Hello! I found this site while searching for information regarding pods leaking insulin. Looks like the last post on this subject was in 2010? Anyway, thinking about it, I now realize this has been happening off and on for a while now but I did not realize leaking was the problem causing me to have really high BGs. Having said that, leaking pods have suddenly become a constant problem. I do use Skin Tac, and an overlay if wearing anywhere but on my arm, but that does not seem to help.
Does anyone else have this same problem? Any tips? Thanks!
Hi, @Sandy7 and welcome. I donât have any information on Pods leaking as I donât use them, but I am confident that someone here will know. Even though I donât use them, I like to know stuff.
You might be experiencing tunneling (search for that, lots of advice here). Basically a tunnel forms around the cannula and a bolus will back up to the surface instead of getting absorbed by the tissue.
If thatâs the problem, here are two easy fixes (or my easy fixes): Limit the size of a bolus and inject the rest (I donât ever bolus more than 2U but you may find you have a different maximum). Or do an extended bolus (depending on the total bolus, I find a 30-minute extended bolus once in a while does not lead to tunneling). Good luck!
I have experienced this when (I suspect) the cannula doesnât properly insert. But I had a cannula not insert at all the other day on a pod that I had stockpiled for several years. Saw a comm failure on a different pod out of the same box, so I think the aging process might have been hard on them.
Could definitely be something like that. I removed them from the box to pack supplies into a âGo to the hospitalâ jump kit, with all my important medical info in case of transport to the hospital during covid. (No exp date on individual pod label that I can see).
Luckily, I got a new shipment of supplies yesterday. Mail got heavily delayed due to the snow storms and the Christmas holiday. Huge relief. I was on the very last pod in my substantial stockpile.
Maybe on the box they come in. Dexcom has expiration dates for sensors and transmitters; Tandem has expiration dates for infusion sets, cartridges and syringes.
I found this image of an OmniPod box. The hourglass with the upper chamber empty is the international symbol for expiration date.
Thanks for your replies, everyone! @beacher, I have never heard of tunneling before. My current pod is working just fine right now, but, as an experiment⌠Last night for dinner, I divided my bolus into about 2 units per, at least 10 minutes apart. It was leftover night, which included some starchy post-holiday carbs. My BG never went over 150. Amazing. @mohe0001, my pods are all within the expiration date.
Definitely not. This is a really common problem, mentioned often. I know I did myself just a few days ago. If you used the search function within this site, youâve got to sort by date.
I wound up giving up the pods to go back to my T:slim. Never could get the pods to work well for me with constant site failures and leaking. Realized there was a serious problem when I stopped freaking out about hitting the 300s when another site failed , something that never happened with my tubed pump. It was suddenly becoming normal to spike that high, and Iâm not okay with that.
Some things that did help, but never fully solved the problem, was limiting boluses to no more than 5 units at any given time, learning to orientate the pod with the muscle group itâs over (up and down on arms/legs, sideways on the belly, etcâŚ), adding extra tape (mostly just around the cannula, because I donât think thereâs enough adhesive there), and pushing the cannula end down into my flesh during insertion so I got deeper penetration.
Ultimately, I think they just work better for some people than others. My body hates them as they are. I wish I could tolerate them better because I was really enjoying DIY looping with them.
Tunneling is a good thing to keep in mind, but I donât know how you would âverifyâ the existence, or lack there of, of tunneling.
What other tricks can we use?
One trick is to have someone look inside this window and see that the little blue cannula has properly inserted. You will be able to see the little blue cannula in the window. Thatâs the purpose of this window. This image shows a window with water droplets (which is bad). If you see no cannula or a bent or an angled cannula, that is also bad.
When you remove a POD that you suspect is bad/leaking, check for cannula kinking. Sometimes the cannual gets bent on insertion and that impedes insulin delivery. When I have seen leaking in the past, this is the most common cause. The cannula gets bend or damaged on insertion and may not insert at all. It may be partially inserted and only delivering some of the intended insulin.
I generally feel leaking right away and remove the pod. It feels wet. Maybe I might not notice until I deliver a larger bolus.
Its also possible the pod got knocked loose while walking through a doorway. Sometimes the problem isnât on insertion, but rather a problem that develops when you dislodge the pump by slamming into it hard.
If you notice leaking, pull the pump off immediately, replace it, and call omnipod for a replacement.
Yes, I have called Insulet each and every time my pod has stopped working within the 72-hour time frame, and they have sent replacements each and every time. I have even spoken to a product support specialist, who spoke to me about site prep and site rotation, but never, ever mentioned that the problem might be a leaking pod, or discussed bolusing/tunneling.
One way is to check when the leak occurs. Is it all the time, even with just basal? In that case, a misplaced or loosened cannula or an actual pod defect (rare) could be the cause. If, however, the adhesive at the cannula end is dry most of the time and leaking only occurs when delivering a bolus, tunneling would be a prime suspect.
For me, leaking was a constant problem in the first month or so of podding six years ago. But once I learned about tunneling and limited my bolus size, I have never once had a leak since.
Thanks for all of the suggestions and insight into this. I have had lots of success with changing how I bolus, my maximum bolus and the interval between boluses. Having said that, I have had some pods that leaked to the point I had to replace them prior to 72-80 hours, and some that leaked, but did not cause any problems with BG control. I am thinking this particular batch of pods has some kind of issue with the cannula⌠Then I received an email stating the Omnipod Eros is being discontinued. So I am now looking into switching to the Omnipod 5.
@Sandy7
A little late to this convo. I have constant issues with pod/site failures. It seems to happen more with certain lots, I havenât figured out why. I tried to do all larger boluses with MDI, but I hate that. I have a tendency to round up, lazy about the smaller boluses or how much did I give when etc? So I decided to try Novolog again. It was working great, until it didnât. Two failures in a row. Thatâs what happened last time I tried Novolog. Mine are usually a higher than normal number that I take extra insulin and just donât drop on the second or third day. These two failures with the Novolog happened pretty quickly as I did a slow climb after changing the pod and I hadnât eaten anything.
But thatâs the thing I can go weeks or months without issues and then have several failures. I switch them out really easily and my script is written to switch them every two days so I donât have to worry about it. But if I go above 160 and I donât know why, I switch the pod out. Even if I go above 140, if I havenât eaten for a while or done a correction and I didnât drop enough I switch it out. I am back to Humalog which is working fine for now, The pod/site failures for me have been around for a couple of years now so it is just a matter of when again.
But I am blending pod doses under 5 units, Afrezza or a shot for larger dosing.
@Marie20
I completely agree that there are certain lots that just donât work right. Insulet has been great in sending out extra replacements, but that does little to help a situation when my BG is high. My max bolus is 2.5 units, and I wait 30 minutes between bolusing. I both pre- and post-bolus for meals and that seems to be working. I also have different basal programs. I have my regular basal and then basals that are 20%, 40% and 60% higher. If I am trending upward, I switch to a higher until my BG comes down.
