Just about the keeping Pens around and tossing them away: you can extract the insulin out of the pen and use that to put into your pump. i always do that and dont throw any novorapid away. of course if you have long acting insulin, you somehow have to throw that away.
I never changed my script from pens to bottles. Pens are much more convenient. I'm basically transporting insulin in 200 ml shatter resistant storage containers. I only have to take as many as I need and if I ever have to inject, all I have to do is pop a needle onto one.
I'd hate to carry 1000 ml glass vials around.
Thanks again Clare. I'll check the Omnipod group out and see what comments they have on this pump. You have been most helpful.
Dave, very good write up and this does work. I have been using Omnipod's for almost 2 years and when you do like he says it works. I had similar problems when I started out and most of the time when I got a occlusion was when I did not use a fatty area. I also use CONVATEC ALLKARE PROTECTIVE BARRIER WIPES and/or Coloplast Prep Protective Skin Barrier Wipes when I find a good price on ebay. They protect the skin from getting raw from using them for a long time. I read from another that you can use 3M Tegaderm Film Dressing 2-3/8" x 2-3/4" 1624W I found a box of 100 for 29.00 with free shipping today... just order some will try that out when they get here. What you do is clean the area and then apply one of the Tegaderm Film Dressing and then put your new pod on top of the dressings and then complete the insert and when it is ready to change you can just take off the Tegaderm dressing and it will not hurt your skin. It is the same dressings used for IV's and the pod will insert right though the thin dressings. Take care and keep on poding.
Rich
Unless it's long-acting (Levimir, Lantus, etc.)
Us T2's don't need to worry about keeping long-acting around for emergencies (most of us). For T1's, it's an issue, and I don't see a better solution than to keep a bottle of it in the fridge, and fill a 10U syringe or two each month to carry around as backup, then toss them if not used.
I'm hardly an expert, thought, and have no experience as a T1, so I may just be blowing smoke :-)
I never used a pen for long acting insulin. I keep a vial in the fridge, for an extreme emergency I suppose. Every vial I've kept since going on the pod has expired unused though. Been kind of a waste so far.
I am t1 and dont have any long acting insulin at home or in my bag. Might have to do with the great pump service (minimed) they offer here, they bring you a new pump within hours after calling them, and for 3 hours i can work with only novorapid. If you dont have this service it might be wise to keep around some lantus/ levemir/ tresiba.
My 4 year old son has been on the NEW OMNIPOD for about 3 months and we are really struggling with POD failures. Failures total upwards of 20, yes 20, which is a nightmare since they fail at daycare, grandparents, on vacation, etc, not to mention having to re-poke a four year old even more than he needs to. What's interesting is that although we do have a small number of occlusion and site issues, the vast majority of our failures are during a bolus and ALWAYS occur with "0.05 units remaining". My wife has spent COUNTLESS hours on the phone with OMNIPOD (and lots of time on hold) but just haven't had any luck root causing our problem. We are on the verge of completely giving up the POD, which is a bummer because our son loves the tubeless pump, but the failure rate is simply to high. I thought I would see if anyone has experienced this failure mode, and/or had anysuggestions. Any help is greatly appreciated.