I’m new to pumping in general and have been on the pod for a little more than a month now. I have noticed that I cannot seem to keep my pods on for more than two days at a time without having the site go bad, being in pain from the cannula, or having extremely erratic blood sugars on the third day.
I will have good blood sugars for most of day 1 and 2 and then at the beginning of the 3rd day I will wake up and I sit at 250 for hours if I don’t give myself an external injection or change the pod. It does not matter how much insulin I give myself via the pod. When I take off the pod, I will have a HUGE raised bubble underneath my skin where the cannula was, indicating that I am not absorbing the insulin properly (I think anyways).
Also, if I’m having ok blood sugars on the third day, I will get extremely uncomfortable. The skin around the cannula will hurt very badly and will sometimes bleed. I have really sensitive skin so maybe this has something to do with it. These issues seem to happen randomly instead of related to any sort of activity I am doing. When I take off the pod, the cannula and site looks completely normal.
I would not really care about changing the pod after two days because the cost different really isn’t that much for me, but the main area of my body that I have enough fat for the pod is my stomach and I am losing potential sites very quickly. Is there anything that could possibly help with this?
Oh, and is this something that is way worse with the Omnipod than other pumps? Be honest because I have no idea…
My suggestion is to try your upper buttocks, thighs, and small of your back and see if you have similar issues. That might tell you whether it’s a site location issue, a reaction to the cannula with your skin, scar tissue, the way you move, etc.
It’s conceivable you’d have this issue with other pumps as well because the cannula materials and length are very similar.
My experience: I’ve been on the pod for three years (first pump I’ve ever used) and for the most part , I have bee having success with it. I totally understand and empathize with what your are experiencing. Depending on the site location, I notice I get the raised bubble; I contribute this to pressure being applied while sleeping.
I’m able to wear my pods for three days. When the pod alarms to be changed, you actually have an additional eight hours (granted you have enough insulin to cover up to the eight hours) of pod use until the pod “makes” you change it. Like you, my skin sometimes gets sensitive at the cannula site, and some redness will occur. In my opinion, I feel it’s just the area that may be more sensitive than others. As far as the redness, what I have been doing is before I apply the pod to my site, I’ll get the corner of an alcohol swab and dab the left-over insulin in the window; this seems to have been helping with the redness/rash.
As far as sites go, I alternate from the back of my arms to my stomach to my mid-back, and once in a while my legs. The best absorption for me in this order: stomach - arms - mid-back - legs. It’s kind of hard on the back when sitting down, so I’ll use those sites every once in a while. I’ve tried my upper butt, but that’s where I was experiencing the most redness and swelling…
Hope this helps.
I had a lot of problems with my Omnipod sites until I began using Opsite Flexifix.
It used to be that after two days, the site would itch like crazy and it would be very sensitive. Towards the end, insulin absorption would be impaired. And when I did remove the Omnipod - and I was grateful for being able to do so - there would more often than not be caked blood on the canula or around the site, the site would be risen, etc. In fact, I’m sure the sites became infected every now and then.
That all stopped when I’d first lay down a layer of Opsite Flexifix, put the Omnipod on it, and have the canula inserted. Insulin absorption became better, it stopped itching, and removing it became easy and painless. (The Opsite Flexifix would stick pretty strongly but remove painlessly - without pulling out too much hair too!).
So, I’d suggest that. And it doesn’t have to be the Opsite Flexifix per se: could be anything like it (Tegaderm I think is another option). BTW, I also lay a strip of Opsite Flexifix the opposite direction over the Omnipod after it’s been activated to hold it in place. I used to knock them off pretty regularly, but not once since I began securing it with Opsite Flexifix over the top as well.
Pamaloo,
Where you live and this summer’s heat may have something to do with it. I live in deep south texas with temperatures way over 100. 1st and 2nd days have been good. 3rd?Brutal. Now that it is beginning to cool down, my numbers are getting better and my insulin usage has lowered.
Maybe try loading for 2 days and change on the 3rd day for a bit???
marty
Hi,
the skin is aswell a reflection of your metabolism , we find that organic foods helps our son , he s really doing much better with the pod since we changed to organic ( non sprayed food) if your metabolism is too busy handling those sprays or other substances it will send to the skin next, so the less it has to do the better it works , he changes his pod every 3 days, and enoys them the best at his upper arms, goodluck.
I used to have problems keeping my pod on for the full 3 days - the adhesive would wear off! I started using Skin-Tac wipes as an extra adhesive adn barrier adn now it stays on great adn there is not as much soreness or redness.
i was thinking of buying some of the opsite flexifix for my son he has had some issues with absorption maybe running high before and after a pod change we ran out of his other skin prep this week would this substitute for that, do you lay it under the pod then the cannula goes though? and thoughts would be appreciated!
HI guys, thanks for the suggestions! I am definitely going to try to get my hands on some of that Opsite Flexifix to see if that will help. I haven’t updated this because I had a full week or so where I had no pod issues whatsoever and I didn’t want to jinx it!!! I thought that maybe it was due to the temperatures being cooler and making an effort to not sleep on the pod but the past 2 days have been awful!!! Very annoying.
