We have received numerous complaints about Omnipods failing. Up to 40% of a shipment of 10 pods. Plus complaints about a waste of insulin because the old pods which people still have to use because they have no more new pods, can not receive the insulin when it is drawn out of the failed new pod. Other complaints. Customer service is near impossible to get through to.
What does one do about these problems? If a devise keeps failing and you can't get recourse as big a pain as it might be.. get a more reliable devise. After all your life depends on it.
The other factor that needs to be considered is what pumps does your insurance cover. While you are doing your research and your Omnipods have failed and your new shipment is delayed please be sure you have long acting insulin available until all of this gets straightened out.
I have been on omnipod for over 2 years now and since I retired from the military at age 60 this past Jan 3 I have been dealing with Express-Scripts getting over to the new part number and then getting their system change over to cover the new pods. I finely got the order straighten out today and will hope have my new shipment of the new pods in a few days since I am down to only 4 pods left. I remember when I started with omnipod I had a number of error pods and then this past year had only one bad pod. I go though a pod in approx 2 1/2 days. Now the fun will begin to get the new PDM to work with the new pods. I look forward to them getting their act together with the change over.
I think the old pods were not nearly as shock resistant as they should and in shiping they get damaged. If I toss my briefcase on the seat of my truck (not too hard computer inside) I can get my spare pods to set their alarms off. There is also no rewinding and repriming. Once there is an error you have to use a new pod. If your tubed pump get an occlusion then you can just change the infusion set. Or if a bubble appears you can unhook and prime it out. The omni pod has many points of failure and just one result... time for a new pod. With this said I finally became tired of it and pu in my order for a Revel pump.
Also, if one is thinking on going with Omnipod, wait a couple of months until they get everything straightened out. They're switching all their customers to the new system (as well as new customers), and have some quality control issues to hammer out.
I gave the O'pods a five month trial last year before I called it quits. I had a problem with site absorption and occlusions. Near the end I seemed like I had trouble with every third pod.
I realized that my usual sites were getting tired as I had been pumping for 25 yeas at that point. I switched back to my old Ping and also experimented with two new infusion sets. I use a loofa sponge on my abdomen when I shower and that seems to help restore my sites. The Ping is way more dependable for me.
I wrote a post about this last year in the Omnipod group. I know there a are a lot of people that love the pod and it works very well for them. A few commenters were upset with my poor review and were defensive.
When I tried the pod I knew that it had a history of a small but significant percentage of pod adopters that failed to make the pods work for them. I thought maybe I wasn't in that group and I wanted to try this tech out. It didn't work for me but I'm glad that there are several pump choices in the market to suit a spectrum of preferences.
I joined this site because I was hoping someone had news about failed omnipods. I have wonderful insurance, so it doesn't really cost me directly, but it seems like a rip-off that so many fail, and there is no recourse from the company (that I know of). I will say though, that the new pods are quite a bit smaller, and enable me to use it on my arms. The old ones were too heavy for that. I refuse to use a pump with tubing, so I guess I'm stuck. I wish they'd make the PDM more tech-savvy though.
Out of 2 boxes of the new pods, I haven't had any fail due to priming or anything, but have had one occlusion, which happened on the second day. There is recourse for failed pods, you just call up their support and they'll send you a replacement. They don't officially send replacements for occlusions, but sometimes it seems like they will.
Regarding wasted insulin, I had no problem pulling the insulin out of the pod that I had an occlusion with. Even with the really short new needles, I got almost all of it out. I'm not sure why other people have problems doing that.
I guess I'll just put their number on speed dial then. I have mixed results pulling it out of the failed pods. Sometimes it works, but I had a new pod simply not talk to the PDM at all, and I couldn't get any insulin out of it. I never had one act like that, and, of course, it was the first one I tried.
Yes I really would like to know who is "we". I have had really good results since starting the Omnipod system in May this year. I never used the old system so I have nothing to compare it with, but of the 40+ pods I have used so far none has failed during priming or start up. All have communicated properly with the PDM. I have had 3 occlusions and 2 of those occluded pods were replaced quickly and happily by Insulet. The third pod occluded on day 3 just a few hours from expiration so they did not replace it. I have only had one time that I could not get through to customer service so I left my phone number and they called me back. As for having long acting insulin on hand that is sensible advice for any pumper regardless of the type of device he/she is using. And it would also be sensible to have the rapid acting as a back up as well. I have no intention of using a tubed pump and since the pod is working reliably for me and many other people might I suggest that when you post a discussion that involves your experience with a device you put it in the first person not the third.
The WE is from reports to the Nevada/California Diabetes Association that provides a wide variety of programs and services for both Type 1 and 2's, including camp programs for children and families. We get called about many problems and it is not unusual for people to call us about what to do when they are having problems with their diabetes equipment, pumps, BG's CGM's etc.
We received over 35 calls from people who needed help with an Omni Pod. We actually get calls from all over the country because we are listed on several resource sites as an information and referral resource. The complaints we received were noted in our first comments.
As you can see from others who have commented they have also had problems. Insulet is a very fine company and we have since talk with them about the problems that are being experienced by some of the Omni users. Insulet stands behind it's OmniPod and no question they will replace defective ones. The customer service wait time issue is being addressed as we understand it.
Any electronic devise can fail.. Our question was just how wide range was this problem and what were others experiences.
Thanks for the clarification. So you represent an informational organization ? Do you actually use the omnipod system yourself ? Or have diabetes ? If that is the case, then the discussion should be done in the first person. As in "I have been having problems with my Omnipod system". (see tudiabetes discussion: http://www.tudiabetes.org/group/omnipodusers/forum/topics/failure-after-failure?xg_source=activity If that is not the case, then the post should be "I represent the Nevada/California Diabetes Association and we have received over 35 calls from PWD who needed help with their Omnipod system". What is your experience ? It should not be a hysterical cry about devices that keep failing. When you do not have that experience.
I a new pumper, started with the Opod. I have had a single failure out of two boxes so far, and that was about 80% into the life of that pod, so it wasn't a big deal. Haven't asked for a replacement, but now I'm thinking I will just to have an extra pod.
I have heard anecdotally that there are several "quirks" about the new pods that, if avoided, eliminate most of the failures:
First and foremost: Do not fill with more that 200U!!!!!! The syringe goes a little bit over 200, looks like about an extra 15U. This extra capacity in the syringe is for removing air bubbles, not for a little top-off over 200. Apparently the pods are very sensitive to being overfilled.
Remove all the air bubbles before injecting. Technique here is very important. Some people are impatient or unknowing, so end up with a bunch of insulin "foam" in the syringe after rapidly filling it via a vacuum technique. Good chance you'll inject some of that into the pod, and it often won't like it.
Here's my technique, which has been 100% successful (I don't count the one bad pod, since it went most of the way through it's planned operation). Using a 10ml bottle of Humalog:
Only use insulin at room temperature; insulin increases in viscosity when it is cold, and will "foam" much more
Clean the top of the bottle with alcohol prep pad
Draw air into syringe in the amount of insulin you will be putting the pod
With the bottle upright, inject the air into it until the plunger is fully depressed
The fun part: Carefully invert the entire bottle/syringe assembly while keep the plunger depressed
Release the plunger and allow pressure from the air you just injected to force insulin into the syringe. This will usually put 50-75U in the syringe all on its own without you pulling on the plunger
As the plunger slows down, start to "help" it by gently pulling, being very careful not to break the liquid seal at the needle end of syringe causing vacuum and a bunch of foam/bubbles. If you are very careful with this, you will learn the technique pretty quickly, and it will be automatic going forward
Continue until the syringe is completely full, including the extra 15U
(Optional) Remove the syringe from the bottle, taking care to recap the needle and keep it sterile
Holding the syringe inverted (needle up) tap tap tap to consolidate all air bubbles / foam at the top in the conical needle feed of the syringe
Uncap the needle and insert it back into the inverted bottle. Carefully inject the foam/bubbles back into the bottle. Then carefully draw insulin again to the MAX line, tap, inject back into the bottle precisely to the 200U mark on the syringe. Repeat until you have almost no air bubbles (a tiny bit of microscopic bubbles is no big deal)
Inject into pod
Profit!
They're not kidding about good, fatty sites. I got the message after problems with my first 3 pods causing soreness, itching, and bruising. Well, the front and side of my lower thigh has no fat at all. Now I know why I shouldn't put it there :-)
Favorite sites: Back of arms, pointing "up" when my arms are at my sides, cannula anywhere from even with the armpit fornix to 2-3 inches down from that. Further down, not enough fat.
Side of thighs, fairly high, 3-4" or so down from the center of the hip joint
Kidney area just above the waistline, around almost to the direct side of the body
I hate putting them on my abdomen, but that's a workable choice too.
Just a not on backup insulin: It is very easy to remove insulin from the new generation pod, so all that's really needed is some insulin syringes.
Even better if you carry your current bottle of insulin around anyway, which I do, in case I have a pod change at work.
As for long-acting, as a T2 I don't worry about it under normal circumstances. I run a "baseline" 0.5U basal to take pressure off my beta cells, but if I turn it off completely, Pierre Pancreas kicks in and I stay stable. For T1's, a regular syringe filled with some long-acting is a good idea to keep in the test kit. Keeping pens around, however, gets pretty expensive when you've got to toss them after 30-45 days having not used them at all, under most circumstances.
Yes. I am the Executive Director and the one of the Founders. No I do not have diabetes myself. My husband has Type 1. He uses an OmniPod, likes the system despite some problems he as well as others have experienced. But that is not what started the conversation. Your point is a good one.. and in the future I will follow your suggestion. This was not a hysterical cry but a genuine concern as we rarely receive more then a few complainants about any devise. Sorry you took it that way. It is a wish to get some genuine insight. 1. Because we work closely with all diabetes related devises and medication and report back to diabetes equipment companies about problems that we hear about their product. 2. Every company we work with are interested in feed back positive or negative that we receive. Our aim is to improve the lives of people living with diabetes now until there is a cure. Perhaps I can call on you Claire to help us navigate next time we run into a major situation or have a question we needed researched since you seem to have a good deal of knowledge about the protocol for this site.
Good suggestion Dave. T 1 as you know do have to worry about that background insulin. Diabetes not being the same deal for everyone. The Nevada/California Diabetes Association provides new pump users designed by our pump guru a sheet with suggestions of supplies to keep on hand for various pumps just in case.
I would be happy to help in whatever way I can. There is a large Omnipod Users group - 1536 members. If you would like to post a question about the Omnipod device specifically that might be a better place to post it. My mom and dad did not put the I in my name it's Clare and I like your new pic.
My problem with Insulet is that they hide behind their own arrogance. I find it hard to believe they don't have an email address on their website, or a forum where they actually admit to problems. THey make a pump I mostly like, but I feel like they're a bunch of arrogant out-of-touch science types and don't think about real life diabetics. For example, the ridiculous "Confirm this is actually me" button before my test strip works. As if we are all in a room with a bunch of their pod users, sitting within 2 feet of each other. Who thought that was a necessary extra step?
I believe the FDA thought that was a good idea, specifically for children at summer D camp. There were apparently many reports of kids picking up the wrong PDM and bolusing someone else. I am not a kid anymore and I never went to D camp so I personally don't need that particular step. But I were in a room full of other podders who knows what could happen :)
