Being on the Pod, I forget I have it on most of the time, but when I was at the(recently joined) YMCA last night working out, I jumped in the sauna and hot tub and forgot about my Pod until I got home.
The Pod seemed ok(it was change time anyway) but it got me thinking about the heat affecting it or the insulin, is this something I need to worry about? I was on MDI before this so it wasn't a problem.
I really like group BTW, I've picked up many good tips from everyone.
Thanks
Prolonged periods in the heat--yes. I would think the heat from your sauna/hot tub experience may degrade the efficiency/efficacy some, but shouldn't completely kill the insulin.
When I was swimming a lot for tris I would often jump in the sauna afterward too, to try and sweat out some of the chlorine so I didn't reek all the time. I would try to limit my time in there to less than 10 min total. I never really noticed any complete loss of insulin efficacy. But that's just anecdotal of course.
Glad you like the group! I agree that with the variety of individuals making up the group, it's like a think-tank of awesome info. Good stuff all the time :)
I imagine the pod itself will be fine at temperatures you can tolerate... it's really the insulin that's at risk.
For Novolog, for instance, Novo-Nordisk says that if it goes over body temperature (37C or 98.6 F), it should be discarded. Some insulins, like Apidra, appear to be more heat sensitive.
Just keep an eye on your BG and make sure it doesn't take off... if it does, the insulin may have been cooked.
I've spent some time in a warm jacuzzi without any effect.
Basic insulin pump practices state that you should not use hot tubs or saunas at all with the pump attached. While the pump itself might be able to handle it, it's not designed to. So it's a risk. Then the insulin itself is of course damaged at anything over 100 degrees for more than a minute.
I never used a pump because it was too restricting (bits of tube hanging around chainsaws, not good news), but I've been using the Omnipod for about 10 months now and I have yet to see a single thing it prevents me from doing (well, apart from ripping off my clothes too quick; once the Omnipod came too.)
I swim (regularly), I take hot showers, I use the sauna. I don't see any likelihood of a problem with boiled insulin because the pod stores the insulin right next to my body and I am not about to wait while water much over 100F passes over me. (Yes, saunas are hotter; up to the physical limit which is 212F but that's irrelevant because that isn't the temperature at any solid surface.)
Proteins are pretty stable and our bodies contain a whole lot of them. I'm not going to worry about it; if I'm wrong and I spend several hours in a sauna (very unlikely) and I have to replace the pod, so what?
In fact I suspect the greatest danger may be skin burns, because normally you don't have anything in fixed contact with your body in a sauna. Still, I think since the Omnipod surface is plastic (low thermal conductivity) and the change of a burn is small.
John Bowler
My CDE said that the insulin should be good to 120 degrees. I have yet to use my hot tub, which I usually keep at 100-102, but I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any anomalies. I'll have to see if I can find more info on the temperature sensitivity for Apidra.
Alan
Went for a 40 mile ride yesterday. My cycling computer said the temp was between 111 and 113.2 the whole time for the two hour ride. I haven't noticed any degradation of the insulin's ability to keep my numbers where I want them. It's kind of a catch 22 though b/c after the rides I'm always more insulin sensitive (so perhaps it doesn't work as well but I don't notice b/c I don't need as much?). Again, all anecdotal though.
Hopefully yours has continued to work well too!
Insulin does degrade with hieat, and it is dependent on how high the heat is, and the length of time of exposure. Brief modest increases in temperature may not have much effect ( 10 minutes in the sauna), but by 65-70 hours against your skin at 98.6, mayny pod users notice that the last few hours before replacing their pod, their BS will rise--most of the time it is partially due to degradation of the insulin, but sometimes from otehr factors, such as partial occlusion/tissue reaction at cannulaa site with poor absorption.
I would think occasional hot tub or sauna for 10 minutes would not have too much effect.
Dr. P