Hi all… still loving the Omnipod… but am also researching more as to what certain codes represent. After going through a few “bad” pods in a row… I have started looking closer to what the codes are when they happen and what they might mean:
The most common one ends 0064 and it has come from a lot numbered L30585 The thing that this code seems to “mean” for my son is that the pod failed in the middle of a bolus. I just mailed back the pod that did that…and didn’t alarm at all for him… this hasn’t happened before …where it didn’t even alarm. He went w/out insulin for 6hrs and 15 minutes before he went to eat again and saw that his pod said “pod deactivated”… He didn’t even get the full bolus from the one that failed first.
So… this is now something that we keep an eye on. He said this pod had a diffrent “voice” than the others. It sounded weaker… until… well… it didn’t sound at all.
I have discussed this with his pump instructor and also Omnipod. I am numbering the boxes now when they come and keeping and eye on lots. ( the OCD in me…lol ) Turns out we have mostly pods from this same lot… only a few from another lot in our last shippement… that came during the hot summer months… Not sure if the problem is in shipping? They got to hot or something?
Over all … he loves the pods. Hasn’t had too many problems… and when I am on twitter… I def. see that problems are not specific to pods… all pumps have issues. This issue is not going to turn us off Omnipod…it is still the best choice for my son. Through my niece… I have seen that other pumps have issues…she is on the ping. She was having trouble and couldn’t figure it out…turns out her battery casing was cracked and she was only getting insulin intermittently when the connection was good… so all pumps have issues. But… I feel if we can all help Omnipod by reporting WHAT is happening during fails…they can improve upon them.
They replace the pod w/no problem…even when I said we didn’t need them to and that we had plenty… they also send me the pre paid FEDEX pack to send it back in… ( funny…it must be bagged 2 times…then put in a box…then int he FEDEX bag… LOL so tripple bagge and boxed!)
If you get a chance… go to your alarm history… .look at the codes… are you seeing the same code as the most common… the one ending in 0064… just curious… and if so…is it from a stop in the middle of a bolus?? Thanks!
I had a pod fail during priming ending in 0064 a week or so ago. Not sure what lot and when I called they didn’t ask me to send it back to them. They just said they would send me out a new one.
I’ve had a 0064 and 2 0081’s out of this box. Need to call them in, but just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll have to look at what lot they were from.
My lot number I’m having trouble with is L30485, by the way. And this is probably my fourth of five boxes from this lot, but the first with problems. So I don’t know what’s going on.
One of the 0081s was during the priming process, but the other one wasn’t. Go figure.
My son has had a few that do not beep on priming… he just uses them anyway and all seems fine…but his pump instructor said not to anymore… that they are “faulty” if the don’t have the double beep… and sometimes error later.
We have never had any of those types of failures, but I did want to mention to Katsz that we have not had any that didn’t give us the double beep since we started to fill them more slowly. They really should tell us that and they wouldn’t be replacing pods for that reason. We do notice that each pod has a different “voice” and it doesn’t seem to matter.
Just this week I also had a Pod that failed in the middle of the bolus and did not give me any audible alarm. I just looked at the history, and the error code ended in 0064. I have been on the Pod for two years as of August 3, and this is the first time that I have not gotten an audible notice if something is going wrong with the Pod, bolus, etc. I will have to call this one in also. I wonder what is going on with Omnipod…
The “voice” thing could matter though… if it is really weak like the battery is low or the alarm is defective… he had a few that “didn’t matter” but one that was really weird… that is the one that when the pod failed during his morning bolus…and only gave him 1/7th of his dose… and then just failed… w/no alarm… he had no idea unit he felt bad before lunch and was 6 hrs and 15 mins w/out any insulin.
He does fill the pods really slow… I will tell him even slower… Today’s pod that he is wearing did not double beep. I told him to not use it…he said… he was going to and that if it failed it was “his fault” and that he wouldn’t use the next one that did that. He didn’t want to fill another one…grrr. I have to let him learn too…he is 17 and does most of everything on his own. I am more like a “partner”…
Wow… really? Glad you caught it… you did right soon enough? My son went a long time and didn’t know until he went to dose his next meal and it just said " pod deactivated"… Do you remember if that pod had a “bad voice” kind of like maybe the battery was getting low in side???
My son has been on the pods about the same time lenght as you… went on April 20. 2009 and he loves them compared to MDI and when I say… “are you sure you don’t want to try another type of pump?” His answer was " That is like asking me if I’d rather drive a moped than a car to school!.. No… don’t want another pump."
We are on our 9th pod failure in 1 month We have gotten the code error 064 during priming. We have also gotten code errors 148 during wear (one during a bolus and one just in the middle of the day), 179 in the middle of the night, and the most recent (yesterday) was 052 and my dtr was just standing in an aisle at Target looking at stickers and it started beeping. Spoke with the customer service rep this morning when I called this pod in and she has no idea why we are having such a high failure rate. The first 7 were same lot number (L30544) and within 10 of each other on the sequence number but the last two were diff lot numbers all together because now we are getting in to all the various replacements we’ve received over the last 3 weeks. We are doing everything correctly. She asked if my child was REALLY active. I said “yes, she’s 5.”. I believe the insulet website even remarks that they have triathletes using this system so I think Sophia should be able to look at stickers at Target or go across the monkey bars w/o causing a failure. In the end she told me not to pinch up on the site with insertion anymore and see if there is any change in failures. I don’t know. We’ll try it…
I’ve used one that didn’t double beep and didn’t have a problem with it. This one that failed during priming last week though - it started screaming halfway through the priming process.
I’ve been told to pinch the site but simultaneously press down on the nose of the pod at insertion. And a tip I just heard in the last week is to double tap the pod on your shoulder after priming and before removing the plastic guard to tap any extra insulin drops out of the cannula window area.
interesting… never head the taping part. When ever we have done the pinch and press method it hurts too much… he has enough…“tissue” in the areas we are using it for it to go in good.
He is using a “no two beeps” pod today… hoping it is ok… he didn’t want to refill it…so far so good.
Wow… that is a lot of fails. So sorry such a young girl is going though that. And that is a lot of diffrent codes… .my son’s are almost all 0064 in the last year… He has probably had only 9 in the last year… if that… so sorry you are having that.
I am really leaning towards this being a “shipping” issue. Not sure though. My son has had great success…until this last shippment.
I had one 2 or 3 months ago that didn’t double beep when I filled it, so I called CS. They said that if it primed it was acceptable to use. It primed, I used it. No issues.
I had another one that didn’t double beep and it also primed correctly. It was a “mute” pod (maybe the coil didn’t hit the sensor?). It wasn’t an issue until it was time to change and I didn’t know it as it didn’t beep at me. No big deal, just something to be aware of for the future!
I also didn’t realize how much I rely on those beeps to tell me that the reservoir is low or that I need to change it in a couple hours.
I, too, have returned many pods back to Insulet. I think the reason for all the packaging is because once worn they are considered to be a hazardous waste threat to anyone who opens it. I have had a lot of pods go off when wearing them, priming them, etc. I was wondering if it could be from getting tossed during shipment. I was also told from the people at Insulet to make sure not to have other pods, whether the one you removed, or the box with other new ones, near the PDM when you are changing pods. I usually now move my one I took off at least 3 to 4 feet away from where I am putting the new one on. I don’t have as many issues since I am doing this. I have been on the Omnipod for over 4 years. I always remember the year of our trip to Disney (took our whole family: kids and grandkids). We left for Disney 3 days after I received my Omnipod system. That is how easy it was for me. I have considered changing to another system, but the tubeless is just the biggest selling point of the system to me. Be careful with the PDM. I had two of the original PDM’s screen crack on me and I am a senior who is very careful, so it can happen. They did replace them. I am now on the later PDM that they came out with. Maybe they improved that. I have not had problems with it. Just don’t forget to take the PDM when you leave places. I had it out at work once and left work early due to a snow storm. When I got home I realized this and we had to go back for it. We slid on the ice and snow pulling into the parking lot and damaged our car to the tune of $1200.00. lol (well not really lol). Good luck to you
We have gotten the code error 064 during priming. We have also gotten code errors 148 during wear (one during a bolus and one just in the middle of the day), 179 in the middle of the night, and the most recent (yesterday) was 052 and my dtr was just standing in an aisle at Target looking at stickers and it started beeping. Spoke with the customer service rep this morning when I called this pod in and she has no idea why we are having such a high failure rate. The first 7 were same lot number (L30544) and within 10 of each other on the sequence number but the last two were diff lot numbers all together because now we are getting in to all the various replacements we’ve received over the last 3 weeks. We are doing everything correctly. She asked if my child was REALLY active. I said “yes, she’s 5.”. I believe the insulet website even remarks that they have triathletes using this system so I think Sophia should be able to look at stickers at Target or go across the monkey bars w/o causing a failure. In the end she told me not to pinch up on the site with insertion anymore and see if there is any change in failures. I don’t know. We’ll try it…