So I started the OmniPod 3 days ago and was supposed to changed it at 10:26 this morning. At the training session the trainer told me and I have read that it is only supposed to be worn for 72 hours and was told by the trainer that it would last for 80 hours but I am curious. There is still another day’s worth of Humalog in this thing and it will hit 80 hours at 6:26pm which gives me about an hour. I don’t want to just throw out another day’s worth of Humalog so I’m curious. What is the longest anyone has worn their pod before changing? I’m guessing that there probably isn’t enough battery power to go another day so I am planning to change it sometime between 6 and 6:30 when it will hit the 80 hour mark. Now that I know that I will not use 200 units in 3 days I will of course only put enough Humalog in to last 3 days with a little extra just in case I need it.
So what’s the longest you have gone without changing your pod?
The Pod will deactivate itself when the 3 days is up…and it wont work after that. So, just change it at that point. If you feel the need, you can draw the insulin out of the current pod, i cant do it but my wife can. I felt like all this ■■■■ was too much to deal with, so I changed to the “Ping”.
The pod will automatically turn off after 80 hours. If you have an abundance of insulin left, there are posts above removing insulin from pods, although I believe Insulet discourages the practice. Hope this helps.
Thanks Steve. That’s what I was thinking but the 3 day mark was 7 hours ago. I’m not worried and it’s not really a hassel for me. I was just curious if there was anyone who had been able to go longer than the 80 hours that I was told was the limit. I’ll probably wait and see what happens at that point just to satisfy my curiosity.
I have asked about removing insulin and I know that it can be done. The trainer showed me how to do it just in case I needed to. I honestly wouldn’t want to reuse the insulin in my pod after it had been in there for more than 1 day. I am a rookie though so this is me finding out what I didn’t know.
Hey Jared!
Congrats on starting the Omnipod! I have loved mine and I hope you’ll love yours as much as I love mine.
Alrighty down to business. My trainer told me the same thing. It’s 72 hours max and then you have 8 hours of extra time to get your act together and change your pod before it permanently dies on you.
I decided to see what would happen if I went the 80 hours (or maybe longer…so I tried) When I reached the 80 hour mark it told me the pod was no longer expired but completely turned off. So, long story short it won’t let you go past 80 hours no matter how much battery power or insulin you have. It’s all automatic. I have no idea how you could get it to go past 80 hours but I wonder if some ninja diabetic has figured it out by now!
After you take a swing at it a couple of times you’ll know how much insulin you’ll need for those 3 days and figure out times to change it that work for you.
Good luck and make those pods work for you!
Catherine
You’re welcome, Jared…go ahead and try. I figure the pod will go into a long beep indicating the session is up, but if not, I am sorry. Good luck and PEACE.
Ha, ha, I learned something. I never knew it went 80 hrs but now I do. I guess that’s always what I’ve done, keep it going until the long beep indicates it’s over and done with. I almost never take the insulin out unless it expires early due to an occlusion or just fails early which fortunately rarely happens. Sometimes I can get it out, sometimes I can’t. What irritates me is the consistent beeping to warn you that you are on your last 8 hrs. Has anyone figures out how to turn that off? It’s very intrusive when you’re trying to sleep.
80 hours. Somehow the pod knows when the time is up even if you keep it away from the PDM. I guess I’ll change it now. It would be nice if someone could figure out how to hack the pods. That might not be something that you really want to play with. Wow! That long BEEEEEEEEEEEP does get annoying. I couldn’t imagine this happening in an airplane or a courtroom or a movie or a restaurant.
When you prime the pod, it receives all of the programmed info plus it takes note of the time that you activate it. I usually try to get 80 hours out of my pod. You might want to check your stats regarding your average 3 day insulin usage and load a little more than that amount…helps to cut down on wasted insulin. Regarding your first pod failure…be sure that your insulin is at room temp and slowly push the insulin into the pod while it’s on a flat surface.
I did check the daily usage and calculated that 150 units should be plenty so that’s all that I put in. I did put room temperature insulin in the pod. Everything seemed to be going alright but while it was priming it started beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeping and then stopped and told me to start over. It might have been one of the couple that the trainer gave me so I’m not going to worry about it. I’m pretty sure I did everything perfectly. I just thought it was funny that the very first one was bad. I’m sure it’s not a sign or anything.
I didn’t make it to the endo for my first pod change. I had two failures in a row. I remember thinking that it wasn’t a good sign. Both of my failures were occlusions. I know that they tell you to “pinch up”…never ever worked for me. I have had very very few failures of any type since I started to push the ‘nose’ end down. I’ve been podding for 2 1/2 years now. If the pinch method works for you, then by all means keep it up. Over the past 2 1/2 years, I’ve had approximately 6 pods that seemed to have malfunctioned for no apparent reason…one while priming. Not bad. Insulet replaced them all.
Janice/Jared -
There is a procedure that Insulet reps (on the phone) will have you go through involving a paper clip and the tiny little hole at the nose of the pod, supposedly you can silence the bugger by sticking a paper clip in that hole or something like that…i prefer the “freezer method”, just stick the pod in your freezer for a few hours and it will shut up when it is frozen That is the method that I use most often, then when the thing is silent I take it out and send it back to Insulet. ( I know it will start beeping again when it is warmed up, but I figure that will be insulets problem when the Postmaster General investigates!) These are the reasons I am switching to the Ping. Good Luck and PEACE.
If you take the cover off of the pod it should stop the beeping. You can then pull the two little springs out of the top of the pod and put the cover back on. This shouldn’t affect the operation of the pod at all. You are basically disconnecting the speaker. I’m thinking that you could do this before activating it and when the 80 hours is up you won’t hear the beep at all. It’s not hard to pop the cover off of the pod at all. Someone should try this and see what happens.
Unfortunately just throw it out. Next pod you put on, you can just fill with only the amount you will need for 3 days. I usually get another 6 hours after the 3 days is over. When the PDA says change pod now at the 3 day point, just answer okay, but dont change it you will get another 6 hours or so before you are forced to change.
I took some pictures of the 2 disassembled pods if anyone is curious. That circle on the inside of the cover is what makes that annoying beeeeeeeep that you hear when the 80 hours is up. You can see the 2 little screws sticking out of the pod that send the signal that makes the sound.
