Hi I started with the Omnipod system on May 26th. The first box of 10 pods was great, no problems at all. I have only used 2 from the next box and both have ended prematurely due to occlusions. The first lasted 2 days and the next one lasted less than 24 hours. I am beginning to think there may be something wrong with this particular box of pods. Has anyone else had this kind of experience ? I have called tech support and they are replacing the 2 pods that occluded but I am more than nervous about starting another pod from this box.
Just keep at it. I had 3 fail in the past 3 weeks, two in succession, both from the same box and one from a different box. Before that it's been months since I had a failure. I will get 3 replacements end of month. My next shipment will be the new, smaller pods!!! Don't give up, they do fail and it's a small inconvenience. Try different sites. I tend to use my upper arms too often but so far it hasn't been a problem. Good luck. Your nervousness is only natural but be persistent.
Thanks, these are the newer, smaller pods, and they are fantastic, but having 2 fail from the same box makes me wonder about the entire box. I have 2 other boxes so I can always just use a different box and hope for the best.
Try and give it some time. Like clubkobe it's been months and months since anything has gone awry with a pod. I've only had one or two occlusions. Mostly it's the dreaded beep on start up. Just had one or two a month or two ago. Problems are rare but does seem to run in batches which makes it seem worse. I always carry my insulin vial and an extra pod with me just in case.
hi clare, didn't know you made the switch, sometimes we do run into a bad box, Jacob has been using ominipod for two years, the new smaller pods for 1 week, no occlusions with the new ones so far... when you say occlusions do you mean it is alarming during a bolus occlusion or a rising unexplained bs must be a partial occlusion type occlusion, I suspect you mean it is alarming which is better in a way so you can fix the problem immediately, unless you are 14 and it is a pain in the but when you pod alarms at school, luckily for Jacob only two like that and it was during lunch so no one but him noticed.... I would try once more and thistime make sure you are diligent about bubbles slowly put the insulin in, if you have another occlusion I would switch the box,luckily we switched Jacobs prescription to change out every two days because we always ran a bit short .... the tubeless is a great feature I am hoping for a better success rate with the new pods and hope you are predominantly a happy podder! we were getting a touch discouraged before the new arrival now we have renewed hope Jacob was super excited when the new pods arrived. hang in there sometimes there can be a bit of adjustment getting used to the new equipment and then there is the general equipment failure issues that no one ever thinks about when they start pumping.... so many variable, best of luck! amy
Thanks amy, yes these were the "occlusion detected, insulin delivery stopped, replace pod now" alarms which I guess as an adult are not a big deal except if it happens just after a 5 hour round of golf and the vial of novolog you brought with you in the cooler has less than the minimum amount needed to get the pod going and you have to try and suck the remaining insulin out of the failed pod just to make the minimum. It made for more drama than is absolutely necessary but also taught me a very valuable lesson I have to always be prepared for a failure. I am hoping this is just a fluke and I'm also hoping when I ship the failed pod back to insulet they figure out what is going on. I am a happy podder, and I do love how much more flexible I can be with my exercise and food routines. But there is a learning curve for this and I am still learning.
Hi Clare,
My son has been using Omnipod for three years and once early on had a couple of bad pods in a single box, but the rest were fine. Never had that issue again until about a month ago, opened a new box and had two pods fail within hours of each other. Called to replace those and told them I was nervous about the rest of the box and asked about replacing the box, but they wanted him to try one more. The third one failed too and they did indeed replace the box at that point. Good luck... hope it's just the two bad pods for you... but if there's another failure, just ask that they replace the box.
No Occlusions for me yet on the new ones (on smaller pod number 3) I do think my current one is going to fail...as I see a little blood through the window. BG numbers are fine...so Im gonna stick with it and see if I make it 3 days.
it is such a bummer when these things happen, so many things to remember sometimes Jacob is like I don't need to bring my extra supplies mom..... of course the first time he was at a new friends house he had an occlusion and I had to go get him we probably could of worked around that letting him stay an hour or two with activity and no insulin running would of probably been fine his endo agreed, every "failure" is a chance to learn I guess! very tough lessons though. hang in and ask if you have any other questions we are still learning a bit with the new pdm I am not sure about the insulin on board feature it used to just calculate this on correction and now it is on food also, Jacob eats a lot and often and we have been having to add to his boluses to work around this might change his insulin action time but I think I will touch base with his endo first.... hope you are doing well, stay cool! amy
Thanks for the info Liz. I am using a pod from the first box currently because that was one stored in my golf bag. I will try one more pod from the box that has failed and if that one occludes, then I will get them to replace the box.
Since I didn't have the original version of the pdm, I don't have any basis for comparison. So far though I have found the pdm is pretty user friendly, mind you I have errored out more strips than I care to mention because I failed to confirm that I was indeed Clare and this was indeed my pdm. The pod trainer said they included the confirm crap because too many kids at D camp were mixing up their pdms. But thankfully I have plenty of strips and a dexcom so it's not a big deal.
But in the last month I have to agree with the advertising, it has made D a much smaller part of my life.
It happens. The error rate after 69 new Pod's is 11% (8Pods) 7 are replaced and one occlusion was after 73 hours. June was perfect with no problems at all. So knock on wood and go on. I‘m still a happy user.
My first box of new pods was a nighmare. I only wore one pod until expiration. I had several priming errors, and the first few might have been my fault because I didn't know I had to be so careful about having the pod and PDM close together during priming. I also had several occlusions, usually shortly after placing the pod. Things have gotten better, I'm happy to say.
Right as I was finishing up my last box of the old pods, I had a lot of occlusions. I was using just the backs of my arms and the tops of my thighs for the last few years. I started putting the pods in other areas with no problems, but I do prefer those more discrete spots (and the pods are less likely to get yanked off there.) So far with the new pods, I haven't had a lot of occlusions. Not sure why they'd work better but they seem to. Could be coincidence. Really hate the idea that my favorite spots could be too tough to use after several years of the pod on those areas.
Since I am very new to this I have not "worn" out any spots. But the 2 pods that occluded were on my thigh and my back love handle. It was the first time I tried the thigh because generally I like to reserve that for the dexcom sensor. But both times the occlusions occurred I had just finished a physical activity a racquetball match with the first and a round of golf with the second. I don't know if this is coincidental or not, I'm hoping I don't have to be more choosy about types of exercise, but I may have to be more choosy about pod placement.