I just starting omnipoding with actual insulin this morning (yay!), and I have a few questions for you experienced omnipoders:
What is the fail rate you’ve experienced with pods? Between my saline trial and my insulin start this morning, I’ve already had 3/5 fail on me. How many pods do you carry around with you at a time in case one fails?
Do you use rechargeable batteries? The Insulet rep told my husband and I not to, but the only reason I can think of why they don’t recommend it is that they haven’t tested the pdm with rechargeables and don’t want to be held responsible if anything goes wrong.
Has anyone found a more attractive/useful carrying case? I’m not going to use the belt pdm holder because it won’t hold my lancing device and strips, and the larger case that does hold all that stuff is too big and not that attractive. I looked at some camera cases at Best Buy yesterday, but I couldn’t find any good looking ones that look professional that fit the pdm, strips, and lancing device. I looked at Levenger for some organizers that might fit, but none there are the right size either.
What is the experience you’d had with airport security? I travel for work and am going through security at least twice/week. Have you had luck just walking straight through the metal detector with your pod on?
I’m sure I’ll have more questions later on…Thanks!
Congratulations on podding! I have been one of the unlucky ones with bad pods. My failure rate is pretty high. Seems if anyone can get a bad shipment it’s me! It is really frustrating but I have been able to draw the insulin back out and they send a new POD everytime. After being at a football game this fall and having two pods fail when changing I almost always travel with an extra extra one.
I haven’t found a good carrying case yet either. I would love one to go running with. My cousin sent me a Vera Bradly cosmetic case the week I was diagnosed (3 yrs ago) and that has held everything really well. I hate carrying a pocket book but I haven’t been able to get around that one yet. If you find something cool let us know! Haven’t tried the batteries or flying yet…
Good luck-Betsy
Thanks for the response…I went through airport security this morning just fine. The metal detector did not go off. (I had been told that it wouldn’t, but I was still suspect.) One worry down!
We have been using the OmniPod for 4 months. I sent 7 pods back today, for a total of 13 (I think) failures in that time. Too many, but I feel that OmniPod is collecting data and will improve production quality. We have never been in a place that left us inconvenienced. (as if dealing with diabetes is convenient!) This AM was the worst, we had 2 fail to prime while the school bus drove by. To OmniPods credit they have gladly replaced every pod at no charge to us, not even shipping.
Despite those failures we LOVE the OmniPod. None of the failures have caused any danger to our kid. The hassle of priming a long tube is not there, and he doesn’t have to sleep with a brick and a hose.
I do have a lot of failures (about 30%). I am sticking it out because when everything goes well i like it much better than my Minimed pump. The good news is that Omnipod has very good customer support and so far has never given me a problem replacing bad pods.
I travel a lot for work and have never had a problem with the pod and security. I do travel with a letter from my doctor but have never had to produce it…
Hi Liz - I’ve been using Omnipod for nearly a year - a few comments… On the plus side - before the Pod I was a 9+ A1c and taking 5 to 7 shots a day. Of course, now I take no shots and my A1c is consistently 6.4 - 6.8 - that seems like success to me. Pod failures are occasional but not too bad - maybe 1 in 20 - and when I request replacement there is no hesitation and the turn around is quick. Once in a while my BS readings get a little strange - even though my eating habits, exercise habits and life style are consistent (consistently boringly!). Most of the strange readings are during the last 24 hours before the 72 hour active period. I scratch my head but live with it.
I don’t use rechargeable batteries - I buy 40 packs from Radio Shack - maybe a bit more expensive than other retailers but a 40 pack is handy - if I remember correctly it comes to about $.50 each. I carry my PDM in a small leather bag - being male I don’t want to call it a purse - you understand… but I carry my Rx tablets, extra syringes & insulin (just in case), extra keys, checkbook and so on - it is convenient.
I don’t know how your first day without injections was but I felt an incredible sense of freedom and relief - really was/is neat. I was injecting for 30 years or so.
Also - one thing that really bothers me is the total lack of feedback or interest that the personnel at Insulet have - it’s like they made the sale and then walked away - no questions, no “how’s it going”, no update emails. Oh well, the good with the bad.
Hope it all goes well for you - my Omnipod rating would be in the range of 85 to 90.
If the pods are falling off you at the rate you say then you are not preparing your skin area correctly.
You must clean the area with alcohol preps. This really is not to kill germs as much as it is to clean your skin so the pod will adhere to you. You have to run the area really well with preps. If you are hairy then you might want to shave the area before hand. If the alcohol preps don’t do the job then perhaps one of the skin preparations such as Mastisol or others that are commercially available. You do not say whether or not you are perspiring. If you perspire a lot then maybe if you use an antiperspirant near the site, sort of around where the pod is going to go but not on the area where the pod is actually going to be.
Now as for rechargeable batteries: You should NOT USE rechargeable batteries in certain electronic devices! Except for certain prepriority batteries designed for specific electronic devices over the counter rechargeable batteries do not have the voltage/current stability. You will even notice that on some electronic devices rechargeable batteries really do not fit correctly. This because rechargeable batteries are of slightly larger size so they purposely will not fit in certain devices to avoid problems from again voltage/current stability factors to even the chance of overheating and fire problems. So the bottom line is if a company say Do Not Use rechargeable batteries it isn’t because they own share in Duracell it’s because it might cause problems. Perhaps maybe they are not sure because then never did the required testing to make sure!. Just look at all the problems Sony has had with some of there batteries causing fires and such and I’m sure they did tons of research and testing before marketing their batteries. Anyways for the most part I consider rechargeable a pain, they do not last as long as a fresh set of alkaline batteries. Another thing and I’m sure there will be lots of people who disagree with me here but when buying batteries by the brand names only. If you do some research on your own you will see that you think you are saving money but the cheaper batteries do not last as long. I mean if you enjoy swaping out batteries all the time then so problem. Me I want the longest duration possible! Anyway just my two cents for what it is worth
I’ve traveled several times wearing an OmniPod and I’ve never had a problem getting through the detectors. Only one time as I was leaving France and was patted down did it raise the guard’s eyebrows. I speak French and when I explained that it was a medical device, she waived me on through!
I too have recently taken a few flights while wearing the Omni Pod Pump. I on the other hand I had a different experience with security. (It was a tiny airport)
I had to open up the batteries and show them what a “new Pod” looks like because the one on my arm I would not take off. It was very surprising to me that they had never seen this type of pump. I held up the line and all my medical supplies where examined even my RX’s. Thank goodness I had them in the RX bottles. This I feel was over and beyond what was necessary, but I understood the concern and used this time to educate them on the Omni Pod pump! LOL
I had no problem when I returned from my flight to the airport. I also did not allow them to x-ray the unopened Pods. I know there is minimal radiation given off to the Pods but I did not want them to fail on my trip. So all in all things worked out fine, it may have been that this airport was so small and had not seen this type of pump. The other airports were no problem at all, I breezed through them! Without any problems.
Linda
