My Omnipod -- Not in Love

Now that I'm inching toward the 1-year anniversary of my time using my current insulin pump, I figured I could weigh in on what I think are some the pros and cons of using an Omnipod. I wasn't sure if I should be cute/funny in this post, make lists, or what. I decided that cute & funny is overrated, so here are the fact...

...In Love...

* Oh my gosh, you guys, I love Love LOVE not having a tubed infusion set. I can deal with the tubing just fine when I'm using my old Minimed, but that doesn't mean that it isn't gloriously wonderful to be able to pee/workout without having to rearrange where my pump is placed.

* Again with the tubing... I can sleep in anything I want to sleep in. There are no restrictions.

* I like not having to have the brains of my pump attached to me. The PDM that controls all the pod's actions stays in my meter bag until I need to use it.

* Not having to take my pump off to swim or shower has been the biggest blessing of all. I know many tubed pumpers argue that taking their pumps off for swimming and showering doesn't mess them up much. But for me? It makes a bigger difference than I could've imagined. Now that I've tried both ways, I can say without a doubt that it is a LOT nicer to just dial down my basal while swimming vs. taking it off. And I love that if I'm correcting a high bg when I wake up, I don't need to waste minutes waiting for the insulin delivery...I can just hop in the shower and move forward with my day.

...Not in love...

* Surprisingly, I have found more cosmetic-type of restrictions with the Omnipod than with my previous tubed pump. I think it's mostly because I'm heavy & have some rolls. It's hard enough to find clothing that doesn't accentuate those layer of chub without placing an additional lump on them.

* Because of the previous point, I have found that I can only wear my pods on my arms, back, and hip/butt area. While that sounds good enough, there are only specific spots within those areas that I have success using.

* Maybe it's because of my fatty tissue, but I have always been prone to false occlusion alarms. The way it was explained to me years ago was that tissue can compress the cannula, causing insulin not to be flow into your body. That can result in an occlusion alarm {basically, your pump senses a back up of insulin and alarms that you aren't getting your normal insulin delivery} that can often be fixed by something simple. I've found that I often get these when sitting in one position for a long time {such as... in the car, at a restaurant, while working on my computer, while sleeping, etc.}. My last pumps {both Minimed Paradigms} allowed me to adjust and give it another go. More often that not, the problem was easily remedied by making a quick change in position, and when that didn't work I could always insert another infusion set and reattached. This brings me to my next issue...

* Once the insulin is in the pod, it can't really be reused in another pod {...at least that's what the manufacturer, Insulet, says} and you can't reposition the pod once the cannula has been inserted... I have found that I'm comfortable withdrawing as much insulin as I can and inserting it into another pod. I still lose that very expensive pod {depending on the reason for the pod failure, the company will often send out replacement pods at the end of the month...in my experience, occlusions are not covered}. I also can't get every last unit out of the reservoir. With my current insurance frustrations, I can't really afford to lose those precious drops....but I have no choice.

* I seem to do better with a cannula that is not angled. I really miss Minimed's Quick Sets.

* I do not like the noises!!! The pod clicks as it delivers insulin--my Minimed didn't make a sound at all. The alarm when the pod dies is loud {I mean LOUD}. I dread the day I have an pod failure in church or during a PTA meeting or at a nice restaurant. I also hate how I can't turn off the alerts if I happen to leave my PDM at home or in the car. Once, I had a massage cut short because my pod kept alerting me that it was going to expire later in the day. English was not the maseus's first language, so she couldn't understand that I wasn't going to blow up or die...and she cut the massage short out of fear that something was wrong. If I could've just turned off the alert with a button on the pod, I would've been much more relaxed when I rejoined my children afterward.

So that's the list. If you use the Ominpod system, I'd love to hear your thoughts. My current hope is that my 30% level of satisfaction will be upped to about 50% with the new PDM and pods that are supposed to be shipped out in a few weeks. I have a little more then 3 years before my insurance will cover another pump, so my only hope in all of this is that the new system is better than the current one.

If you are unfamiliar with what this system looks like, just Google it. 

There are a lot of podders out there who love this system...but I don't know. Again, do a little Googling to find those bloggers and read what they have to say.