Omnipod help! I have a 5 year old son who has been on Omnipod for just over a year. We are still struggling with ".05 Bolus Remaining" failures (3 of the last 3!!), and when you combine those with the pump falling off and other hardware errors we are at our wits end.
So, I'm basically just asking for help. Any ideas? Has anyone out there been able to reduce or eliminate the bolus errors? Any tricks? Is there a known problem? Are other people struggling like we are with a failure rate this high? Is it always young kids? 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!
I'm just not having failures. I had problems with a batch that were early manufactures, but I called about it, they replaced my box, and I'm only using pods made after 11/2013. I have heard of others having their PDM replaced and then no issues. But that could have been timing. If you have a local rep to contact, they should be able to let you borrow another PDM for a few weeks, and that may help you determine if you have a "buggy" PDM? Do you have a local rep?
We have been on Omnipod since Feb. Very active 12 year old that plays lacrosse. We have only had one pod failure and have not seen the .5 Bolus remaining error. Is there insulin left in pod when it does this? I can see the error occuring if you are out on insulin or near the end. It sounds like this is a PDM issue - not a pod issue. Can you contact Insulet or your Omnipod rep?
Tricks for keeping pod on - we use Hypafix Dressing Retention Tape. Tape it over the pod and it stays on and comes off easily. Also use Skintac if he is going to be in pool or beach. Works well too but harder to get on and off.
Good luck with the error - hope you figure it out soon.
I agree on the Skin tac. I don't use it for my Pods, I use it for my Dexcom, but it works wonders and I keep that on for 2 weeks plus without peeling issues. I did use skin tac on my pod when I went white water rafting with it on.
I had this exact problem. It was an issue with the particular lot #. I called and got the individual pods and the complete box replaced (all with the same lot #). Had to be a bit persistent bc at first they didn’t want to replace the whole box but it was so clear that it was a batch issue. Ever since then have not had any .05 errors. And maybe tell them that you’re at your wits end - it may help your case (not that you should need help, you’re in the right!) but they know we have pump choices so that should help get what you need. And definitely tell them you know of others who had a similar problem and a replacement box did the trick. Good luck!
Although frustrating, it isn't just young kids. I've had similar failures, the .05 bolus remaining ones, three that I can remember. Two might have been from the same box, but I can't recall now. I do recall that one delivery failure happened while we were traveling and I had to change pods out. As I was filling the pod with insulin, it was coming back out; nothing I did could stop it. Of course it didn't work and I had to use yet another pod. Pods and insulin lost. I had plenty of insulin remaining in the pods when they failed; I wasn't due to change them out for at least a day. One, now that I am writing this out, happened the same day I changed pods, so it had plenty of insulin. It wasn't that I had over filled them either, as I only put 100-125 units in.
I use BARD® Protective Barrier wipes which add another level of protection and stickiness. I have some brush on glue, I can't recall the name, that I can use if it (Pod or Dexcom) starts to come off before it should; rarely does it do this.
Like others have mentioned, call OmniPod and at least get the pods lost, replaced. Best of luck to you.
I saw the end-of-bolus errors repeatedly after I first got the new PDM/pods. They went away after a while. There was no correlation with the pod lot number that I could determine; for a while I was posting lot numbers on tudiabetes but all that showed was that a lot of people saw the problem with different lots.
I did have to abandon one site (slightly lower down my upper arms) that had worked just fine with the old pods. I'm now able to use my upper arms but have to be careful about where I put the pod (higher up, pointing down.)
I also had a suspicion that that problem might be air temperature related; the problems disappeared as it got warmer. So the problems may reappear as I go into winter, I don't know yet.
I suspected, and still suspect, that the PDM may accumulate information from prior pods and adjust the sensitivity of the pod error detection to match. That would explain the rapid drop-off in error rate at the end of the first box of pods. Another possibility is that my own immune system may just have got used to the pods and stopped trying to whack the end of the cannula with angry white blood cells. That might also explain my inability to get the DexCom CGM to work.
I don't know; something was, and maybe is, going on but I've not seen a satisfactory explanation.
I guess we are lucky. (Knock wood!) My 12-year-old daughter has been using OmniPod since she first started pumping on 06/05/2014. We have had NO Pod failures, and our PDM works like a charm. We have had a handful of site failures, but Insulet replaced the Pod every time.
