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Omnipod

Ruby26913

Member
Messages
12
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi! My name is Ruby and hopefully (fingers crossed) I will soon be getting an insulin pump. I’ve looked at the three pumps available (accucheck, Medtronic and omnipod) and my personal favourite is the latter. Though before I get it, me and my family would really appreciate any views or experiences anybody’s had with it that they would like to share, and Alison the pros and cons of this pump. There is no right or wrong, we would just like to know what it’s like as I’ve had diabetes (Type 1) for a year now and I’ve been in injections. Thanks!

Ruby x
 
Hi Ruby I don’t have a pump but I was also look at the same three but I was most interested in the omnipod pump but I didn’t get a pump in the end. But as long as you fell happy with your choice of pump and the trail goes well for you. You should do fine. Best of luck.
Amber x
 
My better half has had 2 Accu Cheks, the combo and the Insight. She recently changed to the omnipod when the 2nd Accu Chek came of age. She has liked them all and they all have their own little qwerks which makes choosing quite a personal thing really - you're doing the right thing researching this! .
My thoughts: the Insight was basically the newer Combo but was slower and she always found this annoying, guess if you've never had a Combo you wouldn't notice this. The good thing about these are that the pump itself can be used to change settings and bolus, if for any reason you don't have your sugar tester device to hand. Filling the cartridge is much easier with the Insight, basically retract the plunger and put the replacement straight in. The Combo and omnipod need filling with the syringe and a bit more messing about.
The benefit of the omnipod is the fact that there is no tube, which means she can wear cloths & pjs without pockets, and using the loo is easier and no chance of getting tangled in it - I think this is what most people like about it. Downside is you always need you sugar tester, you can change setting or bolus without it. The omnipod is also limited to the number of bolus' you can have going at once, but can work around this.
Good luck, pumps are great. I might get one one day but still in a strong honeymoon at the moment for limited value for now.
Good luck with everything.
 
I use the insight pump my self I’ve had it since October 2017 (had to wait 7 years) I think it’s good to be honest it can be slow sometimes and does have tubing it’s quite easy to bolus with and you can stop the pump when you want and tubing can be dis attached sometimes. If your cartridge runs out or pump thinks there’s an issue it can alarm to warn you. Hope this helps and hope you get your pump x
 
I use an omnipod and I love it. I do like that it's tubeless and can be sited anywhere with no outfit issues. The PDM is fairly intuitive and easy to use. Cons of omnipod would be the bolus increments: it only goes down to 0.05 units and other pumps go smaller and therefore the bolus can be more accurate, and the fact you can't adjust the time it takes to give a bolus dose - it drips it in in 0.05 units, seconds apart, so if you're giving a big bolus dose it can take 5 minutes + to complete.

I have also used a Medtronic and while it was a perfectly decent, again, intuitive to use pump I didn't really get on very well with it. I found it to be fairly clunky/bulky to wear and because you need to be able to access the pump itself to use the bolus calculator I found I couldn't wear it with dresses. Absolutely no problem sleeping with a tubed pump, which I was worried about, it just followed me round the bed, no bother. My main problem with the Medtronic was that I was using the 640 with cgm for the predictive low suspend and the cgm just didn't work well for me, I had a lot of issues with sensor failures and inaccuracy and I couldn't trust the system.

When choosing a pump my main advice would be to try and get your hands physically on the pump options available to you. Handle the, press the buttons, look at the screen layout, feel the weight of them. That should help you decide which pump would suit you best. Also have a look on YouTube for pump reviews and videos of people siting their pumps to help you see what cannula insertion options there are for each.
 
Thank you all of you for your very helpful replies. My final decision is to try and get the omnipod. I really wasn’t expecting all these replies! You’ve helped me very much!
 
Hiya

I've had an experience of two pumps Medtronic and omi pod but I can only say from my view.
I went on Medtronic in 2005 and it changes my hb (can't remember the whole name for the blood test) from 90 to 63 within 3 months. It also gave me freedom of eating what I liked ( within health reasons). I left Medtronic for many reasons and went back to pens after 5 years. Two years later I went back to pumps and still am on omi pod for 4 years. I considered the following which I thought I'd share that might help.
For my life style and health.

Wire pumps plus and minus

Wire pumps for me came with problems such as sport and clothing although you can buy accessories for me it came a problem from catching the wire on door handles to wearing non pocket items. Like I said you can buy accessories such as bra pockets however if in a restaurant I had to go to the toilet alot to put my readings in and I couldn't just go to in my bra in public. I know it doesn't sound alot but after 5 years for me it came a problem particularly when sleeping. All of these things are nothing compared to good health but if I can choose I'd rather not have wires. Also wires when I had them could only go on tummy, legs and bottom. I found legs were impossible for me as sites wouldn't take or if it did it was very hard to walk with. Stomach and bum were the best but did become uncomfortable on the bum. Plus trying to explain wires and a site at an air port where English isn't their first language is an issue I found. I believe it's not a problem now not too scare you. The way I got around it was the first time I had to show security in a private room. After that I translated into ever language and ensured not to put the site on my bum when leaving holiday. The insulin would sometimes get caught in the wire h3however t was great because i could see it and knew what the issue was. It was so easy to use and particularly for showers. It did have a time limit of how long you detach it to go swimming for example where omi had no limit as you don't detach it. Sites are small and not as noticeable.

omi pod plus and minus
It looks like a small egg and can be put on arms, tummy or legs. It's too big for a bottom and the size can be a down side as it is noticeable. For example if I go for an ecg all health professionals ask me what it is and If i go swimming I'm asked but with jumpers etc no one notices. It's light and the monitor is a blood glucose monitor, you can get a graph from your finger picks and see patterns through out a day. It's not a cgm where it monitors you through out but it gives a good view of the day though the Medtronic didn't do that. The egg cup shape sits on your skin and has the insulin In it. Par that the monitor is in a your bag and you simply tell it when you need it how many carbs like and they both have a wizard feature. For example a wizard once it knows your reading such as 18.9 and you have 30gs carbs and your ratio (with your doctor/ nurse will help you work out as you can only have a pump whilst working with diabetic consultant) it will work out how much extra insulin you need or don't need to bring your bloods to a good level.
It's easy to use for exercise and I never notice it at night when a sleep as you can put the monitor on your bedside cabinet and then it's just the egg on you.
It's improved my hb.

I can't think of anything else but basically omi for me suits my lifestyle so much more than the wired pumps. I don't know Medtronic more up to date one but for me omi pod is great. Also the care is amazing at omi pod. Both companies have great support for you. Both have the ability via % to increase or decrease insulin in you which pens can't do. I.e. if your going to light exercise you can reduce the insulin for a period of time.

I'd encourage two things. Make the pump work in your lifestyle not the other way if you have the choice at your hospital that is.
Second is never rely just on your pump. What I mean is always keep the knowledge knowing your pen routine as it's technology and it can break down.
If I've missed anything let me know.
 

Hi
how did you manage to get a pump. I am not diabetic but my son is and really wants to try out the pump as he has had some small bleeds in his eyes etc. However, he is told that his control is ok so won't be able to get a pump and that its only for people who do not have good control. Any advise please. Thanks
 
If he has hypos that require another person to recover or night time hypos you maybe able to get a Medtronic 640g with a CGM sensor to reduce the hypos risk
 
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