This morning as I was leaving for church my Omnipod failed again. I have been using the pods for 1 week now and have had 5 failures. One was related to poor adhesion, so I will subtract that. I thought the pod was supposed to last 3 days, so far I get 1 to 2 days and then they fail. It bad enough that they are expensive but also my insulin is also at a premium and I am afraid that I will run out before the month at this failure rate. My last failure occurred about 12 hours after putting it on the one before lasted only 4 hours. I am not sure what to do. Even it the pods are replaced my insulin is not. I have read about other people having this problem and now I don't know what to do. Should I revert back to shots and just try and use the pod intermittently? I alway refrigerate my insulin so changing takes at least and hour. Thanks for listening. Don
Awesome another user with NO issues that follows the instructions!
Only 150 units? Is that the most you have been able to insert successfully?
Ive had 99% success filling with the bottom of the black of the syringe JUST above the 200 mark...
I have had many issues with the pod and I am actually a person who follows instructions, as I'm sure many people in this group do. On a second note, its my opinion, (as I wont speak for others), that YOU have been rather nasty towards people having any type of issues and I don't see the necessity for it and hope that you will stop. It seems that all your posts seems to have some type of animosity involved towards them. Im glad that you haven't had problems with the pod, however many others had, and last time I checked this was supposed to be a place where we could discuss and share things nicely amongst each other. If you don't like seeing people having negative things to say about something that is working for you might I suggest you either not respond or better yet, leave the discussion or group? Better yet, lets go back to grade school, If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all". Have a nice day.
Nothing nice to say yet you responded....pot..kettle..black...
Guys I understand that people are going to disagree from time to time, but when everyone continues to egg each other on, it does not help the situation. So please, as a courtesy to others on the board, let's be constructive/helpful with replies rather than trying to tear each other down.
Agswin I realize I'm only posting this as a reply to your comment, but please do not take it personal. I am talking to everyone on the discussion and in the community at large. We all have enough to battle (starting with the management of this disease, but I'm sure there are other things we all battle personally that are unique to each of us), so let's use this space online to help one another.
Dondi I'm not exactly sure what may be causing the issue. IT sounds like you're doing most of the steps "by the book", so I'm at a loss on how to offer any advice.
Where on your body are the pods when they are failing? I only ask because another one of the members of the community was continually having kink after kink after kink with pods (of course leading to lots of failures) and she could NOT figure out why. Turns out most of the issues were occurring when placing the pod on her stomach...and she also happened to be pregnant. The changes in her body tissue composition during the pregnancy caused her skin on her stomach to be VERY taught (firm). That was part of the issue with the kinking--the canula couldn't handle the firmness of skin in that particular area.
I bring up that story only to showcase the fact that we could be "doing everything right" with regard to filling techniques, pod placement, correct steps for deploying the canula, etc, but it may still cause us issues because of other underlying variables that we may not have considered before.
To fully answer your question about reverting to shots or not...I am not sure. I think at the end of the day you have to do what is best for YOUR diabetes, ya know? If you think that you had better control with shots (even if they were more annoying), then maybe you go back to shots. If you think you have the patience to try and work through the frustration of some more failed pods, then perhaps try to stick through this rough patch and continue pumping. I wish you luck, through the offerings/advice of others here in the forum, and through your own resolve, in finding what works best for you.
Amen! Couldn't have said it better.
150u is my usual fill for both the new and original Pods.
I've had 99% success filling the syringe 100%. I believe this was an issue with early versions of the pods, but not any more. I still contend that the speed at which you fill the pod matters more. Go slow.
If the canula comes out I think that is an Occlusion error which all of mine are not, except for one, which came off due to playing golf. These are literally pod failures. All were from the same lot/box. So far the next box seems ok. I now think it was just a bad box of pods.
The odd thing is that some of us have had almost no failures. 2 1/2 months on the system, 2-day pod program, I've got a pyramid now of nearly 30 pods with 2 pod error failures. 1 occlusion.
That's 10% failure rate, which isn't good, but nothing like others with bad issues are having.
If we're on the same lot #'s it's gotta be the user in some way. This shouldn't be taken in offense -- not "blaming" anyone. However, if we are getting boxes from the same lot, the variable here is the user.
All my pods are lot #L40501 (you can get the lot# easily by going to Home->My Records->All History, find a "Pod Activated" record, select it, press the ? button).
agreed...well said
I have certainly noticed many more failures with the new pods. The old ones would either fail when I was priming them or not at all. These new ones have had several failures a couple of days into the pod which may well end up leaving me short of pods at the end of the quarter. Will they replace pods that fail once you have worn them awhile? I didn’t think they did, but I will be glad if they do!
Yes, they will replace. All of mine failed a day or two into wearing them, usually when I am just in basal mode. One failed within 2 hrs of it expiring. This is not user's fault as some have alleged. I have had no priming errors. I have 16 being sent rush delivery to me Monday because I have been waiting for replacements for a month. Just make sure you keep the failed ones and call them into Insulet. I did have one service rep. tell me they don't normally replace pods if they are past 2 days being worn. But they are still replacing it. It's my contention that if the pod doesn't last for its full 80 hr life then it needs to be replaced and I was willing to talk to a supervisor to argue the point. Generally the people you get on the phone are very friendly and helpful.
That's what I wind up doing - fill the syringe to the 200 mark, remove as many bubbles as possible, insert insulin super slowly right to the point where the remaining bubbles have collected. So maybe 180-190 units?
Hi Dondi
Try taping down your pods after applying. I use 3M transpore tape as I did on the older larger Pods (1 piece east/west and 1 piece north/south) even though the profile is lower. This helps with making sure if I hit the pod it will not dislodge. As a result, I have not experienced any issues. Also, with the lower profile, I can lay on the pod without any issues. I typically use my lower back and arms, and for the first time was able to use my thigh successfully. Also, check in with your Dr. To see if they have insulin in the office. My Dr. provides me with insulin pens and needles for back-up. So maybe they can provide a pen which you can use to extract the insulin for your Pod. If provided, please double check with your Dr. that when extracting insulin from pen to fill pod you do not insert air into pen, just extract the number of units required. Good Luck, I hope all works out for you.
Thanks I will give that a try. It is more comfortable to sleep on. I am a restless sleeper and toss and turn all night. I keep pillow to hug and give room for the pod. I alternate stomach right left, then upper arms right and left. I had a few occlusions using thigh as I don't have much fat there. Thanks for the encouragement.
/so far the new box is holing up pretty well. I have had no failures since I changed to the new box. Thanks for the encouraging note.