I’ve had 2 of these failures so far. One this week and one this past January. I’m in New England so winters are dry here.
They both happened while I was putting on or taking off my winter coat. However, it has only happened when I wear my pod on the back of my arm. When I wear it on my side buttocks then I don’t have this issue.
Well howdy neighbor. I too live in New England (MA) and coincidentally, was also wearing my pod on the back of my arm.
Honestly, I couldn’t take the Omnipod anymore and went back to my trusty Medtronic late last year. I had been on the Omnipod for almost 4 years after being on a Medtronic 722 for 7 years. My a1cs were never better while on the Omnipod and were probably worse when I think back. When the Omnipod worked, it worked great, but I’d say what I found annoying about it was way more annoying than anything I ever dealt with from my Medtronic. It wasn’t even pod errors or occlusions which were the problem. Yes, sometimes these would happen but the bigger problem was I could never have any faith in a pod. After a pod change I would often experience highs, even if the pod would start working well after that, and the other problem was a pod could be working extremely well and then out of nowhere my boluses and corrections just didn’t seem to be doing anything. I never hated the tubes as much as some people seem to, but one of my biggest reasons for getting the Omnipod in the first place was I wanted to give my abdomen a break, and thought it would be great to put the pods on the back of my arms. I did not find pods worked well at all on my arms, and never found they worked well on my legs either (nor was that very comfortable). The only place I found they worked reliably was on my abdomen, and the bulge there was not necessarily better than using a tubed pump. With the Medtronic I find an infusion site either works or it doesn’t - I don’t have unexplained highs when I change sites unless a site just isn’t working (which is rare), and if a site is working it works reliably for 3 days or even more. I’ll keep the Omnipod as a spare or a pump for a beach day or something, but it just never seemed to work as promised in my experience and my diabetes control probably suffered for using it all those years unfortunately.
Your story is further evidence that there is no one pumping solution that is ideal for everyone, and it underscores the need for CMS to approve the pod for Medicare patients to provide them an alternative to tubed pumps. While your situation seems better for tubed pumps, many others are just the opposite, and the government should not deny them the opportunity to use the pod system if it works better for them.
Yep, I definitely agree.
I am 6 months old with Omnipod. I was very happy. I’m using a new box and 3 of the last four have failed. I’ve called Omnipod and it is a bad experience. They wanted me to keep using the box and call them each time I experienced a new failure. Finally, they agreed to send me replacements rather than waste insulin. They said they could pay for the lost insulin and would cut me a check w/i 4-8 weeks. I told them it wasn’t the money but rather, I could lose a month’s worth of insulin and my insurance company wasn’t going to simply give me more. They wanted to send me a letter which I could present to my insurance company. Yes, the insurance company is going to simply pay for Omnipod’s failures…not happening.
I also wear a Dexcom senor. They too have the occasional failure. Yet, they quickly get you off the phone and send you quick replacements for the failures. Omnipod’s service is horrible. I am thinking about not using their product if they make each failure a nightmare. They won’t even send you replacements, instead they wait until you are filling your next order to include the replacements. Since I get them every three months I have to keep track of the failures and hope in the months to come I remember what was happened.
These are expensive options and they should appreciate the cost, time and options customers have. Their webpage is so warm and fuzzy and rules are rather different. IT IS NOT THE EMPLOYEES FAULT. They were all very kind as they explained the rules they too had to suffer under.
That sounds like a real pain. My insurance lets me order pods direct from Insulet…they send me 40 pods every 3 months so I’ve been able to build up a supply of some extras in case I have to bail out earlier than 3 days on a pod. Maybe there’s a way you can get that arranged for your orders, then occasional pod failures will not cause you to run out. Perhaps your doc can write the prescription for 40 pods every 90 days or something like that?
That is not true. You can have them sent them to you right away OR you can choose to have them sent with your next order. It is your choice.
You can even choose between ground delivery or 2-day delivery if you are running low.
Not sure what you are going through, but the calls go like this - you tell them you had a problem, describe the problem, give them the error code if there was one, tell them the lot number and sequence number of the pod, tell them how long you were wearing the pod, and give them the serial number of the PDM.
They ask you if the pod failure affected your blood sugar, but that is a question the FDA makes them ask.
Then you verify your address and date of birth and they send you a new pod.
Yeah, it’s a nightmare. I’ve had calls that lasted almost 5 minutes.
Eric2
“ Not sure what you are going through.” Exactly, you do not what I’m going through. I was not given a choice whether or not I could have them sent to me overnight or in two or three months when I fill my 3 month order. I called when two failed in a row and was on the line for 25 minutes. Reading codes to them and having them do some math to figure out insulin costs/loss. When the third one failed I was on the line for 20 minutes. But again, you wouldn’t know.
Burning through 9 days of insulin with 3 failed pumps in a row is not welcoming. By the time a box keeps failing it could be a month of lost insulin. Will my insurance cover another month of meditation? Insurance companies are known for being easy to deal with. Omnipod should have offered to swap boxes rather than suggest I call them each time the pod fails. I’m happy you’re happy. I’m not.
If your pod has not been on very long, take the insulin out of the failed pod with a syringe and put it in the new pod. And then fill the rest of what you need from your vial.
They have swapped boxed for me. Tell them you have had 3 straight failures from the same box and want the box swapped. They will swap a box for you. They will have you send the remainder of the bad box back, but they will send you a return kit and they will pay for postage.
Ask them to do this. If the rep says no, just ask to speak to a manager and explain the situation. They will do it.
They really will swap boxes and send pods right away. If you are not getting those options, speak to a manager in support and they will resolve it.