I know some other topics have discussed this, but I would like to hear from pumpers who have been on other pumps and are now on the pod. The reason I ask is for the past 3 months I just have a lot of failures (2-3 per box). When the pod works I absolutely love it. I cant see myself using a tube pump so my main question is: Are the pump failures better than problems that arise out of a traditional pump? I fully realize there are pros and cons with both. My first shipment of pods went flawlessly (except the one I knocked off). I plan to stick it out, but may consider switching once my insurance will cover a new pump again (one per year, they consider the PDM to be the actual pump). My biggest complaint as of late is when I do have to put a new pod on (after a failure), the replacement either fails to turn on, or as happened yesterday, went into immediate failure. Appreciate all replys.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, GO PACKERS!! Pete from Wisconson.
Hi! So I used to be on tubed Minimed pump (10 yrs), and despite pod failures, and dealing with Omnipod’s billing department ( I now order through Liberty), I still prefer the pod. One reason- when pods fail I know it, on the tubed system more often than not a kinked tube would result in highs before knowledge of the issue.
To troubleshoot the pod failure issue I pack back up needles and insulin for local trips (ie office day at work), since most likely I could run home to change if need be. If I am going to be in the field (I’m a field biologist), I pack extra pods and take those from seperate boxes in case there is a bad batch, in addition to the needles, insulin, and batteries. It seems like a lot of gear but in all reality it isn’t too much - I just throw it in my pack.
For me the assurance of breaking a pod and just switching it out vs breaking a pump and dealing with that, plus possible cost is way easier. Also, I just like not having tubing, I can’t tell you how many times I wouldn’t adequately tuck the tubing in and it gets snagged on branches or something. There was a short adjustment period to not knocking the pods off my arms when walking through doorframes ( I never realized how close I walked to the frames) or toweling off- but I can’t remember the last time I did that.
I agree it is incredibly frustrating to have the pods fail- but in all honesty they are quick to switch out- and I find them less painful than the old tubing system I was on.
Hi Pete! I was just about to post a similar topic! I was on the Minimed for around 10 years and recently switched to the pod. The first month was practically flawless, with some minor pod fails and knock-offs. But recently I’ve been running into some problems and when my PDM failed to turn on after a battery change I was forced to go back to the Minimed until my PDM was replaced. I loved the PDM features, downloading data, numerous basal rates, etc etc and the tube-less system! But I’m beginning to wonder if it is worth it to deal with high blood sugars.
For the past two months I have had several issues. After a pod change it often takes up to several hours for the the insulin to “kick in”. I realize the absorption at a new site may take some time. I have tried giving a bolus directly after changing the pod, which often fails and I am replacing the pod and then trying to correct, correct, correct. There are no alarms/occulsions whatsoever and location of the pod does not seem to matter.
Also, I am experiencing the same when it comes to end of day 2/beginning of day 3 of the pod. My blood sugars run well and I just seem to hit a wall by day 3. My sugar will rise and despite numerous corrections, it does not come down until I change the pod.
It seems if I have a good start up with the pod and no “pod change highs”, the 1st day through the 2nd run smoothly. Any suggestions anyone has would be great. I love the pod- but I also love good blood sugars. I’m stuck and am past the 30 day money back guarantee mark!
I had trouble the first few months after I switched to the Omnipod. On pod change day my bg would go sky high. But then I read a post from someone that said she gives herself 2 extra units before she changes. I’ve tried that and I have tried giving 2 units after I change. The 2 units with the old pod seems to work best for me. I sometimes go a little low but I’ve found that eating something right after I change the pod and taking a bolus before I pull the old one off (bolus for foor and an extra 2 units) seems to work wonders for me. With my old tubed pump I dont ever remember that being a problem. I’m not sure why it is now. But the 2 extra units seem to have solved the problem so I am happy.
I have been pretty liucky with the post pod change highs. I try to always change pods after eating breakfast, so I have bolused with my old pod. I then bolus about .4 units with the new pod. I do not adjust my bolus for my actual meal (dont decrease it by .4units). I have noticed some higher readings if my last pod gets below 10 units and then I bolus. My typical breakfast bolus is 6-7 units, assuming no correction is needed. So my goal is to have about 15 units remaining before I bolus. I have read and been told that the pod does struggle a bit when it is around 5 or 6 units.
I used Minimed for 8 years, then Cozmo for 1 year, then Omnipod for the last 2. I feel like the convenience of insertion, the tubelessness, and the PDM functionalities trump the pod failure issues.
I have had more kinked cannulas, mechanical failures, and occlusions in my two years on Omnipod than I ever did on the Minimeds or Cozmo, but I DON’T have botched insertions, kinked tubing, yanked sets, mangled tape, or infections from sites inadvertently left in too long. Usually, the pod problems are few and far between for me now.
My daughter’s name is Melissa also and she has used every pump on the market except for Animas. Today we found out after over a month of waiting that our new insurance has agreed to cover the pods. It is BCBS of Michigan and is a new GM policy. They said that they use Medicare guidelines and therefore would not cover either the pods or her Dexcom. We now have approval for both, and are very happy that she can continue with this tubeless pump. We try to change the pods just before a meal and if she is not at target, then bolus a small amount. We have not had the issues with pod failures that some have had, but we do change a pod out early if she is not responding to corrections. Some people need to change every two days, regardless of the pump. When she was on a traditional pump, she always went low after we filled the cannula. Some people on regular pumps have highs until the new site settles in also. It really is a very individual thing.
One of the BIG differences is that the pod alerts you to an error. We’ve been on Minimed for 3 years, and most of the time you have to guess if there is a problem. I have had 2 pumps replaced in 3 years, and have pulled a lot of infusion sets. We are trialing the Omnipod, and I am well aware of the pod issues out there, but I still think this system offers something really unique, worth putting up with a few bad pods.
To be fair, you still won’t know if you have a bad site with an Omnipod, and you can dislodge the pod a bit and not know it until your blood sugar goes up. It really is no different in that way than a tubed pump. My daughter has pulled a couple of just filled pods by catching it on something, because she can only wear it on her arms. Not sure what errors you are referring to? We have had just as many pump replacements with Omnipod as tubed pumps also. Things go wrong with the PDM.
I was on the Minimed for a few years before switching over. I don’t recall having any technical failures with my MM522, but about every 3 days I would get bubbles that were 1-2 inches long. I did everything I could to prevent air from getting into the reservoir, but nothing worked. I would either forget to prime them out or not see them before they got to the insertion site and this would cause lots of high blood sugars. I never have this issue with the pod. And I have a teeny-tiny barely non-existent failure rate with the pod. All of my failures have been while priming, too, so I guess the angled cannula works well for me. I will never go back to tubed pumps for one reason - the clothing. I can now wear dresses and skirts with ease - I literally had to leave those items of clothing untouched in my closet for 2 years because the tubing really prevented me from putting the pump in a spot where I could reach it without flashing all my co-workers.
I totally get the clothing issues, and that is one reason that I was determined to fight for her to stay on this pump when insurance said that they wouldn’t cover it. She finally has a couple of dresses instead of always needing two piece outfits and I didn’t want her to have to give that up.
There are occasions that I do think that there may be some bubbles in the tiny bit of tubing that is in the pod or the remaining air that is left in the reservoir of the pod. All in all though, I think that this is the best pump out there right now and it will really take off once they finally come out with the smaller pods. I would choose Omnipod for myself in a heartbeat over a traditional pump if I ever needed one.
Yeah - I’m convinced that I get bubbles in the pod line, too. But it’s literally impossible for them to be 1-2 inches long so I’m not nearly as concerned about that. I’m just crossing my fingers that I don’t get any of the issues that other posters on here are having with multiple pod failures (and pods already screeching upon delivery!). I’m wondering if the super-cold weather is the culprit. I live in Houston and although we’ve had supa-dupa cold weather for us, it still has barely gotten below freezing and I haven’t had any problems with my latest shipments.
Hi Pete! Thanks for posting… I am now in this situation. I was on Medtronic for about 6 years and now have been on the Omnipod almost a year. But I think I might switch back! I haven’t started the process and am not sure even what it entails, but it might be the best thing for me.
Overall, after reading so many posts on here, there is no one right answer. For some people’s lifestyles, the Omnipod is a must. So, you just have to figure out what’s most important to you and what you’re willing to put up with. A lot of people say that even with its problems, it’s worth it for them (or their child) to stay on the Omnipod.
For me, I’ve loved the greater freedom for the different clothes I can wear and that it’s waterproof. However, I have had so many problems with reactions to the adhesives and bad pods that I no longer think it’s worth it. My blood sugar is starting to get too crazy and I am much more stressed.
In terms of Medtronic, I know that I did have bad infusion sets sometimes, but I can’t remember having anywhere near the number of problems I do now. I manually inserted with the needle, so that helped a lot with occlusions. The pump got too sweaty one time and stopped working for a little while but was fine when it dried out. The tubing was never really that big of a problem.
Just my own experience… hopefully others will chime in! : )
Chandra I agreed with a lot of what you were saying. But if you are having trouble with higher sugars you might check with your doctor and see if they have any sample bottles of other insulins. I recently did that and have been using Apidra for the last couple of weeks. It seems to really be working better for me. But thats just my experience. Someone else might find another insulin works better for them. It’s a YMMV kind of thing.
I had the Cozmo by Deltec for a few years before switching to the Pod. I really liked it until I started to have lots and lots of blockages with the for one reason or another. That, and the fact that I hated dealing with the tubing made me decide to swith. I have only been on the Omnipod for about three years, but so far I LOVE it…until recently. In three years, I had one pod failure. I got a new shipment of pods recently, and have had three failures in a week. I am hopeful that it was just a bad batch, but after reading some of the comments posted on here, it makes me wonder…
I’ve been using the Minimed for 6 years and upgraded to the Omnipod 8 month ago (more or less). At the beginning I had some “nock offs” but I quickly learned how to avoid them. The other problem that really bothered me was the post pod exchange highs. I over came this problem with two solutions: 1. 1 unit after changing. 2. Leaving the old pod for a few more hours before removing it. It means walking around with 2 pods for a while. It doesn’t bother me. The only thing is you have to remember which one is the new one…
