Omnipod help! I have a 5 year old son who has been on Omnipod for just over a year. Initially we struggled with failures (which I posted on this blog) but then for a few months things improved. That is until about a month ago when we started an EXTREMELY high failure rate. (Not during priming, but rather during bolusing or doing nothing at all.) When I say high I mean in the last four days we have changed his pump THREE times! 4 of 4 have failed! I’m referring to actual hardware failures, not like a bad site, etc. (I won't bore you with my list of complaints and headaches like I did last time, but I'm sure you can imagine how this impacts school, grandparent visits, etc not to mention his blood sugar control, insertion pain, and number of sites used.)
So, I'm basically just asking for help. Any ideas? Is there a known problem? Are other people struggling like we are with a failure rate this high? Is it always young kids? What is everyone’s experience with failures and were you able to reduce them. I was excited because I thought things had improved, but the past month has really been killing us (and Drew) again.
Thanks again for the help. - Dave and Carrie Please feel free to contact me directly at gorajekd@yahoo.com with ANY advice!
Hello Dave and Carrie, I would like to say, I feel your pain!! I have been experiencing the same issues with pod failures and dealing with the consequences of them…high blood sugars and the logistics of needing to make the pod changes. For instance, nothing takes the formal out of a formal event for my husbands work when your pod starts screeching or while teaching my daughter’s church class. So I completely understand. It is VERY frustrating and I joined this site specifically to connect with OmniPod users to see if it was a common issue.
I can’t say I have been able to reduce them. I do contact OmniPod to document the failures and they replace the pods for me. They also send mailers to send the pods back to them so they can research the pod issues. When I ask what is going on with the pods and if there is something I am doing they tell me the same things: make sure you pinch up at the insertion site and not to use cold insulin. I do all these things and, after all the pod failures, do feel it’s a pod issue and not a user issue.
In addition to pod failures I am getting a lot of stuck key alerts.
I am sorry you are dealing with these issues with your son and apologize I can’t offer any words of wisdom. I do understand what you are going through. I have loved being tubeless but am considering making a switch back to a pump that was more reliable for me (minimed). I don’t want to jump the gun though. A lot depends upon my next A1C check and the conversation with my doctor.
I went through this a month ago. Insulet replaced all the pods at no cost, so you should at least call them on this. Keep the bad pods as they'll want you to ship them back in the box they send the replacements. They provide postage and all.
Other than that you have 2 options basically. 1. Stick it out, as Insulet does stand by the product through thick and thin. They'll get better. I haven't have a failure in the last two boxes I've used, after a few back to back failures.
2. Switch pump makers. There are plenty of options all with +s and -s so don't switch just to look for greener grass. Just look for the best fit.
I'm so sorry to hear you're having this many failures. And I'm sorry I haven't any new suggestions to offer. I haven't had failures like that in the last several months. I hope things turn around for you and your son very soon.
You might try a different box. I seem to get failures in bunches. Last 3 boxes, 1 failure total, the box I'm on now, 4 out of the 6 have failed so far!(on #7 now) Different kind of errors on all of them. 1st one, no double beep on filling, 2nd one, primed but did not deploy, 3rd one, failed during bolus, .05 left on bolus(have seen this one before) and 4th, 4 hrs on and just died with basal running. Insulet has replaced all of them and didn't want any of them back, I've gotten real good at getting the insulin out of the dead ones:)
All of them had the same Lot# L40720
sorry you are having sooo many failures. I just had one not more than 15 minutes ago, failed to inject. I had lots of failures right after the new smaller pods came out and frankly, insulet was a huge pain about them. I waited on hold for 4 hours total and still did not get any satisfaction! If there was another tubeless pump, I would switch to it. I considered switching to the minimed and their CGM that adjusts at night but heard horror stories about the "harpoon" injector for the CGM so went with Dexcom G4.
I hope someone at Insulet is listening and will make some customer service changes and maybe a little better QC on the product.
I have had 15 failures since the new smaller pod has been introduced. I am thinking of going back to shots because at least I know they do not fail. This is a total interruption of my life. Most times I am just sleeping and wake up to a blaring noise from the pod failing. And when it happens the pod is normally working perfect. Great BG and bam pod failure. I am past the post of frustration. If there were another wireless pump I would have already switched. So I am about to make the decision of going back to the old school shots. They seem to be the only thing dependable.
Sorry you are having so many problems. I switched to the smaller pods last Sept. and have had app.5 failures since. Sent one back to Insulet recycled the rest, so not much of a failure rate. Assuming you are doing every thing that Insulet suggested I would try one thing and that is what stopped occlusions for me. When the pod deploys instead of pinching up and pushing down on the nose of the pod instead leave it flat and push down lightly on the heel of the pod. The angle of the cannula is much better. Aside from that I can only wish you luck. FYI I use my arms exclusively
Thanks for the suggestion. I may try that. They always ask if I pinch up and of course I do. I use stomach and buttocks mainly. I tried the back of the arm and it worked great as far as blood glucose levels but then bam I get a failure. They keep telling me that it is something internally with the pod. With the older bigger pods I only had 1 failure in a years time.
