I agree and having been on the Animus before Omnipod I found that the Omnipod definitely gives better control and accuracy, at least that is my experience.
As for the failures. I had none for about 2 -3 months and then had one box with 4 failures while loading in the insulin. I have only had 1 failure while wearing it for no apparant reason.
It is discouraging but customer care has been good and I MUCH MUCH prefer the Omni over Animas or Cozmore, both of which I used before, so I don't plan on switching other than the expense, which is a bigger issue for me.
I also had a lot of failures lately. I remember 2 during priming, 1 occlusion on the first bolus and today the cannula did not insert. So far no failures during an inconvenient time. I just allot twice the time for a pod change in the morning.
Experience tells me that if you carry a Pod around for more than a month, you will increase the chance of that Pod failing. I keep one Pod in my desk at work, and I have a second one in the PDM case that travels with me. Each time I change a Pod, I use the one from the PDM case that I have been carting around for three days. I learned the hard way that too much carrying around for extended periods of time increase the chances of Pod failures. I have been on the Pod for over a year now (since August 2009), and I have only had one Pod occlude at work. I used the Pod from my case to replace it, and thankfully, I have never had to touch the “back-up” Pod. Thanks for the reminder, though. After resting in my desk drawer for over a year, I probably should try to use that Pod and to replace it with a fresh one.
Hang in there, David. You will get better at learning the tricks to filling and living with the Pod, and your failure rates, hopefully, will decrease. I have found that making sure the air is out of the syringe (hold it needle up, and “flick” it with your finger until all the bubbles rise to the top, then expel the air before you fill the Pod) and filling the Pod slowly both help get the promised two beeps. I also have had no problems getting the insulin back out of the Pod that DID fail to beep twice, but the assistance of my husband holding the little bugger up while I withdrew the insulin really helped. I guess I am really lucky. In approximately 160 Pods, I have only had 5-6 fail or occlude. I have been reading, however, all along about people who seem to get “bad boxes” of Pods. Again, I am lucky, and I hope that your luck changes, too. The Pod has given me better control, freedom to behave in a much more “normal” manner, and no more needles! In my estimation, the Pod is a God-send that I am willing to “work with” for a better life.
Make sure you use a heaviest duty paper clip you can find. I have one just for that purpose now. The first time it happened all I had was the needle I used to put the insulin in the pod. When the continuous beep started I stuck the needle in the "little" hole and it broke off. The only way I could stop it then was to tear the bottom off of the pod and yank the batteries (at least one).
The hole does work but it isn't very easy, you have to stick the clip in and poke and prod a little to find the correct cut off.
I draw it out all the time, even when I am changing pods and there is some left from the previous one, and I've never had a problem, i.e., infection, change in effectiveness of doses, etc.
I also used the Ping in the non-approved manor. If I was going out for the evening and didn't have enough insulin to last for the time I was out I would just add some more insulin to the cartridge. Never had a problem, remember too that doctors who aren't diabetics using the products have to go by what people tell them. They have people just like on this site, one hates the ABC pump while another worships it, so it is really just up to use to make the best decision we can and run with it.
I wouldn't want to go back to tubing and I was on two tubed pumps before the Omnipod so I know wheat it means to me...but that is just my opinion.
Good points, I do pretty much the same thing, if I change it at work I use the one at work and replace it. If I change anywhere else I use the one in my Scott eVest and replace it with one out of the box. I can’t imagine it is good to keep them stored for too long, especially since they have batteries.
Interesting discussion…I was just about to see if others have been having failures like me. I have been on the POD since 15/Oct/2008. I love it. I am however thinking about going back to MDI. In recent months I have had around a 33% - 40% failure rate. Insulet C/S has been great about replacing the bad PODs, but the amount of insulin I am loosing is out of control. I went with Omnipod because I would not consider a pump with tubing, and I still will not. I do not know if Insulet is having Quality Control issues or what is going on, but I am extremely frustrated with what is going on.
I’ve been on the Pod since July and it’s only be in the last 2 months that I’ve been having lots of pod failures. I had 3 in a row while I was on vacation back home (Canada) last week and was lucky enough to get my old Pharmacist to get me a box of Lantus to cover me if I had anymore failures. I wonder if Omnipod had followed the trend of so many other companies and started to outsource its manufacturing to a third world country?? It took me 3 years to finally go from MDI to a pump but now I’m doubting my choice in pumps.
a hammer is by far the most satisfying and effective way to shut those little suckers up —just aim carefully and there’s no need to smash it into little bits…just break the skull, and that should do it.
I’ve had about a 20 % failure rate in the last shipment…the highest since I started pumping this summer
there were three in a row that would not fill…(i.e. the insulin just wouldn’t go in,no matter how hard I pushed…and they had told me earlier that if that happens, discard the pump)
One thing that I have noticed, in terms of direct cause and effect, is that if I drag or solidly crack my pump along the wall of my hallway while walking, there’s a danger of the pump malfunctioning…this has happened at least 3 times, and I’m more careful about it now. Thought it was some sort of coincidence, but it’s not. I crack it into the wall, it engages pretty solidly with the cement and paint, and suddenly starts screaming. Anyone else noticed this?
As far as shutting the little suckers up, I use the direct, guaranteed method of 1-3 square, firm hammer hits, just enough to crack the skull. It helps me to vent my frustration, and I recommend it if you have a hammer handy:)
A suggestion that was given me by a representative was to keep the pd in the package and on a table while it is priming…supposedly this will keep it from malfunctioning by rocking back and forth while priming. I never had a problem with this …i.e. I never had a pump malfunction while priming…but perhaps if you do this it makes it less likely to malfunction later on as well…?
O
K, I responded already (earlirer), as I have been seeing a 20% a least failure rate. I probably shouldnt mention this but I am almost certain INsulet is aware of the obvious QC problem, as i sent a “bill” back to them charging for all of the lost insulin and aggravation, fully expecting them to cause a fuss, and they called me yesterfday to tell me that one full bill (of $400 or so) will be written off due to the problems AI have been having. This was a shocker to me!
PS…by the way, Jay, although I agree it is more fun to violently kill the little screaming &^%$"s, I find it easier to just throw them into the freezer and let them freeze to death. (takes about 2 hours or so, then they just shut up)
I also experience about a 20% failure rate. What worries me about this is how long Insulet can go on with such a high rate. Insulet says they are within the FDA allowed failure rate. But what happens if they are not? Will the FDA shut them down? Even with the high failure rate, I would rather be on Omnipod than a traditional pump! I hope that those of us with the high rates are the minority and/or they figure out what is going on!
My failure rate has also been ~20% since I started about five months ago (not 10% like I said in a previous reply), again not including occlusions or wear & tear (accidentally bumping it off, the adhesive loosening in water etc.)
I initially wasn’t worried, as it was just one person’s data. However, it now looks like a lot of people are experiencing the same rates.
That is horrendous from a QC point of view (and whether it’s due to pod production QA or a bad design).
Beyond the hassle of arranging for the free replacements, and needing to take two spare pods me if I’ll be away form home for any length of time, since I can’t rely on the 1st one working, and the loss of a lot of insulin there something I’m more worried about:
Insulet can’t be making money here – such a failure rate would bankrupt most consumer-product companies, and while I have no info about their financials, I’m sure it can’t continue indefinitely. I hope the new smaller Pod will address this.
I started using the omnipod this year in August and didn’t have any problems. In the last two months I’ve had verry high failure rates. In November, 3 out of 10 failed. They sent 3 replacements and 2 of the 3 replacements failed. (I haven’t had the guts to even bother with the 3rd) In December, I had 8 out of 10 fail. A majority of the failures occur when the pump is priming itself. However, sometimes it never beeps before the priming phase. I’ve also had communication failures. Omnipod is now on speed dial. It seems like the wait times to speak to a cusomter service representative keep getting longer.
I’m glad to hear that I’m not the only one having problems. There appears to be a quality control issue here. I don’t want to give up the convenience of the pod, but the frustration of the failure rates are making me think twice.
that’s a lot of failures. Let’s hope they’re not running into quality control problems…i love my pod.
One of the reps suggested to me that I keep the pod on a table and in the package while it’s priming, that the priming rocks the pod back and forth and causes it to fail sometimes if it’s not held still by the packaging.
I’m curious if they told you this, and if so, did you try it?
Have people noticed a higher failure rate just lately? I have been on the pod since April and had one failure until last month. Then this past month, I’ve had four. Highly unusual for me. Just wondering if people noticed that too or if maybe it’s just bad luck. I’ve had them all replaced and am still pretty happy with the pods, but thought that was an odd increase in bad pods.
