Ok he has now been podding for almost 3 weeks and has has had almost everything go wrong that could - we think. My DH is NOT one to keep going. Usually when something breaks he throws in the towel and says forget it. - but he LOVEs it when it is working . . .Is he doing something wrong.
He cannot get the cannula to stay in on his stomach or back - but his arm and thigh seem to work well. He is a really heavy sweater. So we think this is why the stomach does not do well bc he sweats there alot. The last 4 pods he has taken off have all had kinked cannulas but this is on day 2 or 3. And it is when he begins to spike and get ketones that we decide to change. SO I am wondering do his cannulas somehow pull out then kink? He uses skin-tack, then places the pod, then puts tegaderm over the top. FOllows all the directions on the screen … . .we have had to take lots of insulin out and replace in another pod. We have sent back 4 pods already. Yesterday he did not have his pod on for more than an a few hours when it started the loud screeching alarm at work telling him it was a bad pod. He took lantus and humalog and decided on a day long pod break. He was planning to put on a new pod this morning.
Any one else having this much trouble in the beginning? Anyone else with this many kinks? Is there something else we should try?
I am starting to have 2nd thoughts about getting the pod for my daughter.
It sounds like, for whatever reason, the pod is not staying put. I have had cannula kinks (very few) when the cannula partially pulls out, usually from being bumped at some point. Sweating and adhesives are not an issue for me. Is your husband knocking the pod in some way, or perhaps his clothes are causing it to pull away from his body?
No actually he has been trying to be really careful. He even shaves each area prior to putting on the pod so that the skin is smooth and clean. Then he alcohol swabs that area. He is really diligent! He called and said that he put on his new pod this morning at work on his upper thigh and that his numbers are looking good. He REALLY wants this to work. He never even wanted the pump at all because of the tubing so when this one came out and now our insurance covers it - we was so for it . . .
Anyhow - we just cannot figure out why it will not stay on him. But we are going to keep trying. With all the hassles though - now our dd wants the MM Paradigm.
We are still plugging away in hopes that we got all the kinks out! He would just like to go thru at least a weeks worth of pods without some alarm going off.
Also - is there a setting to make the bolus beeps quieter?
i don’t think you can change the volume of the beeps…i actually had a pod the other day that was “silent”…it didn’t alarm for boluses or temp basals…it was weird, i kind of missed the beeps!!
Have you called Insulet customer support to ask about the issues your having? Or the CDE that trained you?
There is someone else on these forums that says he uses some antiperspirant around the site before placing the pod, to help with profuse sweating - maybe your hubby could try that.
In almost a year on the pods I’ve only had 1 or 2 pods fail because of cannula kinks, and less than a donze fail in total for any reason. SO I’d say your experience is not the norm. I would definitely try to get a follow-up appointment with the trainer to see if he/she has any suggestions. Maybe show him/her how your husband does the placements to see if there is anything that should be changed.
Yes - we have called - but not in the past week. I am the one making most of the calls then putting him on the line - can you see I am really working at this. LOL I want him to log on here to see all the positive comments and talk to other out there - but he won;t do that either. I told him about the anti=perspirant - but he was concerned about it maybe causing infection or getting antiperspirant into the skin . . .IDK -
We need to call his local rep (but she lives about 6 hours from us) and the local CDE has not been returning phone calls - and she had only been training on Omni Pods for about 3 months so she is new - but has been training on MM for 6 years. Believe me - we feel really alone and do not hear this stuff from others. Maybe I can convince him to try the anti-perspirant . . .
It is nice to hear that this is NOT the norm - but frustrating that we are the XX% that this stuff happens to!
I’m sure it is very frustrating. It sounds like you are in an area where Insulet needs to improve their rep coverage; just bad luck for you. I think you should make it clear to both your sales rep and Insulet’s customer service that the CDE is dropping the ball - let them know when one of their people needs a kick in the pants!
I really wish I had better ideas for you to try, sorry.
You get antiperspirant under your skin every time you use it- it goes into the pores- so you can tell him that is not a consideration. Sounds like he’s aggravated and he’s getting his drawers in a tight knot- which makes everything worse.
I’ve had a couple of times when the cannula kinked- and I ruined 4 pods in the first 3 days! I haven’t had one scream at me for a couple of months ( last time was on Black Friday- I got some strange looks at the sales racks)- but I’ve mostly been putting them on my arms, not on the abdomen at all.
Call the rep- that;s what they get paid for! This thing is so much better than the leashes the other companies put out that there’s just no comparison, and i hate to see him give up on it.
Ok so we just had to change his pod again! - he was 120 and bolused for dinner (had 3 slices of cheese pizza) - 30 min later he was 220 - it suggested a bolus again and he took the suggested. He just got home (2 hours later) and he was 330. So we decided to change the pod. I was sure it was going to be kinked - but it was not - but it was bleeding - no pain. Is bleeding a problematic thing?
So we are now wondering how long is the norm for his blood sugar to come back down. ONe rep on the phone told us it could take 3-4 hours?? He bolused 4.9 units units to cover the high BS.
What estimate did he use for the carbs of his dinner? Pizza is notoriously difficult to bolus for, in my experience. First, it is not in the PDM food database, so you have no guideline on which to base your estimate. Second, there is a lot of variation in the style and thickness and density of crusts; some are probably relatively light and have “normal” carb content, while other are definitely more “bready” and many (such as Pizza Hut) contain sugar. Finally, pizza is a very high-fat food so the digestion and breakdown and absorption of sugars can be delayed; many people here have said they use the Extended Bolus feature when eating high-fat foods like pizza.
I always have a very hard time estimating carbs for pizza, so now I try to over-estimate and check hourly for the next 3 hours.
Personally, I do not let a high BG (even in the 300s) force me to change the pod unless I’m certain about my carb estimate and a correction does not bring it down within 3 hours. Usually the correction works and I re-think my carb estimate and chalk it up to under-counting the carbs.
Yes - I think we were premature this time to change the pod so soon - I was just so worried since the last few times with highs he had kinks and ketones. But after changing the pod - then we checked for ketones (should have done that first - hindsight 20/20) and they were negative, and then I started to remember something I had read about pizza causing wacky numbers so after changing the pod and delivering an additional bolus he came down and then was actually low in the middle of the night. Ok - so he is now thinking reading up on how to do the extended bolus . . .
I am really working on him to get on here and start his own page . . .
Hi,
My daughter had similar problems when we started with the pod back in July of 2008. In the first couple of weeks of use we lost several pods due to glue and canula problems, which we think were caused by the glue. It appears that this is not a general problem but that it is a problem for some people.
Our solution was very simple: Skintac. Ever since we started using Skintac around the pod, not near the infusion site, we have had no problems at all with glue. I hope this helps you
Dont Give Up! My son had some of the same problems in the beginning (amost 2 years ago now) and we were all really frustrated too. We figured out a few things that I’ll share with you…DO try skintac…Do try antiperspirant (maybe even the clinical strength that you can get now)…vary locations on ONE site for a few weeks to get things under control. My sons most reliable spot was his tummy, so we moved the pods around just that area for quite awhile with no trouble at all…once we got the BG’s in good shape, he started trying other places…test often…we actually changed the pods every TWO days no matter what for about 3 weeks, which also cut down on the occlusions and bloody or kinked canulas. After awhile it was almost as if his body got “used” to the insulin being delivered this way, and we started adding the third day with success. Just last night I said to my son, Isnt this just the best invention? And he said it makes diabetes suck way less (He’s 11). Also, tell your husband to quit being a chicken…he needs to get on this forum and know he’s not alone. C’Mon already!
