Other than higher than normal blood glucose numbers, which really upset me, how do you handle a “bad site”? I would like to change it immediately, however I never seem to have good luck in ‘withdrawing’ insulin from the old pod to put into the new pod. Unless I’m not doing it right, or if there is a right way to do it? I have a few extra pods, but not extra insulin. I changed the pod yesterday (after it fell off when I stepped out of the shower) and I apparently did not choose a good site.
I’ve used my upper arm before - but this time it is a ‘no go’. Got any thoughts or ideas? I can’t be the only person this happens to, nor the only person who gets frustrated with high numbers.
When I have a bad site (really high numbers) I usually try massively increasing my basal in hopes that it’ll help. This isn’t the best idea 'cause we really don’t need extra insulin in the body but my thought is always that if my sugars are high then it isn’t really extra insulin… other than a site change I haven’t found any real way to deal with the bad site without extra insulin though. Good luck!
I just asked Insulet about the cost of insulin the last time I called in a pod failure. We had two pods that primed and then wouldn’t communicate with the PDM once they were on my son. For us, it’s not such a big deal since we have good military insurance and extra insulin - (although the thought of wasting the insulin still bothers me) I asked them about the lost insulin and they told me that if you save your receipts you can submit them to a special claims department called “insulin replacement” and they will review your claim. I won’t do it unless we lose a lot of insulin, but I’d never heard of that - so you might want to ask them the next time you have to call about a bad pod.
I remove it and at least attempt to withdraw the insulin. Better that than struggle with highs, in my opinion. =/ You can always supplement with injections, but honestly, I feel like I’m working hard enough at my diabetes control as it is to fight with a bad site or a malfunctioning pod when I can try with a new one.
I think I’m less worried about the insulin in these cases than I am about the lost pods. Has Insulet actually replaced poorly placed pods? There are some 3 month periods where I struggle to make my pod supply last until the next shipment comes in!
I withdraw as much insulin as I can as well. I usually feel I get most of what I’ve put in (when it’s a priming error,) or at least some, which is better than nothing!
I’ve found it works better if I try withdrawing the insulin with a regular syringe (rather than the syringe used to fill the pods.) I do that all the time, and can usually get out almost all of it. I actually do this with extra insulin remaining in the pod after 3 days…which maybe isn’t Kosher, but I haven’t noticed the insulin strength being affected, even at the bottom of a bottle. (I use less than 25 units a day, so even if I only fill pods with 100 units, I still have a day’s worth left over.) If you’re still having trouble, pulling out the plastic cannula can help too…
Thank you Elizabeth for the tips on withdrawing insulin from the pod using a regular syringe and pulling out the plastic cannula. I’ve never tried either one 
I’ve often wondered what to do with the little bit of insulin left in the vial too? It isn’t enough to fill the pod and sometimes is difficult to draw out of the vial. Since I don’t have good insurance, I like to use as much of the insulin in the pod as possible.
Again, probably not the best practice, but I draw the insulin out of the vial until I can’t get anymore, then I keep filling the fill syringe with air which I inject into the new vial to draw out enough insulin to fill the fill syringe. This could easily result in cross-contamination of insulin but I haven’t had a problem yet and it’s better than leaving 60 or 70 units in the vial!