I am new to the site. I have been diabetic for 25 years and just switched to the Omnipod and I am loving it minus the small learning curve like not ripping off the pod as you walk by a door. I have a few questions and I hope someone out that has some experience.
Placement
Other than the basics
Arm
abdomen (do not like to put it there at all)
Leg
rear (as far back without sitting on it)
Has anyone tried the advertised back of the shoulder blade? Is it comfortable? Is the insertion painful?
On the back above your pant line again. Is it comfortable? Is the insertion painful?
I have a lot of lipodystrophi so I want to try new places, I feel like I am new diabetic and afraid to do shots again.
So I suffer from the dreaded dawn phenomenon. The only problem I am having it doesn’t happen all the time? Anyone else have this happen to them? Were you able to figure out a pattern or cause?
What is the largest carb load can you eat without having a huge swing? Has anyone figure out how to be able to eat a larger carb load and not have the huge swing?
I would go back of the arm with the pod because it looks doable. I cant use my abdomen either but love handle area can work as well. I pump but i don’t use a pod, my infusion sets are really small.
dawn phenom: I up the basal rate and I have a lower carb ratio in the morning, and I have to check from day to day because I can crash or be high at 10AM. I eat at 6 so I check at 6, 730 and 10 to get an idea of my bs trajectory. rest of the day is easier.
I have gone as high as 100 grams of very slow carbs - (spaghetti and meatballs with a fatty tomato sauce). pump set for 6 hours of slow bolus and I have to check every 45min-1 hour because it’s hard to tell if you are behind or ahead of the absorption thing. I don’t do this often, but when I do it’s soooo worth it if it’s my meatballs =)
fast carbs I can’t go above 30 grams without adding exercise or I’ll get stupidly high numbers. with exercise (even walking) I can go 50-60 grams of faster carbs with half the usual insulin. again, mixing insulin with exercise and you can crash pretty hard so be careful and (even if it is counter-intuitive) bring carbs with you in case…
Thanks for replying Joe. It’s frustrating because I never had to worry about the amount of carbs I ate in a meal prior to the pump.
Dawn phenom: Not always happening that is what is making it tough. If I adjust my basal to lower my bg in the morning I might crash.
It seems that my problem is my absorption rate. Humalog takes anywhere between 1 to 2 hours to actually start working. I have gone to taking my breakfast insulin an hour before I eat and it seems to be doing better when i can plan it.
I’m only having issues with my morning bg and after breakfast.
Exercise is huge. If I actually started going to the gym I would be able to cut my daily insulin in half. When I go to the gym after work at times I don’t even need to take a bolus for my dinner.