if you get failed pods, the company will send you new ones if you call it in. also if you call them about the problem they will help you and find solutions. ive had it happen many times before. but its still worth having if it delivers insulin through nigh and wireless. being a teen and being active a lot its a lifesaver. being a diabetic and thinking positively is hard. but always remind yourself on times what are your choices and how does it help you and how does it not. weigh your pros and cons. Dont give up on something that is new technology. yes people are supposed to be experts at what they do i guess but we improve every single day. never lose hope. everything is fixable. everything is possible, if you break it down. We may not like doing a lot of things and attaching stuff to our bodies, but they save us, and keep us moving and alive. if moving and feeling good is nice to feel, then i would say its worth it.
Hi, Pam - partly just wanted to say thanks for posting, as I, too, seem to be about to give up on Omnipod, after a couple of years in my case, but in my case because my endo, who I like and have really sciency, fine-tuned-control talks with (I think I am her only patient she can really discuss the finer points of control with) recommended it over Omnipod specifically for my issues with fine-tuning. But also because I am T1D 57 and counting as well! Depending on how you count, I was pretty dang symptomatic by December 1963 but didnāt get any insulin until late January.
I have only had 2 failed pods in close to 2 years. One was the 2nd pod I ever used, the 1st I applied without the Omnipod rep looking on. Who knows what I did. The 2nd, though, was a deep embarrassment. 
I donāt know why the pod failed, but after more than a year I had forgotten what the first screaming pod sounded like, and, since I was sitting right under the smoke alarm and next to the carbon monoxide one, I spent a lot of time investing those. Then, because Iām right above my sisterās alarms, investigating themā¦ The problem was partly that the pod was on my leg, and I could hear it really well when my leg was bent, I was bending over, or I was sitting, and much less well when I stood up straight (moved around, went downstairs). Whichever way, I was standing out in the rain with my phone about call the fire department when I realized that no matter how far away from the house I got (fearing it was going to blow sky-high) (SIGH), I could still somewhat hear the alarm. DUH. Sat on front steps, bent to listen to pod: yep, thatād be the culprit.
Anyway, I wish I could tell you what I do differently with pods that I havenāt had any others alarm. Could you tell whether they all came from the same batch? I assume you discussed that with Insulet?
Also, were you applying pods to sites where you had always injected insulin one way or another? Being especially prone to scarring, myself (genetic), I have a godawful problem using old sites. Just switched out a pod 2 days ago because I was getting extreme resistance to the insulin. Switched it out to a site I hate, so rarely use, and within 2 hours, no insulin resistance at all and Iām having a bit of trouble keeping my BG from getting too low. The screaming pod that almost brought the fire department (sigh) was on one of the most resistance-y sites I have, I donāt know if excess scarring made the canula plug up???
Hi @theNoz, Glad I could āhelp.ā As I said, I just couldnāt get the tight control I was use to with the Omnipod. Iāve been diabetic for 57 years + a few months. I have always rotated my injection/pump sites, so I donāt have much scarring at all. Plus, I think if scarring was the issue, I would have it with any pump infusion. Not just with Omnipod.
Anyway, I just read your bio here, and wanted to say, āHello,ā and Iām sorry you had so many fearful years. I remember my mother scolding me as a child when my BG was high, asking if I wanted to go blind. She would blindfold me and have me walk around the house so I could see what it would be like. She never said it would happen, only that it could if I didnāt take care of myself. Problem was, I thought walking around with the blindfold was fun! Still, I did understand the point she was trying to make! 
The only other āput downā I got, was from a friend of my mother who also had T1D. She warned my mother not to tell me I would grow up, get married and have kids of my own. This was not realistic according to her. I was in the next room and overheard them talking. I was probably only 5 or 6 years old, but I remember being very upset by her comments. Being the stubborn soul that I am, I decided I would prove her wrong. Well, now over 50 years later, I am married (for 31 years) and have two children I carried full termā¦ Both in the ānormalā weight/size range (something that amazed the hospital staff!). I think my Momās friend must have been very surprised to hear about all of this!
I wish you luck, if you do decide to switch pumps. For me, the Tandem T:Slim works best.
Pam K.
T1D 57+ years and counting!
@pamcklein, LOL Iāll trade you childhoods - ??? Yours sounds like downright care-taking from my perspective.
Mine: being locked in the bathroom until I produce a TestTape (ah, memories of TestTape) with a test on it. Literally: locked. Any test would do, though. I, being given zero incentive whatsoever to be concerned about my true BGs, naturally learned to cheat right away (dab of water, touch with fingers that still have a trace food on them). Also, any behavior that deviated from that of a logical 30-year-old (when I was pre-adolescent and adolescent) resulted in me being sat in the living room and given huge quantities of sugar to normalize me, because any and every undesirable behavior must be due to low BGs. (I wonder if thatās why I hate hard candies?)
Thanks for writing! Itās SO nice to meet someone who lived a normal life (considering) despite their diabetes. Hey, married for 31 years on its own is pretty darn respectable, diabetes or no! I was also told it would be dangerous for me to bear children at any age, and shouldnāt have them after my mid-20ās because Iād die before they were grown up and my health would prevent me from caring for them. Somehow, in my late 20ās when my sole transportation had been my feet for 12 years and my commute 5 to 8 miles one way, and I was pretty dang healthy, it didnāt occur to me to consider that those predictions had been utterly wrong.
Iām glad you were stubborn!!! I was more of a gullible type on health stuff until around 1990 and I started seeing the doctor in Boston who was leading the New England region of the DCCT. Very cool people in their office, and boy did they treat me like someone who could understand whatever they threw at me. Itās like Iāve lived 2 lives, the Before and After.
@theNoz - you had the presence of mind to touch the Test Tape with a bit of food on your finger? I wasnāt that bright - I just dipped it in water and got results that were really ātoo good to be true.ā Did you have the miniature chemistry set in your bathroom with Clinitest tablets you placed in a test the with the urine? The one thing missing was something to collect the urine in: my mom took the ugly salmon color mixing bowl that came with my Easy Bake Oven and we kept it in the bathroom instead. It was kind of fun watching the urine foam up in the test tube.
Tes-Tape? - I considered Tes-Tape to be a substantial upgrade from āClini-Testā with the test tube, the eye dropper, and the boiling copper sulfate pill. I think @Dennis used straight benedicts solution and a bunsen burner!. blast from the past.
@wadawabbit , I sort of remember Clinitest, and itās funny you call it a miniature chemistry test (my father was a chemist), but I think my parents must have been as relieved to avoid it as I was. I canāt see them trusting me with the chemicals. I certainly remember the foaming going on, but I donāt think I have my own memories of how it worked, theyāre all kind of from being told about it.
@joe , you telling about @Dennisās experience reminds me of Mom - I really do sympathize with her, and did then - having to boil the syringes. A woman who really wants nothing whatsoever to do with anything medical, having to boil a glass syringe every morning and make sure it stays sterile until weāre done with it that morning? I donāt think she ever quite adapted fully. (Can you imagine, MID with having to boil your syringes for every injection?)
I never had a clue how to spell Tes-Tape. I didnāt realize that until I saw your spelling.
Iām also suddenly wondering if thatās where I developed the idea that yellow and gray are a dreadful color combination. Those cases? A dreadful, heavy, lifeless, sink-to-the-bottom-of-the-ocean battleship gray. Not that I have any feelings associated with that color just because of the association with Tes-Tape, no, no.)