New Omnipod User

[ElkBond]

Had my Omnipod a day now, wow, a whole 24 hours without a single jab! Fantastic. Loving it, easy to use and straight on the insulin. Having to ween myself off the Tresiba at the moment, got a few more hours until I should be on total control (I dropped it the night before the pump). Some of these questions (mainly shower one) have been mentioned before but I have dropped them in anyway to gauge some responses.

First thing is fat and carbs, in the meal presets it allows you to store these options but there is no option to use your own calculations (my previous is 50% protein and 10% percent fat counted as carbs with a split double or triple jab..still working on this though). Is it just for reference and when I save the odd meal to the presets should I just input the carbs counting the fat and protein?

Beeping, Ive turned off most of the beeping and set it to vibrate but its done the odd beeps today in work, its not a nice beep so heads turn thinking somethings up, any tips?

This will soon become apparent but showering daily, will the adhesive last? Theres products I use for the Dexcom but thats in for the long haul, 3 days isn't worth it really.

Lastly, sleeping, one of my concerns was lying on it, I tend to wriggle a bit during the night so this is a reasonable worry. With the Dexcom it just goes low and I wake up, see what happened and wait for the upwards spike. Has anyone had any issues with accidentally lying on the pod while asleep?

 

[noblehead]

Hi @ElkBond

First thing is fat and carbs, in the meal presets it allows you to store these options but there is no option to use your own calculations (my previous is 50% protein and 10% percent fat counted as carbs with a split double or triple jab..still working on this though). Is it just for reference and when I save the odd meal to the presets should I just input the carbs counting the fat and protein?

TBH I've not used the presets, I'll tag in a member who may have to see if they can offer up any advice @himtoo , but provided you know how much bolus you need for a meal you can manually input it when you select the Bolus option from the main screen.

Beeping, Ive turned off most of the beeping and set it to vibrate but its done the odd beeps today in work, its not a nice beep so heads turn thinking somethings up, any tips?

You can't turn them off completely.

This will soon become apparent but showering daily, will the adhesive last? Theres products I use for the Dexcom but thats in for the long haul, 3 days isn't worth it really.

It will last the 3 days before you need to change the Pod again, I shower and also like a long soak in the bath and not had any issues with the Pod coming away, the adhesive on the Pods are very good and if anything its too good (you may find this out yourself when you come to change the Pod).

Lastly, sleeping, one of my concerns was lying on it, I tend to wriggle a bit during the night so this is a reasonable worry. With the Dexcom it just goes low and I wake up, see what happened and wait for the upwards spike. Has anyone had any issues with accidentally lying on the pod while asleep?

I try not to lay on the side where the Pod is positioned but inevitably I sometimes wake to find that I'm doing just that, it doesn't effect the Pod in any way and if anything you may just be uncomfortable from the Pod digging into your skin.

Best wishes and pleased your enjoying your pump

 

[himtoo]

hi there @ElkBond
it is an amazing little pump isn't it !!!!

thanks for the tag @noblehead

I have not used the presets at all either.

I am wondering why you find it is beeping a lot ( or more often than you would like)

the only times mine beeps are
when testing blood ( beep as it starts countdown and beep when it gives the reading)
at the beginning of a bolus , at the beginning or end of a temporary basal rate , or when it notifies you of impending expiry of pod , or insulin going below your preset target to be warned at ( I have mine set at 10u to warn me )

showering not a problem for me -- I shower every day of the week -- never had an adhesive issue.

as for sleeping it sound like I am much the same as noblehead in sleeping pattern -- I try to sleep on the opposite side away from the pod , but I too am a restless sleeper and often wake to find I am lying on it -- with no problems.

 

[catapillar]

First thing is fat and carbs, in the meal presets it allows you to store these options but there is no option to use your own calculations (my previous is 50% protein and 10% percent fat counted as carbs with a split double or triple jab..still working on this though). Is it just for reference and when I save the odd meal to the presets should I just input the carbs counting the fat and protein?

I've not used the meal presets but I would think the best way to do it is just enter 50% of your protein grams and 10% of your fat grams as carb grams.

Beeping, Ive turned off most of the beeping and set it to vibrate but its done the odd beeps today in work, its not a nice beep so heads turn thinking somethings up, any tips?

I felt like it was bleeping a lot in the first couple of days and I couldn't work out why but I think that was just me being self concious and certainly not bleeping to the extent anyone would look round to see. The pod itself bleeps to tell you it's running temporary basal or extended bolus or any bolus, no one will notice these bleeps. Bleeps that will get noticed are pod expiry or pod failure bleeps. You can't turn the bleeps off. If the PDM is bleeping at you, press the buttons to find out what it wants.

This will soon become apparent but showering daily, will the adhesive last? Theres products I use for the Dexcom but thats in for the long haul, 3 days isn't worth it really.

The adhesive is plenty robust enough to cope. It'll certainly manage a daily shower for three days.

Has anyone had any issues with accidentally lying on the pod while asleep?

I very often lay on my pod while sleeping. It doesn't mind being led on so long as you don't mind lying on it.

I have only had one issue with my pod when sleeping but as it was placed on my back and I don't lye on my back I don't think it was lying on it, but I did somehow manage to rip it off in the night once. It is supposed to do a pod failure bleep when that happens, but for some reason it didn't, so I ended up in dka. Just an unfortunate bit of bad luck and pretty unlikely to recur!

 

[ElkBond]

Thanks you @noblehead @himtoo and @catapillar!

Pretty similar consensus there with all answers.

The beeping is probably due to me setting temp basals all day due to the wait for tresiba to run out, which as we speak has gone. About 40 mins ago it started creeping up so out with the temp basal and with with the safety net off!

First day done and loving it! Dreading the day where omnipod is on the opposite side to dex, ill have to avoid wriggling.

My word @catapillar thats no way to wake up! Do you have a cgm as well? Odd that it didn't trigger but I am not sure technically there is anything to say that its not in, only able to tell if its blocked.

i had a lovely if not bit low profile today until 20 mins ago where i tested at 7.6 but it should level off now the temp basal is off.

Last question, pumps in general, do they respond quicker to changes vs jabs, by this I mean do they start to hit the peak sooner as they are a constant (well staggered) infusion rather than a big burst like a pen needle?

 

[noblehead]

The beeping is probably due to me setting temp basals all day due to the wait for tresiba to run out, which as we speak has gone. About 40 mins ago it started creeping up so out with the temp basal and with with the safety net off!

That's it, the Pod beeps when each hour passes and signals when it's the end of the TBR.

It's the same when the Pod comes up to the 72 hour expiry time it will beep every few minutes to let you know, by acknowledging the alarm on the PDM it will silence the alarm for a while, but if you find that the Pod alarms at a inconvenient time (say in a meeting) then just put your hand over it as this muffles the sound

Last question, pumps in general, do they respond quicker to changes vs jabs, by this I mean do they start to hit the peak sooner as they are a constant (well staggered) infusion rather than a big burst like a pen needle?

Do you mean a postprandial bg rise? If so I can't say I've noticed, the only added advantage over injections is the ability to deal with a delayed peak if the meal was high in fat say, this is where the Extended Bolus options on a pump comes into its own.

 

[tfishuk]

I really love the Omnipod, it is so easy to use and not having to worry about tubing is excellent. Yes the bleeping can be a bit annoying but it gets me to change the pod very quickly because I hate that sound, but I will put up with that to have what I consider to be the best pump available on the NHS.

 

[ElkBond]

@noblehead Sorry I didn't answer your post, yes I did mean that, but it was just a thought.

@tfishuk Yes the beeping is bloody annoying, I know its only a piezo speaker capable of one single sound but surely it could be a bit warmer. I actually jumped through my skin today, set a temp basal and later on all things quiet it went off. Nevermind

Basal test completed and I managed to go through from tea the night before to all morning with no food then lunch, lunch and tea were 0 carbs that day. Anyone have some bolus tips? A lot of you mention you use all the time. I have used it now and then but it hasn't been a success.

So yer any tips on bolusing and extended bolusing (aside from the timing bit as I wait 20-30+ mins before eating anyway). I count my fat, fibre and protein (see above). My main struggle is the post 2 hour mark rise. I had ciabatta the other night as my only carb, two hours was fine but the extended didn't work at all and i was coasting 8s until bedtime. In fact bread and me dont agree anyway, I never seem to nail it which is why I skip it 9.5 times out of 10.

Cheers everyone.

 

[noblehead]

@ElkBond , there's some good tips in the books Think Like a Pancreas & Pumping Insulin about using the extended bolus features of a pump, but really it's trial & error but once you figure it all out it's worth the effort

 

[ElkBond]

@noblehead I have both those books, read pumping insulin and about to start think like a pancreas. I read most of pumping insulin before I got the omnipod.

It is just nice to get some other users tips and tricks.