Not a stupid question! The PDM is the "control part" and it's slightly bigger than the Minimed 722 pump -- but it still fits in your pocket. You DON'T have to have it within reach at all times. But you DO need to have it no more than a foot away whenever you plan to bolus yourself or change settings. It operates like a remote control. So you can leave it laying on the bedside table at night when you're sleeping or leave it in the bathroom for that matter if that's where you want to test and bolus yourself. When you're swimming, you just leave it with your towel until you come out of the water and want to eat something or change a setting. You'll find it quite "liberating." That's how my son felt -- no more being tethered to a pump. He REALLY likes the freedom, despite the fact that he was not excited initially to make the switch from the Minimed to the Omnipod. It was his Dad and I that thought it would be a good thing for him, and as soon as he switched to it, he LOVED it. I think that says a lot right there. Anytime you can get a resistant 11-year-old to "love" something, it must be good. Like I say, it isn't perfect -- we still have trouble getting it to stay attached when he's swimming all day -- unfortunately, we do a lot of extra taping to keep the pod in place. But it certainly is an improvement over the Minimed. I think you'd like it based on my son's experiences. You do have to be aware that with the freedom of not being attached to the PDM, you can lose it! That was a problem for my son initally. He wasn't used to it not being tied to his body. So he dropped it out of his pocket and lost it within the first month of owning it! He's more careful with it now.
And I just thought of one more thing that you should know in case you make the switch -- we use two different tapes to keep the pod in place. For non-water activities, we use Cover-Roll Stretch tape (BSN45552) which we buy from metromedicalonline.com. For water activities, we use Hy-Tape (HMS-177) which we order from minimed.com. Hope this helps. Ask me if you have any other questions. Linda
Augenia, I leave mine on the kitchen counter. The only time you need it is when you are bolusing or just checking your bs. I put it in my purse whenever we are going somewhere and are going to eat or be gone for a while. Other than that, you are free to carry on your normal activities without it being handy. I don't even take it with me if we are just running quick errands and don't want to take my purse.
That seems like a definite plus. My daughter just went to grab me and grabbed the wire of my minimed and pulled the whole thing out. I guess I won't have to worry abut that without the wire.
The only things I've heard are the thing about the adhesive not sticking, and that some of my friends from camp (who are also teen girls) were frustrated by its size and that they couldn't wear anything tight because it made a rather unattractive lump under thier clothes.
My son Jon has had type 1 for 2 1/2 years. He started using an Omni Pod about 1 1/2 years ago. So far, all things have been as positive as can be. Jon plays lots of sports. He's one of those kids who likes to dive for balls, etc. There are never any problems. He goes swimming with his pump and doesn't have to do anything. When he goes in a hot tub, he removes the OmniPod, and then puts on a new one when done.
As for negatives, there are times when the pod does not properly work - we get warning beeps, and really have no idea what the problem is, but we change the pod. Certainly not something that Jon likes to do, but it's worth it. He's never had a pump with tubes, so hard to make comparisons. I'm always blown away watching his wear his pod on his belly while at the beach, shirtless. I'm sure every set of eyes go directly to his pod, but it doesn't faze him one bit. Nobody every asks him about it.
We went directly from shots to an OmniPod, so never anything in the middle to compare it with. Jon certainly likes the Pod a whole lot more than shots!
There are times here and there when the adhesive doesn't last as long as the pod. We use "first aid" tape, or paper tape, but this problem, when it occurs, is usually close to the time when the pod needs to be changed. We haven't had any problems where the pod came off, or anything like that. We just add tape. Jon is very athletic, and the tape is almost always fine. Brad
Thanks for all the info! Glad to hear that it works for younger people because, although I do go running quite a lot, I doubt I am as active as I was when I was a teenager. Also having a bump under my clothes is something I am used to because I wear a pump with the wire and all now and there is nowhere I can think to wear it that doesn't create a huge bump. Also now that I have a kid I don't wear as tight clothes as I used to. I wish I could!!! I admire the kids and teens who have to put up with this disease so much because I didn't get it until I was 25 and it was very hard for me. I can only imagine going through this in my younger years. You are all very strong!
I was wondering if you had your training. My OmniPod just mailed out and I am going to set up my training. I am very excited now that I have made the decision. I was sort of hoping you were one step ahead of me so I can hear what it is like. If you have a minute, let me know. Thanks, Augenia
My son will turn 16 tomorrow and he is using the OmniPod. Our biggest concern is the cost since he uses so much insulin we only get about 36 hours per pod. This wouldn't be an issue but Blue Cross Blue Shield will not cover anything less than 3 days per pod. This issue with this is that he is very active in both basketball and football. We were told that they were durable during sports; however, within 5 minutes on the basketball court he received a pod error. This means we wasted a pod. As soon as he got home we put on a new one and then we got a pod error and had to replace another one. The next day his PDM when out and we had to contact customer service. They had to ship out a new one. Thankfully I had some lantus and extra syringes so we could manage for a few days. This is his first experience with a pump however as each day goes by I am afraid that we will not be able to afford it. So if anyone has a very active child can you pleaes let me know how your protect the pod during sports. We taped it on for basketball but as I said as soon as it got bumped it errored out. Any help you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I was on the OmniPod for half a year. Here is why I recommend staying away from it:
(1) It is bulky
(2) The adhesive doesn't stick well enough to hold it on. So, combined with the bulkiness, it falls off fairly easily.
(3) In my experience, it malfunctions way too much. I had to contact customer service again and again and again...
It's possible most users haven't had any problems or consider these problems minor, but for me they were more than enough reason to switch to the Minimed Paradigm, which I love with all my heart.
I love the OmniPod. I have not had any problems like the ones stated above. I run 5-6 miles several times a week and my Pod has only come off once. I don't even put extra adhesive on it. Although at one point I put an arm band around it just because it put my mind at ease that it would be bouncing around and loosen. I haven't had hardly any pods malfunction and when it has happened they send another out to me so I don't lose any time on what my insurance will cover. I mean there are negatives to having a pump but fewer negatives than when I had a Medtronic pump strapped to my body with the wire and everything. I have had mine for almost a year now and I am glad I switched.