In the last month, I’ve had 4 pods occlude WITHOUT ALARMING.
I would wake up to the alarm of my Dex and my BG over 300 in the middle of the night, or in class, or at a party…
I could clearly see, both with my blood glucose being through the roof for hours…and once I removed the pod, it was easy to see where the cannula was blocked.
Does anyone know why I could be getting so many occlusions (none of them were from blood...) or why the pods aren't alarming?
I can only empathize, I have also had the same trouble! It is aggravating! All we can do is buck up, these are just machines designed to do our body’s job…and are not doing a great job at that! My pods choose when they want to alarm, occlusions, battery low, etc… Calls to insulet dont seem to matter, they jsut suggest the “pinch” when inserting! You know, if we cant get a “Peftect” A1C then, well, just think what your A1C would be without the pod! PEACE
Thanks Steve! I’m mostly just frustrated since I’ve been on such a great roll since starting with a CGMs but I can’t get pods to last the full three days…It’s just been a waterfall of…(I’ll omit my swearword of choice) unfortunate events…
Each one has been at a different area…
I wear the pods on my butt, back, hips, thighs and occasionally my arms (I’ve got lipodystrophy so I’m super diligent with site rotation…)
not once has there been any blood at the site, or pain or even discomfort…
The thing I’m most concerned about is the fact that they aren’t alarming. Ok, fine, if you are going to occlude the least you could do is inform me!
i hear Ya Maia! I have had boxes of Pods where maybe 4 or 5 in a row go bad, a call to insulet only proves VERY frustrating as they always tell me “that is impossible…we never pack pods such that this many “bad” pods end up in one shipment” “OK, thanks, but I have 4 dead pods sitting here in front of me…” blah blag blah. (and, as you said, at this point add swearwords and salty language of choice). I just have to remind myself of how much the pod and Dex have done for my Peace of MInd (usually). PEACE
I had a series of pods last year, about three, where I was running very high and posted what I found here: http://bit.ly/bq8tPb
Basically it came down to an internal leak somewhere in the pod plumbing, so that there was no evidence of insulin escaping to the skin surface by “channeling”, nor was there ever an occlusion alarm because any pressure buildup would be relieved by the internal leak. There was some insulin delivered to the site because I could bolus and basal “rage” some correction, but never enough.
Interesting info: I found that in a properly operating pump, the occlusion alarm would trigger at about 2 units of bolus with a pinched catheter.
If you suspect this is happening, don’t deactivate the pod, rip it off the site, and check if insulin is delivered by programming a bolus and seeing droplets form at the tip of the cannula. Then pinch the cannula shut: I found these the best because the cannula is somewhat delicate and can shred with cruder tools: http://bit.ly/c2yYmg
Program in a 10 unit bolus. If it delivers that massive amount and you see no insulin appearing at the pinched catheter tip, and the occlusion alarm doesn’t go off, then you likely have an internal leak in the pod.
I reported to Insulet but no followup occured. Haven’t had the problem since though.
Also, the condensation you see behind the window on the pod is normal and does not mean that insulin is leaking, just body humidity condensing.
Yeah, it’s been about a year for me too. I don’t know what is causing these occlusions, and a talk with Insulet today only made me more frustrated.
I’m very, very active, so maybe I just put more strain on the pods than most people…I can’t wear the pods on my abdomen, it’s not comfortable, I have poor absorption and they just aren’t comfortable. I also have lipodystrophy pretty severely in my abdomen because that was the only location I gave myself injections, and can’t take insulin there anymore…
glad to hear SOMEONE gets through problem-free!
thanks so much for all the information. I’ve been checking for delivery, and I don’t get any at all, not to mention I can see the occlusions.
Next time I get a mysteriously malfunctioning pod, and I can isolate that it’s not an occlusion, I’ll use your trick!
thanks again!
Was the blockage such that the insulin did not get delivered sub-cutaneously but, instead, was dripping on your skin (coming out of the insertion site)? If so, that would explain the lack of an alarm. As long as insulin is coming out, the pod thinks it’s going to the right place. Just a guess…
Cheers.
Nope. No insulin whatsoever was being delivered.
All of the occlusions were visible in the cannula. No insulin was even making it through the cannula…I could “blow them out” with VERY large boluses, but I’m not maybe putting 10 units in my body to save a pod…
What kind of insulin are you using? Do you think that is what is causing the occlusions? I mean, not that this makes the fact that your pods aren’t alarming any less relevant or concerning, but what is causing the occlusion to begin with, if it’s not kinked?
And then that takes us back to the original question of why is not alarming if there’s a clear occlusion present…
I’m using Humalog
it’s from India (long story…) but it is made in the same factory as the Humalog in the US…and I haven’t had any trouble at all in 10 months of Podding…
There are soooo many variables it drives me crazy!!! I think sometimes my son has a pod that has a partial occlusion or the site is just not absorbing well… so we change numbers and do temp basals and then… by the next pod…he is low an we have to make changes all over again.
I hate being utimately in charge of all of this when there is soooo manythings that can go wrong.
Just had one this week. My son woke up and was 454 with keytones. Took the pod off and it looked like the cannula was bent. Actually, this has happened 3 times in the almost 2 years he has been using the omnipod. I have to say his A1c’s haven’t improved dramatically with the omnipod but he definitley likes it beter than shots!
