One more thing…once you have a pod alarm on you, or you deactivate an expired pod, be sure to clear out the pdm before you start up a new pod. The pdm will say something like…Do you want to activate a pod now? Our trainer told us to hit no about 6 times before you start up the new pod. I’m not really sure why, but sometimes you have a pod problem, deactivate it and then the next one also alarms right away - this seems to help clear things out for some reason.
We do make sure we put the insulin in there very slowly. That was taught to us in training. And we make sure there are no bubbles. He actually prefers the Omnipod, but not all the problems he’s had with it lately. We are going to try another pod on him today. Wish us luck! And thanks for your tips. We do have a trainer, but she isn’t really local. So I just call the helpline then.
We didn’t switch to another box. They say they place random ones in each box, but they are all from the same lot number. We’re going to try it again today, and use the same box. At least then we’ll know if it is a specific lot number causing the problems.
I did go to bolus history and clicked on the ?. It showed 6.0 units and just said bolus stopped prior to completion. No mention of how much it delivered. That’s why we didn’t think he got any of it.
The communication error suddenly started screeching and we were unable to get the pdm to talk to it. Not trying to do a bolus or anything. Didn’t bump it on anything. I had to use a paperclip in the tiny hole to get it to shut up. How would I be able to tell if it was a static electricity charge causing it? I don’t recall the error code it gave right now. But I told the gal at customer service.
We’re going to give it another try today. We’re both in a better frame of mind to do so, lol. Needed a break from it though for sure. Thanks for all your helpful advice!
Thanks!
Hi Kate. Tim’s been on the MM pump for over 6 years and liked it a lot. But wanted to try the pod now. Was going okay the first couple weeks, then all this happened in one night. We took a break from it and he reconnected his MM pump for a few days. Going to try the pod again today. Wish us luck! I had told insulet that we’d be returning the system the other night, and they said they’d have someone call us about it the next day then. But, surprise, nobody called. If anything, we’ll likely hang on to this system and if it continues to give us problems, will go between the pod and MM pump. He really does like not having to carry the MM pump in his pocket all the time, but like me, was VERY frustrated that night. Going to give it another go today. Thanks for the good luck wishes! Keeping fingers crossed that the next pod goes better.
Ugh! Wishing you better luck as well! Have your doctor write the script for additional test strips. The amount can be overridden by the doc. I have some extra strips. If you would like me to send you some to tide you over, just let me know.
Interesting tip about storing the boxes of pods with a dryer sheet! I’ll try that. We do always use insulin at room temp. When one bottle gets low, we pull out another one at that time to be sure it’s had a long time to get to room temp. And we do fill it very slowly as well. We haven’t kept the pod in the tray before, so will do that too now. I’m going to try the sticky tape like you mention as well. We do use flexifix tape over it both directions and under it as well to help keep it still, and on him. But we’ll try this trick too. So you don’t pinch up the skin during insertion? But instead, press down on the needle end? Interesting. We’ll try that too. Thanks for all your helpful tips! Trying another pod today,crossing fingers, lol.
We’re ready to deal with it again now, and will be trying another pod today, using the helpful tips I’ve gotten here.
Wow, I hadn’t heard of doing that before either. Will be sure to do that today at activation time. Thanks again for all your helpful advice!
I tried the pod and but so many fall off. Simply not work for me. I am back on an MM pump.
Not sure what to do with my Pod stuff. I hate to just throw it away so maybe I will list it on Ebay. It has EVERYthing and I used it for 4 months.
I loved the freedeom of no tubing but not Pods dropping off and often NOT being accurate,was too much.
nfy
P.S.
I wanted to add that if you try the Pod and it does not work, The USER has not failed!
The technology needs refining and I hope that one day it will be something I can try again.
It works for many people, I hope it works for your son.
Good Luck!!!
nfy,
I have had zero problems with Pods falling off and I surf. Maybe your experience was not great but mine has been.
My son is 17 and we had a lot of problems in the beginning also. We had so many problems that we changed our RX from 2/week to 3/week because we were afraid that we would run out of pods. But, I would encorage you to try again soon, although it is OK to go back to the familar for a day or two. It is stressful learning anything new and this is so critical, it makes it even more so.
My son got a lot of occlusions on his arms - we still use the arms in his rotation but only for the first 2 days but he mostly uses the hips. If we make it to the third day on the arms without an occlusion, his numbers are high. We could not get them to stay on his stomach very well when he played hockey. Then someone suggested the back of the hip. He was reluctant to try that but now it is his favorite spot. Absorption is great, it is out of the way and he wears Under Armour compression shorts to keep it tight against his skin.
But, he loved the Omnipod so we adjusted the RX. It has been almost a year and with our auto order set to ship at the first of June, I have 5 full boxes in the cabinet and more supplies stashed at school that will be coming home soon.
Has anyone had to skip or adjust a Pod Order ? Can you just call them or do they have to adjust the doctor’s orders ?
I got my prescription upped to more pods, it wasn’t a problem. I also wear my pod mostly on the back on my hip, I never have problems there. Also I love the Under Armour idea.
We were also having that problem early on. Our pod problems were always in multiple 2s or 3s. We were told by Insulet to make sure that the old pod was deactivated, and removed from the area and then start the activation process on the new pod. They thought the PDM was getting confused and deactivating the new pod or trying to activate the old pod which it knew had an error. So now we take the old pod to our pod recycle bag in another room before starting the pod activation.
We also had a lot of problems with a box of pods left on the edge of the table (instead of stored away in a cabinet) when we changed his pod. I don’t know if the PDM tried to activate all of them or if they had a manufacturing problem but most of them errored.
They also cautioned us about anything electronic that might interfere such as remote phones, hand held game systems, ipods and cell phones being between the pod and the PDM when activating it. It was hard to rule out any one thing because my 17 year old usually had all of these at the table when activating the pod.
Great information too! Thanks. I’ll make sure we have everything electronic out of the way from now on.
Hey, I’m new to TU and the group but…I’ve been using Omnipod since August 2010 after 30+ years on NPH and Regular insulin. It took one of my children being diagnosed to move to the modern age. Anyway, my first three months on Omnipod were perfect then in December the bad lot of pods started. I had seven fail in two months. Since I finished that batch I’ve only had one fail and that was two days ago. First, when it works (which is most of the time) I love the product. After 30+ years of injections it is nice and being active in sports I love the tubeless pump. My biggest issue is Omnipod’s total lack of customer service!!!. It’s great that they agree to replace the failed pods (how could they not since they failed, most before they were even attached to my body). But when I inject 200 units into the pod and it malfunctions during priming (7 in two months with the same batch of pods) how do these people at Insulet not agree to reimburse me for the cost of the insulin??? If they had even mediocre customer service and care I would be their biggest non-paid sales rep, but as things stand I’m hoping someone else comes up with a tubeless pump that I can switch to in the near future.
Hey JCC,
How much insulin do you lose if it malfunctions during priming? I use the minimum amount, around 80 U, and can withdraw most of the insulin from the malfunctioning pod for use in the next pod.
Tim’s gone back on the pod and is on his 3rd one from that same box. So far, so good…keeping fingers crossed!