believe after my complimentary post on pods several days ago that I am going back on my post and returning to my compplaining self...but, here goes! Yesterday morning I changed my pod (it was a regular change) and the batteries in my PDM needed changing also, so I did so. Yesterday evening I went to take a bg and the PDM was dead, needed new batteries AGAIN! I was frustrated and pissed so I just took the old batteries out and put them right back in ...guess what? Worked fine! but, because I had "changed the batteries" again I needed to reset the PDM and then change my pod (yes, AGAIN). It is a total waste of a pod and an almost full reservoir of insulin! (Obviously, the pdm is going bad and will require changing....seems a bit odd)

Permalink Reply by Tamagno on February 3, 2013 at 11:25am

Only been using mine about a month but have been able to completely eliminate huge morning spikes that were typical with MDIs. Much, much better and consistent numbers. I have very low body fat and was nervous about placement, but it turns not to be a problem. I'm still developing my technique for pod changes. I find it tricky to inject insulin into the pod as they seem sensitive to using just the right spot and my eyesight is poor. Also, its easy to bollux up the adhesive, but then I just use surgical tape to hold the pod in place. Yes, the PDM eats batteries and I've had one occluded pod already, but its waterproof, the PDM screen is large and in color, I use less insulin because of better bolus calculations, I have fewer hypos, better numbers, I can skip meals when I want, and there's no hassle giving bolus when I'm away from home. So far, I'm happy with it.

Permalink Reply by Ren on February 3, 2013 at 12:07pm

Steve, I had the same problem with my PDM recently and called customer service about it because it was the 2nd time in as many weeks. Not only did it reset twice but on several occasions, the PDM would show the green OmniPod home screen. I was told that some batteries fit better than others and that I should use Energizer Max because they were shown to cause less frequent connection problems. I bought some and haven't **yet** had the issue again. (I was using Duracell at the time of my issues.) Now, I'm not saying that solved my problem because I haven't had this set of batteries in very long but it MIGHT have.

This is the kind of thing Insulet could tell us so that we don't get so frustrated. ~~sigh~~

(Sorry, this should have been under Steve's post but clearly, I'm an idiot.)

Permalink Reply by Mom 2 Kyle on February 4, 2013 at 5:58pm

Good to know! (about the batteries!) :)

Permalink Reply by Steve D on February 3, 2013 at 3:39pm

Thank you Ren, and I too was using Duracell's. I will be sure to use the Energizers from now on....thanks for the advice and PEACE to you!

Permalink Reply by Arshag on February 5, 2013 at 2:17pm

Omnipod user here and I am very happy with it. I can't imagine using a different system. Customer service is great as well.

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