Just looking for opinions on the omnipod pump, I go to talk to my dr about using a pump on Monday and I think I’m gonna go with this. People that use omnipod what do you think about it?
@Aambler, pumping is different than MDI, so if you don’t currently pump, it takes some getting used to. all pumps are essentially the same. if you like the POD, and your insurance covers it or you can afford it directly, then by all means try it. Omnipod will give you a empty pod, for free, so you can glue it to yourself and see if you can tolerate it. They (like most pump manufacturers) will work with your doctor and insurance company.
please also consider buying the book “Pumping Insulin”. it took me 6+ months to get my basal program right, during that time my control and a1c got worse…and I didn’t like any pump. now I am a believer because for me it worked out great. cheers good luck.
My almost 11 yr old just recently (back in Oct. 2017) got the Omnipod. We chose it due to there not being any tubing and her being very active. There are a lot of pluses to this pump and she’s gotten better control with her diabetes since switching from injections, her A1C was lower in only 4 months! The only down side, which I would say isn’t unique to just the Omnipod, is pump failures. If you get wet a lot then obviously the adhesives are going to come loose and sometimes that leads to the cannula coming out. When that happens with the Omnipod there’s this deafening scream sometimes (when the PDM actually picks up that this has happened) and when it’s being super loud it’s hard to push a pin in the tiny reset button to make it stop. We literally threw one out on the interstate on the way home from a long trip bc this happened.
But as far as ease of use and better control we love the pump. Our Omnipod representative that gave us the pump class on how to use Omnipod was a great teacher, and I assume all the reps are like that. Not to mention if you ever have an issue you can call you’re rep that originally trained you and/or you can call their main company number. The will replace for free any pumps that you’ve had a pump failure with, so that’s fantastic, and they can walk you through anything you forget from the classes as well. I started having seizures after we had the training and needed to adjust insulin based on the info I sent to my daughter’s doctor, the seizures had caused me to have short term memory loss so some of the functions on the pump that I didn’t use regularly I completely forgot. I called our pump rep and she guided me through everything just like she did initially! You always have help, so you’re not in it alone, as far as the reps and company is concerned. And as far as ease of use my daughter has figured almost everything out on her own, she doesn’t mind the pump at all, and enjoys the freedom from the shots. So if you’re ready to try a pump I would suggest this one, the no tube thing is fantastic and everything on the PDM is easily understood, so you can figure a lot of the stuff out on your own. We haven’t been self-adjusting insulin yet like we could with shots but that’s because the control is so much tighter with pumps then shots so we just upload the info to our laptop with our Dexcoms glucose readings and send that to her doctor for help adjusting her insulin rates. I’m sure eventually we’ll be confident enough to do it on our own again but it’s the same as when you first start with shots, you don’t self-adjust until you’re familiar with the way to do it properly. So really it’s kind of like starting over but you have a lot of people willing to help you, so don’t feel like you’re alone in decision making, Omnipod has great customer service from my experience and has helped us with lots of issues we’ve had. Hope that helps!
I’ve had the omnipod for 5 years now. I absolutely love it. I always thought I was too clumsy for pump tubing and would accidentally yank it out. There’s lots of pros to this pump! Only downsides that sometimes are a little annoying are the adhesive especially if it’s hot and your body is sweating can let loose or if you place it on area that folds a lot on accident (stomach for example) the adhesive will sometimes roll up and make the pump fall off. Other than that, one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in diabetes management!
1 Like
I’ve had mine for about 6 months after 15 years as a Medtronic user. Being free of tubing literally brought tears of joy.
It felt like I was constantly getting the tubing caught on a doorknob and yanking the infusion set out (ouch), or one of my young children getting curious and pulling at it, or the pump coming off my waistband while I was sleeping and the tubing getting wrapped around whatever part of my body, or the pump falling off during the day…
The Omnipod hasn’t been perfect. I hate that when it expires I have to deactivate it and throw it away, even if I have 50+ units of insulin in it (I’ve started sucking out the excess and using it in the new one). But being able to go to the beach and know I’m still getting my insulin, not worrying about forgetting the reconnect the pump after a shower has been wonderful.
The pods are bulkier than a standard infusion set. It can be somewhat annoying, but the trade off is well worth it in my view.
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have!
Hey I’ve been on mine now for almost 3 weeks it’s just been aggravating not having good numbers, does it take awhile to get your numbers right or should I be concerned?
@Aambler if you’ve never pumped before it could take many weeks to figure it all out. most doctors AND pump trainers are ultra-conservative so your numbers will likely be higher when staring a pump. as far as being concerned - if you are way high you could be at risk of DKA and yes, t hat’s a concern.
it took me a very long time to figure out my basal rates the first time… months actually. my first a1c was higher than when i was on MDI… but things settled in and now it’s good.
if you want to take matters into your own hands I recommend the book “Pumping Insulin”.
good luck
Hi Ron - and fellow podder!
I hate to waste insulin too, but I have found it’s best to fill the Pod up with less (basically the 125 mark) - I still have remainder in the pod when I toss it but it more closely matched my 3-day total insulin needed. I have found that using insulin directly from the vial works best. I’ve only reused insulin if I had an immediate pod failure after inserting a new pod.
Soooo… what did you decide? And how is it going?