I have had the exact same problem…sometimes it hovers at 240 or so I can’t bring down. I blamed it on bubbles or placement sometimes and didn’t,'t call tech support. I have a perfect box now…
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Jane. It isn’t you. I think a batch of pods, maybe a batch of pods from a factory, are messed up. I’ve used Omnipod for 5 years and never had so many pods just hover high for hours as if clogged or blocked
What lot number. I’ve been keeping a calendar of failed pods and lot numbers
I started this thread because of problems I’ve been having with pods. If there is another way to reach out to others with possible problems let me know and I will start another thread
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So I didn’t keep track of the lot number from 6 months ago, so it could be one of these numbers or a different one.
But I have 3 bad pods of lot number L71053
And 3 of L71027
I have had 5 pod fails on lot 72163. Other fails on various lot numbers (that don’t match your numbers). I guess we just keep calling in the fails and make omnipod replace them.
I still believe an understaffed factory (Covid) sent out a lot of defective pods
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Tandem has promised us a hybrid pump that’s just a little bigger than pods. It allows for all the different types of infusion set. It’s stuck to your skin the way a pod is. But it is reusable like a pump.
Depending on when it comes out, I’ll likely switch to it.
I’m only one year into my current pump, but this sounds like the best of both worlds.
We will have to see how that pans out tho
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Nope. Just had it happen at 4 am. I’ve been having the issue since I switched to Dash last December. Omnipod claims no one else is reporting the issue. I fortunately have a prescription for every two days.
@PamS
It might be worth considering if there is another issue at work instead of bad pods. Others have mentioned site absorption and depth of the pod’s infusion.
But you have been using them without a problem for a number of years, and then suddenly you started to experience a problem. Perhaps, there might be something else happening.
One of the things we have with diabetes is a better insight into our bodies. When things happen - like we are stressed or sick or our diet changes - our insulin needs change. Our total daily dose changes. Others would never know it, but insulin use gives us an insight into things that are happening with our body.
If you have a basal insulin you can use, such as Levemir or Lantus, it might be worth going on MDI for a few days and seeing if you can confirm your insulin needs with injection.
Doing that will help you either rule out pods or confirm that it is a pod issue.
Another thing you can do is remove the pod after 2 or 3 days (BEFORE you deactivate it). Then do a bolus, and watch the tip of the cannula. You can hear the clicks and see insulin come out of the cannula. (It is a small amount, so you may not see only 0.05 units on each click, but eventually you will see the insulin come out after a few clicks.)
It might be worth getting an exam and seeing if there is another issue that is causing your body to not use insulin as well.
From all the FDA requirements and quality assurance that pump companies are required to go through, for the most part I think you can make this assumption. There might be site issues, there might be absorption issues, there might be bad insulin, there might be air bubbles in the insulin, or any number of things happening.
But when the pod “clicks”, you can be pretty certain that it is spitting out 0.05 units of whatever is in the reservoir. It’s just a matter of making sure your body is able to absorb that, and it is enough for you.
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Sorry to hear so many are having problems. It sounds like it might be a production problem. I don’t use Omnipod but I have a friend who got her young son to switch to a pump last year and they have been very happy until just recently. She said they have been having some major pod failures of late. So much that they are thinking it might not be worth all the headaches. I am hoping someone can get a handle on it. Always hate to hear someone dropping technology due to production issues.
I love my technology when it works but wow, when you get a bad lot it can make your life living ….
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Following! I too have the seemingly random spikes that are tough to correct occasionally. I don’t eat low carb or low fat so I usually blame myself but I suspect site issues as well.
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@ColleenP and @PamS: This has happened to me too! I switched to Dash in the fall last year and since then I´ve had exact same problem as you describe. Thank you for bringing this up I´ve looked for explanations elsewhere.
At first I noticed that Dash seemed to work differently from Eros because insulin suddenly was slower to kick in and my high numbers just lingered. I thought it might be something Insulet had done to the software and how the Dash did it´s calculations. From time to time my TIR has been just horrible and if @PamS is right, this is not me but pods “failing but not failing”.
My LOT-numbers look different from yours. Right now these two are giving me trouble:
LOT PD1C12051951
and
LOT PS1K11192021
I´ll give Insulet here in Norway a call on monday.
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I’ve got PS1K11092021 and this lot is terrible. I changed a pod around 12 am and I’m going high again for no reason 6 hours later. I’ve had it with Dash.
Sorry to hear that. I´m meeting with my diabetes nurse in a month and I will bring it up with her. I´m kind of stuck with Omnipod because I need other infusion sites than my abdomen.
I’m planning to switch back to Eros. At least the pods were reliable.
I have found out two things. 1. Omnipod does research on the pods we send in. If you ask, you can get the results of what they find out but you have to ask when you return the pod. I am going to ask every time I return one. And 2). After a long talk with an Omnipod rep, they claim to not have data on nationwide pod failures and defects in lot numbers so they can’t give us, their customers, any information about our complaints. I don’t believe that but they won’t give us anything. I wonder if they must report defects to the FDA but have no way to check that
So we are on our own
I am glad to know I am not alone and I am not going crazy and I am not making mistakes. These darn pods are failing or clogging or getting sluggish and I know now what to do when it happens
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Don’t blame yourself. I eat low carb and it happens. Sometimes I linger high and haven’t even eaten for 10 hours! Some of tHese pods are defective
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I ordered Eros pods today. I’ll report back with my findings but I fully expect they will work great like they did before. I was told when I reported the Dash pod issue that I was the only one. So not true. They refused to believe there was an issue and told me they tested the returned pods and found no issue. I did my own test and did find an issue but the pod had already “failed” when I did the test. Dash has tanked my TIR to 50% from 77% or higher. No more.
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Good luck.
As I’m reading this, I can’t help but think these symptoms don’t sound like a pod failure. You’re not going into DKA, correct? And am I correct in saying that the sugars don’t rise above 300?
I’m suspicious of the testing methodology in that you’re replacing a ‘bad’ pod with a new pod, but having the same result. I think it’d be a better test to try a shot of insulin instead and see if you have differing results. This sounds more like physiology issue than a bad device, no? If you can test with a syringe or pen, that’d be very enlightening (and you may prove it is indeed the Pod… 
)
My guess would be a slow absorption of insulin at the site, but even that doesn’t quite fit if you’re changing the site and still having the issue. I can’t imagine what mechanical failure would cause results like this? If you do go low after bolusing, you’re getting insulin which means the pod is delivering it, right?
Sorry if this sounds hostile, not my intent at all- just my engineer brain trying to figure it out!!