Anyone switch to Omnipod and end up with a higher A1c?

Before switching to the pod our A1c had gone up a little, she wanted to try and I switched her right before her first D camp trip. Came back confident and knowing what she was doing.

I thought everything was going ok, but our first A1c after switching went up when I thought we should have stayed steady. Gave it some more time and the next A1c was even higher!

A1c is way higher than the PDM average, both times.

 

How does the A1C compare to the dexcom average? Do you calibrate the dexcom with the omnipod meter?

I think the meter in the new omnipod PDM reads too low...

 

I don't down load the Dexcom, but either way the Dexcom was calibrated with the PDM readings.

 

My daughter did. We were in the low 7s with her. First full 3 months on the Pods and she was 8.1. When we switched to T:Slim, she dropped to 6.9. I think for her there were two main issues - the IOB calculator isn't a match for her and the angled tubing isn't as effective on her. We are pack on straight sets and I think that's helped.

My son's a1c is higher (8.3 last check) but his honeymoon ended on the pods and he is a tween that doesn't have the greattest memory when it comes to remembering to bolus...so there are other factors. Can't say what his would be on another pump.

 

This is exactly right.

We dropped pretty significantly after switching to a new meter. I had lost confidence in the accuracy of the PDM meter.

 

My A1c initially went up, I attribute that to a mix of college and Pods leaking insulin while the cannula was still in place. But my last A1c - 6.1 (approx. average 128 mg/dl) on November 1st, closely matched to the OmniPod PDM (114 mg/dl) and Dexcom (120 mg/dl). So the PDM reads a bit lower, but not so much that it has me concerned.

 

Almost the same except a continual up for another A1C.

I believe that it is a combo of the IOB calculator differences, and that it does not read as high at higher BG's, and it is a linear IOB which does not work well with Apidra.

We are back to the PING, but it is anyone's guess which she will choose next week. These last two weeks have been hell with a cold/cough that ended in vomiting and a busted ear drum. So allot of just "stuck numbers" that I attribute to the sickness, I hope!

 

We went up, but we were honeymooning strongly before the pods. Our CGM average mirrors our A1C.

 

We also have not used the PDM to check BGs for over 1 year. The first Qtr after we stopped using the PDM A1C went down more than 1 point. We now use the AccuCheck Nano

 

Good to know, we need a point drop before puberty starts.

My biggest frustration is that I did not see it coming!

 

I'm not sure why you should have "seen it coming". It's hardly been demonstrated that the PDM/Freestyle is systematically inaccurate. 22 of 27 parents that responded to the poll use the PDM as their meter. Like me, I suspect they all get their meters checked at their quarterly appointment. Beyond the anecdotal stuff flying around here, is there stronger evidence out there that demonstrates the shortcoming of the PDM/Freestyle?

 

A1c has generally stayed the same or gone down, and we use the PDM meter exclusively.

 

we had the same thing we had our highest A1C ever after switching to the omnipod...we have since went back to shots...not because of this but other reasons...i couldnt believe the reading either though

 

Hana started the pod right after her honeymoon ended. She has always maintained an A1c of 7.0 or under. The past 8 months, her a1c's were 6.9 and 6.6. That's with starting the new pods and having lots of failures.

Okay,just reread entire thread. We do not use the PDM meter for that exact reading. We exclusively use one touch and the G4. I found that at anything over 120, the PDM read lower than one touch. This is going back almost 4 years ago when we started the pod. The one touch would say 180, the PDM, 150. This was consistent over multiple PDMs. So we threw in the towel and went back to one touch.

 

Thank you for the info.

I think IF she ever wants to go back to the OMnipod it will be without use of the PDM for BG's

 

We used the one touch for 6 months before starting omnipod. Since then we've used the omnipod meter exclusively except for a couple of times when she had a HI reading and we used another meter to double check. Her A1C did go up a bit the first 6 months after starting the pods but since then has stayed the same or gone down. I account for the higher months as just a learning curve on the pump getting basals right and such.

She started with the Dexcom in March and it has lowered her A1C. I think mostly because the buzzing brings her out of her usual teenage cloud enough to test and correct more than before.

 

We started the Omnipod this morning and trying to learn. I found this thread in a search for Omnipod readings. We’ve done well on MDI, bringing our A1C down from 12+ to 6.5 in less than three months, but we’re likely honeymooning, too, so I’m not too self-congratulatory. But, to achieve this, we’ve used the Accu-Chek Nano.

Today at dinner, I asked him to use the PDM and the Nano to compare. Nano said 164. PDM said 107, recheck 116. That’s a big difference, more than 20% error. I’m going to keep watching, but see that the experience is divided – those that use the PDM exclusively and those that find it inaccurate.

It may be a moot point for us – I saw website that CVS Caremark will not provide the Freestyle strips. Yesterday, the pharmacist said my prescription for them wasn’t filled because of a recall, and CVS had no strips to dispense, but that I could get directly from the manufacturer by calling the number on the back of the Omnipod. He indicated that this would be provided for free. But for how long? He also said the issue was quality control, so can I trust them? Might not matter if I cannot get them. Will be testing and reading to learn more.

 

Oh, and the Nano is calibrated. Come to think of it, the PDM was out of the box. Off to calibrate it and see if that helps.

 

Control test PDM: reads 84, then 85.
Nano bedtime: 155
PDM bedtime: 127

 

You can't "calibrate" the PDM. Nothing changes the way it reads BG. The test solution is only to see if the device is within "accepted" limits which, for the PDM, is +/- 20%.

A CGM, on the other hand, is, in fact, calibrated. This means that it takes your readings from the BG meter as fact and correlates it's response to your meter. So, if your meter is off so is your CGM. I think it needs to be restated that if you compare your CGM to your calibrating BG meter you're wasting your time because, even if your BG meter is way wrong, your CGM will agree with it.