I'm currently on the Omni Pod and was wondering if any one has had a Problem with the Pod staying on or if they have had a site that started bleeding and it did not alarm although the blood sugars were high. I'm thinking of going onto the Animas Pump since while being on the Omni Pod there are times I have had to change the site 2x a day and then sometimes even the next day if it does not stay on. Does anyone know of an Insulin Pump Group that meets once a month in the Dallas Area.
Angela
Hi Angela,
My 9 yr. old daughter has been on the Omni pod for 15 mos. We have not had a problem with the pod sticking on, not even when bathing or swimming, and we live in AZ so she swims a lot. She also takes tap and it still stays on. Sometimes, after a couple of days of doing a lot of swimming, part of the adhesive will loosen and we put tape on it, but that it rare. Only once has she had a bloody site and I assume the insertion needle just happened to hit a little vein. We have not had a problem with alarms although we have had an occasional malfunction. I have read on line of people using other adhesives to ensure it sticks securely but I don't remember the names of the adhesives. Have you spoken to the rep or the customer service people? Sometimes they have handy tips. I hope this is helpful.
Hi Angela. ;My daughter started on the Omnipod in Feb. In March we went to Fla. It was different there. We had it on her arm and had to put the suntan lotion near the adhesive but not on it. She did get a burn all around it. Then we put it on her upper butt area and she had to remember not to rip it off when she took her suit off. I went through 7 pods in 10 days. I was very frustrated and I was on a first name basis with the customer service people at omnipod. I spoke with Jason alot and he is very active in sports. He gave me a few names of adhesives to use. As for him when you call. He was working on a Fri night. He is great. He really takes the time to talk to you and give you the tricks of the trd. Another thing we just discovered is that if you have the pod on your arm you can use a terry cloth wrist sweat band or headband to hold it into place. This has worked out very welll. We have bought them at the sports store. Good luck to you!!! karen
Angela,
Karen brings up a great point about about using the sports bands to secure the pod when you are active. For my daughter, I bought cute tube socks and cut them to create cute bands. She even made one to give to Nick Jonas when she met him at a Meet & Greet before a concert. She wore them off and on for a few months, mostly at the beach. Now, she says she is fine without it but I still keep them on hand. If she were going to a water park, I would definitely have her wear one. There are some fun tube socks out there!
I have spoken to Omnipod many times and I really like to talk to Jason. He is very outdoorsy and he can tell you what adjesives work the best for water sports. As for him the next time you call customer service. They are a good resource. As far as the pump failing on the airplane, I am a flight attendant and I can't think of any reason that you would have radio wave interference in the bathroom although I could double-check with a pilot. Realistically, I think I know what happened. The airplanes are notorious for static electricity. When she touched the handle of the toilet, I bet she had a spark and that caused the pdm to malfunction and the pod to alarm. I have had 2 static malfunctions already at school with my daughter. Omnipod told me to use a hot dryer sheet or static guard on the omnipod case (not pdm) which I use every day. I also will put some lotion on my daughter's clothes to prevent static build-up. I hope this helps. Happy traveling. Karen
We use IV Prep before putting the pods on, and don't have too many problems. BUT, my daughter likes to swim a lot and they do tend to come off if she stays in the pool for a long time. We've had some luck using a tape from 3M called micropore. They make it in white and in tan, so it's not super obvious against the skin. In the summer, we always use the tape because with sweating and swimming, we seem to go through too many pods. If your skin isn't sensitive, there's also a very good adhesive called mastistol. We've also had site issues that don't always alarm. It's frustrating, but I'm sure other pumps have their problems too. Good luck!