Hi everyone! I am still learning this pod thing, and I love it. But I've been having some problems with putting pods on my lower back and I would love some advice or tips. (lower side of back, just above pants line), its a spot I prefer to use, and I've had two pods have to be changed early because they've been pulled out or an 'occlusion error'.
here's what I AM doing: -I've tried 'pinching' the skin
-I put them horizontally
-taping them down
- in the curve of my back so I am less likely to lean back on them on a seat
My pod woke me up at 6 am beeping - an occlusion error - and I found I had been lying on my back and somehow the cannula came out. The one right before that just came loose somehow bikeriding - and it was REALLY taped down.
So far omnipod has been great and is replacing the pods, thank goodness. I switched to wearing it on my arm until I can get an idea of what I am doing wrong.
this is the first time I've been on ANY pump so there are things that may be obvious to you but not to me. I was on pen insulin over ten years before so its all new, even using bottles of insulin.
Are you first swabbing the area with an alcohol rub and then letting it dry before placing the pod? Are you sitting or standing when you place it? Alcohol will clean off any oils on your back and make it stick a bit better. You can also buy alcohol rubs for I.V.s that has a sticky substance in it that makes the glue on the pod stay even more. I was told by the company that you should sit while placing the pods on your back and stand when placing on your abdomen or thighs.
The only pods I place while sitting are those on my arms and sometimes legs. For my back and abdomen (and sometimes legs) I've always placed pods while standing. I've never spoken to anyone to verify this but it generally works well for me.
I push in a little when I put them on my back. I don't pinch the skin. I also put them on horizontally. And I have noticed that when I put pods in places where sweat pools, then they for sure come off faster. It took me a while to figure it all out. If I wear it on a site I'm unsure of I will apply the pod and then swab the top of the adhesive patch with Skin Tac. Skin Tac swabs are a wonderful invention and in my experience, make anything stick.
We had a string of issues until we found what worked for us. Here’s our routine:
Wipe w/Skin-Prep
Wipe with Bard’s Barrier Wipe
Place pod, but add some slack to the skinny tip of the pod where the adhesive goes down so that the tip of the pod doesn’t pull against its own adhesive. Does that make sense? We had issues with the pod ripping off its own adhesive in the tip/cannula area. This has helped.
Place a 1" by 5" strip of hypa-fix tape across the pod where the skinny meets the fat part
Cut a hold in a piece of tegaderm tape using an old pod as a template and place the tegaderm over the whole contraption so it reinforces all adhesive but the pod is still free to “rock” - I’ve been told that if you tape the whole thing down, you inhibit the pod’s ability to rock, thus causing occlusions. Perhaps this is what you are experiencing?
Since we started this crazy routine we’ve had no problems even with 3 straight days of 4+ hours per day of swimming in 90 degree water. Best of luck - it gets better once you figure out your own personal routine.
I really like that spot as well, but perhaps mine is a little more to the side because when I sleep on my back, I'm not on the pod, maybe just the edge a wee bit. I wipe with alcohol swab, let it dry on its own, I pinch up a bit at insertion. I stand up when putting it on (thats what I was told by the educator). I do make sure the adhesive isn't on too tight (or stretched) as Ellasmom says - I did have the "too tight" adhesive issue, and it just pulled every time I moved - it didn't cause any issues, just bugged the heck out of me for 3 days, lol. Almost the same thing you're doing, and don't have any issues with it sticking. Oh, I try and change it in the morning after a shower if I can - I find that helps. You may be right about the taping causing you a problem.
That's interesting roadsterchic that the company told you to stand when placing on your thighs. They told me to sit when placing on thighs. Stand when placing on abdomen.
I rotate my pods through that area regularly and they are some of the most consistent and reliable sites I have. I'm trying to picture exactly where and in what orientation you are wearing your pods.
When I first tried the lower back, I pointed the window area towards my backbone and the pod occluded practically everytime. I think there are two things that make that orientation extremely problematic, for me at least, very little fat with lots of bone, and thick skin.
When I rotate the pod to point away from the spine, it works fine. The further away from the spine and deeper into the love handles area it goes, the easier it is to get consisetnt results. Some of my sites in that area are practically into my abdomen and it would only be a matter of flipping the pod around and sticking it on the front instead of back.
The downside is that I do end up sitting into the pod when I lean back into a chair and I can definitely feel it when I lie down on my back. Neither of those positions seem to affect pod function though, and it's just a matter of getting used o having the pod there.
Since we're talking pod placement on the lower back... how high up on your back do you place it? I wear my pants at my waist line (as opposed to lower rise pants). Do you place your pods above your waist line or below your waist line?
It seems like the OmniPod placement picture shows placement below the waist line but sometimes what's being described here has me envisioning above the waistline and I wonder if that's an option that would work?
I've been thinking about trying it for the heck of it but don't want to waste a pod either. :)
Good questions, Smileandnod. I'm actually wearing mine about an inch above my belt right now, window facing towards my backbone. I would consider that my lower back, I guess. I also wear it an inch or more below the beltline - I would condier that my upper butt, lol. Both spots work very well for me. On a sidenote, I rotate the window facing towards my back and away from my back that way there is less of a chance of hitting the same spot too soon after the last time. I do the same on my arms, flipping the window facing my elbow and away from it.
