Static Electricity?

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#1

So I have noticed an upturn in reports of Dexcom and Omnipod device failures lately. Sensors giving the dreaded ??? and _ _ _ and pod errors galore. I now have a safety pin in my underwear with the hope it will dissipate the static electricity. It's funny until I had 3 screaming pods last week, I never even considered static electricity as a potential hazard. No one at Insulet or Dexcom even mentions it as a possibility they just take the information and send out a replacement pod or sensor. While I don't know if the safety pin trick will help, it does help me psychologically to think there is something I can do to prevent a pod error or sensor failure. There are so very few things that we have control over especially with regard to D. Sure you can bolus in a timely fashion, have your basals set perfectly, carb count,exercise, etc, but sometimes no matter how careful you are, something nebulous like static electricity comes to ruin your best laid plans.
At least there are some things I can still control. ![|310x480](upload://z4cYhHEiLhCaXtVLSp6egb4VVxu.jpeg)

Heck it worked for the Red Sox this year :)

#2

I am new to this site, but find your comment about the safety pin intriguing. My daughter, 13, switched from the former Omnipod to the new one in September and has had tons of deactivations. She mostly wears her pod on her arm. Where do you where yours?

#3

Hi Laura Lee welcome to TuD, so far I have worn pods just about every where except my thighs. The three that failed last week were left and right arm and on my abdomen. Ellie a member here posted this "Yes static is bad. Don't laugh. Put a safety pin or paper clip on your underwear. Helps dissipate static. Or use a static spray." When I asked my Pod trainer she said she hadn't heard of static problems and pods, but if you google "static and omnipod failures" 15,900,000 results come up so it can't just be me.

#4

this is what i was told by a retable pump manafoctor and it might also work for the CGM try putting a dryer sheet on u somewhere it should help with the static electricity i know it did with my pump

#5

I wear several pins in my underwear. But dont you have issues when it is time to be changed? It is so difficult to find someone to help me do that. All those pins and the the mess, surely there must be a better way?

#6

Oh crush the colts? The locals odds makers have it 24 to 20 New England, that seems pretty generous to me. Cant we just say beat the colts, do we really need to crush somebody? I do not want to crush NE, just win. Oh and Crush someone, well Id likely start with the saints. But never my good friends in NE

#7

Caleb's been using OmniPod for almost seven years. The first winter he had a lot of static issues. That seems to be resolved bc he didn't have it again until this winter. At least I assume that was a problem bc he got errors when removing his winter coat - a time of static intensity.

I will not laugh about the pin! This is interesting. I don't understand the science behind it. We have dryer sheets that I'll rub him down with and keep with the Pods as they are stored. Haven't had an issue in several weeks - KNOCK WOOD!

Hope your trick works again for you!

#8

OK rick well the Saints while not crushed did in fact lose. And how many pins do you put in your underwear ? I have a single safety pin that I now move from pair to pair any more than that could indeed get messy.
I'm looking forward to tonight's game. But it's in the mid 50's and raining solidly so I'm not sure who that favors. It sure doesn't favor any of the fans. I guess you could say crush is a bit strong of a word, but it had to be a short word since annihilate just wouldn't fit on the pdm

#9

Thanks Lorraine for the perspective of a long time podder. I think this is the first winter for the new pods and having 3 pods fail in less than a week was unnerving and annoying and I may be completely wrong but as I said it is one tiny thing I can do to maybe prevent them from failing. ( I don't understand the science either.)

#10

So has anyone had any pod failure improvements as a result of wearing a safety pin or any other static remedies?