I have been T1 diabetic for almost 10 yrs. 51yr old female, distance runner, mom, super busy and I LOVE my omnipod. Once I pop one on I don’t even know it is there. I am also a self confessed control freak and have my basal down to a science. A1c is 6.1
Hi Scot,
I'm 48, 19 years type 1, omnipod pumper about 6 years. Pumping is awesome, and I would never have started on a tubed pump. With pumping, you can make the insulin do what your body wants. I'm active, rough on things, and swim. My iphone gets knocked off my belt several times a week. So the omnipod was my only pump to consider.
But... read about some of the issues with the new omniopod. Some of us have had pump failure rates around 50% or higher. I hope they straighten out quality control and customer service. If your insurance pays for one brand , they won't pay for another anytime soon. Not to poopoo omnipod, but you may want to wait and watch for the bugs to be worked out. You'll love pumping either way.
Scot, the pod is a relatively new product in the pumping world, and many endos have little or no experience with it, so they will try to guide you toward a product with which they are more familiar. Insulet is a small company competing against some very large firms who have a very large head start and much bigger sales and marketing departments. When I started looking at pumps a few years ago, the OmniPod was really brand new. Only one other patient in my endo's office was using it, but to me the question of "tube or no tube?" was a no-brainer. My A1C's immediately showed dramatic improvement, and I have never questioned my decision to go with the pod. Good luck!
Regarding pod failures: I had a difficult time making the transition to the new, smaller pods. I was one of the first on this board to get the new generation of pods and had multiple failures when I first started on them. Then, customer support came out with more explicit instructions on priming and fill levels, and my failure rate has fallen to almost nil -- at least as good as the old pods, so I'm not really sure if there is a quality control issue or just a training issue involved when people switch over. There are definitely differences in the pod-change process, but my original concerns about the new pods are totally gone now that my success rate is so much better.
Hi Scot,
I've been a diabetic for 44 years and on a pump for about 15 or so. Started on a Disetronic pump which at the time was a tubed pump competing with Minimed, and then switched over to OmniPod about 7 or 8 years ago. Having had experience with both types of pumps, I completely agree with Andy (he replied to you earlier) that both the auto-inject plus the tubeless system are total winners. Obviously there are many folks who love their Minimed, but for me I found that I was constantly working around the fact that my previous pump had a tube so I had to figure out what to do with it when I played sports, or took a shower, or just wasn't wearing a belt so it was a bit more difficult to find somewhere to clip the thing. Obviously all these things can be overcome, but at least for me not having to even think about stuff like this w/the pods is great.
hey scot -
i never used anything besides omnipod, so i can't really compare to other pumps either. all i can tell you is, yes, the omnipod has many problems (i.e., stops woking, high sugars after starting a new one, annoying beeps, etc.). but on the other hand, when it works, it works beautifully (helps control sugars, no injections!, etc.)
the pros far outweigh the cons! go for it!