Lately I’ve been doing bolus corrections a lot and sometimes it seems like if the POD is not delivering (2 hours later nothing has happened) then I take a shot using the same ratio and the BG drops.
This has happened a lot lately with different PODS, when I inject I do it in the same place where I put the PODS, using the same vial, so I can rule out absorption sites or insulin gone bad
I don’t get it, is it possible that my PDM is broken or something like that, it never says there’s an error, and the boluses show up on the records as delivered … can someone be Omnipodresistant ?
I don’t know about that but what has recently worked for me is to use the extend function on the pod. I use it on almost every meal regardless of the fat content and it has dramatically leveled out my spikes in blood glucose. Before I was relying on boluses and sometimes, like you say, there would be no effect, then a couple or three hrs later, it would suddenly drop. I extend out to 3 hours and I was truly amazed that it kept me more or less level in an acceptable range. Good luck!
Thanks, when you do this, how much of the bolus do you take right away and what percentage do you extend ?
Yes, good question. I usually do a 60/40 or 65/35 mix and I do it right before eating. Ideally, I would do it sooner, half hour or so before eating but I am quite undisciplined when it comes to my eating schedule. I know your frustration. Before I came upon this new approach, it seems like I would bolus and bolus and bolus and nothing would happen. I was getting majorly frustrating. And also risking huge crashes. So, it seems to have worked for me. I go to my doc in a couple weeks and I will be curious to see if the a1c is significantly lower.
Joe
Hey Santiago,
My old educator recommended to extend the bolus if the amount of insulin to be delivered was 5 units or more. (50/50 for 30 mins) Has worked pretty well for me. I do use other extended values for high fat or Mexican food meals. (60/40 for 3 or 4 hours works well for me.) Give it a shot (pun intended)!
Cheers,
KCO
Ok this is coming from experience with a four year old on the pump - so take it with a grain of salt. We deal with a lot of growth spurts - so we change basal rates quite frequently - one sign that we need to change the basal rate is what you describe - correcting but not seeing a change - then coming down alot - does it happen at the same time of day? If yes - I would try to change that basal rate or do a basal test to find out if that is the issue.
Celeste
You have me thinking, Santiago. I have had a few occlusions lately and one pod fail at priming. I have also been having a number of unexplained highs. I already extend and have had luck with that. These recent highs seem unrelated to dose, but then again, who knows with this crazy disease. It has felt like a resistance issue…could the pods be the cause somehow?
I also use the extended bolus on almost every meal usually a 50/50 for 2.5 to 3 hours and I also find that I don’t get the spikes… I was having terrible swings high or low and they have leveled out
I was totally having the same issue with absorption seemingly getting worse over time, at times I felt like the pod was doing nothing at all. I think the key is to rotate more frequently and make sure you stay 2 inches away from a previous injection site for about 2 weeks since the scaring reduces absorption. I also tried Apidra insulin which supposedly works faster for a lot of people, but for me it was way worse than Humalog, I def won’t use it again. I have a feeling the tube on the omnipod does not go in far enough sometimes, but I can’t verify that’s the cause.
Good luck man,
I’ve been trying to extended bolus and it does work better … but mostly, I reduced my carb intake (I also ordered Dr Bernstein’s Diebetes solution) … things are muuuuch easier when I don’t have to deal with as many carbs. Thanks everyone for the advice.
