Had a harrowing weekend with (omni)POD changes for 9yr old DD.
Initially changed POD on Sat at 7pm. BG went up to 275-300 and did not correct with bolus. Gave bolus through syringe at midnight and it brought down her BG. That proved the Insulin had not gone bad. Looked through the pod window and canula looks ok; the window had some dew. though There were no PDM errors. Removed the pod in the morning without deactivating. Canula looks ok. Bolused on the removed pod and it oozes out insulin; so pod is ok. So it has to be a bad site, right?
The belly site seemed ok visually. The nearest skin marks from previous insertions were at least 1cm away. How do you identify scar tissue?
Started preparing another pod. It did not beep twice after injecting insulin. Extracted the insuling out of it and trasferred it to yet another pod. 3rd pod activated at 2.30pm. Starting BG 202. At that time she ate 40 carbs and took 3.25U bolus; an hour later BG was 189. I was relieved, but at 6.30pm she was back at 267. Corrected with 1.65 units but no change in BG 40 mins later.
Called after hours endo and they asked me to switch to syringe. I struck her nerve when admistering and she cried a lot. Then I took off the third pod (also without deactivating) and tried a bolus on the pod. Insulin oozed out again. Good pod; yet another bad site??
What luck! Or is there something else that may be going on?
I had to stop using one area (upper butt, by the top, back pocket of my jeans) for this exact reason. I have better luck with my pods on other sites (arm and flank).
I guess I don't have very much helpful advice other than to check and see if you have continual issues with that area or if your DD is sick? Do her basal rates need to be updated (growth spurt? change of seasons? extra christmas cookies?...that's been my issue!)
Also, I have found that if I bolus a half unit when I change the pod that helps "wet the site" and my absorption is better. I also leave the old pod on for an hour or so after the change (when possible) so that any insulin can fully infuse and not leak back out.
Not sure if this would apply to Omnipod or not, mine is a MM, but I had problems with the sites not infusing and customer service I spoke with at MM said to pinch up my skin when I insert an infustion site. Keeps the canula from resting up against muscle and ensures that it is absorbing into the fatty tissue versus between skin layers. A LOT of my canula's looked fine when I took them out, but they were not infusing. Once I started inserting them like that I havent had any more problems. Might be worth a try if your not already doing this.
yep, I found the same thing. My common practice is to pinch up around the site and "touch down" on the nose so that the auto inserter doesn't "kick back".
My daughter is on the ping so we have infusion sets but we have had similar experiences. We are just trying to avoid the areas that seems to cause the issues which is tough when the girl is tiny and does not have many sites to begin with. There is one thing I have been wondering about that could be related. We recently started using the Spring Infusion sets which has a Spring to inject the canula and its extracts the needle all in a fraction of a second. We have notices a higher frequency with this type of issue you are having with the omni pods. One of my theories was with a manual insertion infusion set the needle stays in longer and might help prevent the canula from bending were as the Spring (and I assume the omni pod) since the needle is in for only a fraction of a second the canula does not get set well and bends.
Im confused. When you put on the first pod at 7pm and didnt correct through the pod, but correct with syringe at midnight and BG went down. Why did you remove pod in morning , was her BG up? I was always told to change out pod before my daughter ate so she could get a decent bolus after pod change. BG does go up after site changes, thats why some people give half a unit when they change (We dont) Also when she went back up after her meal bolus to 267, did she have food with high fat content? that will do that even if it was 189 an hour after she ate, this happens to my daughter when whe eats ice cream. When you corrected with 1.65 Units you need to wait longer then 40 minutes to see a significant change , my endo told me at least an hour and a half. Duration of action on the insulin, novolog or humolog is usually 3-4 hours. Hope things have worked out.
i just read this post and wanted to put in my two cents, after a pod change even with a "regular high" it can take quite a while for them start coming down, i ussually bolus with the pod and wait at least 1 hour to test it is sometimes around the 1 1/2 hour that he starts coming down a little i have him drink a ton of water and if he has no ketones i know the pod is working it is just a little resistent, if you took off her pods and the canual was ok and it was delivering insulin things probably would of turned around just my experience it stinks waiting for them to come down but if it was a true pod failure there would probably be ketones after afew hours as long as they are coming down even a little and no ketones i wouldnt rush to change things, then you have to start over with is it working! who knew this would be so darn complicated, good luck with your struggles you sound like a great dad! amy
