Omnipod issues

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1

OK I decided to join and post this blog because of all the issues I am having with the omnipod and Insulets refusal and failure to do anything about their defect.
It is not a consistent failure, it varies from lot number to lot number.
The main issue I am having is that if even almost literally a drop of water gets on the adhesive pad of the omnipod, the adhesive fails and the omnipod falls off.

Insulet tried to say that it is my skin type. I also use the Dexcom 7 CGM, after 7 days, 7 daily showers, 3 trips to the gym that inclue 2 extra showers and a dip in both the pool and the hot tub, the dexcom sensor has to be pulled off because it is still sticking so much. The omnipod? In a 7 day period I have usually had to replace the pod for falling off at least 1 time, usually 2 times.
This week, On my second trip to the gym, and I am on my 3rd pod already due to failures. The first one fell off 30 minutes after I left the gym. The 2nd one occluded the first time I entered a bolus, the 3rd one is about to head to the gym and we will see what happens.
So far Insulets reply has always been that it is somehow my fault, that I need to purchase some 3rd party product to fix the issue, or that I am applying the omnipod wrong.

Usually on Pod days (days I change my pod) I remove the old one, clean the area with adhesive remover, then go and shower. I think I shower just like any normal person using soap and hot water, I’ve tried changing soaps, I no longer put body lotion on until after I appply my pod. After the shower I towel off, I wait another 45 minutes to an hour and then prepare the pod and the site.
Methods I have tried so far:
Just apply the pod. Sometimes it sticks, most the time it flls off at exposure to water.
IV prep: clean the area wait 20 minutes apply the pod. It still falls off when exposed to water.
I tried wrapping the pod. This results in the pod lose inside the wrap, I can’t see the window and don’t know that the canula has come out until I test my sugar and see it at 300 when it should not be.
Tegaderm: I have troied 2 methods with this:
Tegaderm on skin, pod on top of tegaderm. Pod falls off of tegadrem when it gets wet.
Pod on skin Tegaderm covering the pod, Pod comes lose under tegaderm, and the tegaderm rolls up on itself.
Skin Tac: This just results in a gummy mess all over the pod and my skin and the pod still comes lose when exposed to water.
With all of these scenarios I have also been sure to wait the minimum 2 hrs for the adhesive to “set” before i get in the water.
So first I am looking to see if there are others who experience this issue with the omnipod
2nd I am looking for other swimmers that are having good luck with their pump in the water. I really am not looking forward to tubes and something larger constantly attached to me, but am looking to switch to something else since Insulet refuses to address this issue.
I am looking at the Animas one touch ping, but would be open to a working solution for the omnipod. I just think that at $100 per unit, it isn’t unreasonable to expect that a unit with a life cycle of just 3 days to stick to my body for 3 days without me having to spend $60 or more per week on products to make it stick to my body.
Lastly, I am filing a complaint with the FDA regarding the issue and am looking for others with this issue to do the same to force Insulet into fixing the issue.

2

We’ve had other issues with the pods - interesting that Insulet seems to default to “user error” every time. We finally got in touch with our sales rep, who brought her boss into it, and they were able to resolve our problems - might be something to try! Good luck

3

enyawface - I am sorry to hear that your skin is treating the pod like a two magnets with their north pole pointed at each other! I am not able to help you at all. While my time with the pod has not been a perfect ride, I have never had problems with the pod sticking. I am in and out of swimming pools, teaching swim lessons, lifeguarding and swimming laps. I think my skin actually starts to grow attached to the pod! - Not really, but the longer the pod is on, and the more I am in and out of water, the harder it is to remove.

I can understand you not wanting to pay for the extra solutions for sticking (especially if they don’t even work for you). Best of luck with finding something that works for you to make your diabetes management “easier”!!

4

i was on the pod for about 6 months and had several issues with it, the same like you and others…the customer service was horrible! they waited till christmas time to call and say that my bill was over $1000 and that i need to pay at least half right away or they wouldn’t send me my month’s supply…among other things…it was a total mess! i looked into the animas ping…they worked with my dr who wrote a letter of necessity and within a week and a half i was trained and getting better sugars than i had ever gotten on the pod…animas gave me a $700 “discount” for trading in my pod and sending it to them…i went with the ping because of the remote, like the pod…the pod was my first pump and what a horrible experience it was!! i know it works for some people, i was just the bad luck of the draw…good luck to you!!
myriah

5

My Pod experience was similar to yours. It was not so much an adhesive issue, although if it got knocked in the slightest it would be off, but it was the non functioning I don’t know how many times , with no warning, leaving a trail of a 300 bg. Yikes. Sometimes , 5 out of 10 pods were duds. I got so fed up, the last time I used it, I went through 3 pod changes, only to figure out, that there was something wrong with the unit itself and not the pods. My numbers became so out of whack, I concluded that , unfortunately it was time to go back to the tether of a Medtronic. So I switched. The result is several fold. First and foremost, my numbers are predictable. I am less happy about the string but will deal with it in exchange for predictability. I also hated the fact that I could not read my numbers on the unit if there was any sunlight around, which 9 out of 10 times there was. I drive a lot, and test a lot. The new Medtronic is okay.I swim twice a week, and take it off , for 45 minutes each time. I am in the gym with it 3 days a week, with no big deal. I really wanted the pod to work, and even tried the iv 3000 as a cover on it. Nada. Nothing worked. I got about a year on it, and then the constant unpredictability led me away from it.