A pod lasts about 2 and a half days for me and this past month I have experimented with pods on my thigh. About four occlusions on day 2 and they woould not replace those and that was OK with me. Anyway ,I ran out of pods and insurance would not let me bump up the shipment. Insulet was very helpful and sent me 3 complimentary pods to help get me through but they were not enough. So I have been taking Lantus for the past three days and have hated it. horrible control.
I am going to see about increasing the prescription on my next visit to endo, but I think I have the max already.
Hey Robin, today I’m experimenting for the first time with a pod on my thigh. Lets see how it goes and I hope not to loose the pod due to an occlusion. Sorry to hear you had to went back to MDI’s! I went back to MDI’s from Sunday to Tuesday due to a memory corrupt PDM error. I called Insulet on Sunday and the new replacement PDM arrive on Tuesday, so till the PDM arrived, Lantus and Humalogs shot, It was awful, the control was horrible!
Hm. Our endo has our prescription as “as needed”, which could be unfortunately vague, but I would think accommodate at least an every 2 day change. Would every two days work for you, or no bc of the occlusions? That’s just does not seem fair!
Your MD can definitely write your prescription for a 48-hour duration (instead of 72), Insulet should have told you that as soon as you called them.
Now, whether or not your insurance policy will cover that frequency is another question…
I was under the impression that the prescription written with the advice from the omnipod rep. was for the maximum #. And I have made it to the next shipments since October except for this one. If I can cut out some of the carbs I should be able to make it to each shipment and lose some weight at the same time. I have put some on with the pod since I can snack, bolus for the carbs and keep the spikes down.
The form states 72 48 or other. I am having my Doctor fill out my new form for other so i get extra cause i don’t make it to the next shipment. My other doctor refused to put anything less than 72 hours and I have a new doc that is not happy with the crappy care I had with my last doc. This one wants tighter control and is thinking about changing my insulin, I have been on novolog for a long time. Any recommendations on another insulin, Humolog didn’t work well when i had used that.
My experience with my upper outer thigh area on either side is I had a tendency to forget about the pod and accidently knock them loose from the adhesive pad. My BG readings were good in this area.
Customer service has been good about replacing the 4 pod failures I have encountered. In fact, I was on vacation just recently when 2 failed on the 1st day. They shipped 2 replacements with Overnight delivery.
There was some negative news yesterday on Lantus that you should be read up on. I have attached a link on a summary for you to review but I would suggest call your md to discuss. All I know is the stock of Sanofi got hit really hard on this news.
Hi Robin,
I was on Lantus before getting on the Pod. Just to make sure, you know it’s a long lasting insulin? I guess that’s why you are on it - to replace your basal? Have you talked to your diabetic educator or doctor’s office? They often have some spare units they can give you if you explain the situation. If not, see if your local hospital has a diabetes office, they might have spare Pods as well.
Good luck!
Kevin
Yes, Lantus replaced my basal and I took humaog for corrections and meal boluses.
Insulet was great and sent me some extra. They were just not quite enough to get to next shipment. Here is a bit of info for everybody to keep in mind…for twenty bucks you can get your shipment sent overnight. That saved me another 3 days of being on lantus
I’ve been toying with the idea of bolusing via syringe when I’m at home so that I can get a bit more out of each pod. I’ve just started on the oPod and I have a few insulin pens left over anyways. At some point I remember being told that the pods would hold a bit more than 200 units of insulin, but I’ve only been getting about 180 units per pod or so (as far as I can tell anyways) and I’m worried that I’ll run out of pods. So I’ve been trying to use my pods mainly for my basal and when I need to bolus and I’m not at home. Not sure what my CDE and ENDO would think about that, but I’d rather not have to go back to lantus even if only for a few days.
If you are bolusing w/ pens or needles, you just won’t have quite the accuracy as you would with a pod bolus. For instance, because of the carb ratio, correction factor, etc, that you have put into the PDM’s memory, when you tell it your glucose is 150 (and you are shooting for 120 for example) it calculates an extra amount to correct, plus you put in the carbs you’re eating and it gives you the grand total. If you just use a needle/pen, you either do all that math in your head, or I guess you have the option of dialing all the info into the PDM to get the correct total, but then cancelling before you confirm the dose. The other item is that if it suggests 14.7 units of insulin, you may have trouble drawing up 14.7 on a needle or pen. But, if it helps with the longevity of getting a full 200 units (or 3 days) of pod usage, then that may be an option for you. Good luck and let us know if the combo ends up working for you!
yeah, I totally let the PDM do the math and then cancel before I take the dose. The only drawback I see is the lack of record keeping. I’ve never been the type to keep crazy logs, and thankfully the PDM takes care of that to a great extent.
I don’t sweat the .3 units of insulin and just round up. That’s only 2.4 grams of carbs for me (right? IC ration is 1:8) … I have boogers with more than 2.4 grams of carbs in 'em!
… not that I eat my boogers I’m just sayin’ (I’ve said too much! LOL)…
0.3 units of insulin isn’t gonna put me into insulin shock … it’ll only lower my BG by 6. (theoretically … if my math is right).
I’m sure that .1 increments are a great and necessary thing for alot of oPod users out there, but ATM I’d be more than happy with .5 increments. I just wish the reservior was 50 units or so bigger.
I happened to take a cross-country road trip… and not only lost my wallet, but I also did not bring ANY pods with me… so I took a pump vacation and I kind of enjoyed it, and used lantus and a novolog pen. I thought I liked it… but then once I put a pod back on, I forgot all about the shots
Robin Maybe you should look into getting on R500 That way you can get more days from the OPod? I have been discussing this with my endo but the downside is the insulin costs more. I am not sure yet if insurance will cover any part of it. I also try to take 1 day every 2 weeks or so on a Pod change day usually like end on Saturday night and dont go back on the pod until Monday I also try to time with my dexcom sensor change so I can have 1 total free day every 2 or 3 weeks when ill be lounging at the house and I always sleep sooo good that night!
