Seem odd to you?

With my dds new insurance, OP is covered. The cut the cord program is available so we'll be doing that. got all of the paperwork signed and faxed so when I ask the endo to send the prescription she says that my daughter will have to demo an activated pod with saline successfully (to see if she can "tolerate" it) for 3 days before she will sign off on a prescription.. Her reason being.. my dd didn't like it 3 years ago.... I told her fine, but she still doesn't like the ping now. She just doesn't like pumps to begin with. The basal issue was definitely an issue 3 years ago but since then basal has more than doubled, again I told her that's not an issue.

I find it very dumb-- for lack of a better word-- that my dd didn't have to trial the ping before making my insurance pay thousands for it but I'm paying out of pocket for the pdm and it's a big deal??

Did anyone have to do this before doing cut the cord? Is this a normal thing?

 

Seems like a silly hoop for a small investment on your part. I could see if it was a new insurance pump and your were facing a 4yr lock that would require a ton of work from the endo to get past..

At the same time, sometimes it's faster and easier to jump through a hoop if that's all it takes - as long as the endo is pushing on more expensive appts with her that will increase your costs.. otherwise, probably easier just to do it and not fuss too much about it.

But, yeah, seems a little silly at this point - and really why do a saline trial when she's already a pumper - why not ask for a live insulin trial if you're going to the effort and putting the Omni rep through the effort.

 

I guess it depends on your reasons to be doing cut the cord?

Are you wanting to give it a go and maybe it would be her full time pump? or just for occasional beach and water play days?

I think that, maybe your endo is being careful? Not wanting to let you Just try a podding on a whim when you have already had so many issues with pumping?

You know you could most likely have your regular Peds Dr write the RX that is needed for the cut the cord and then ask for forgiveness when the RX for continuing supplies are needed for the PODS.

I would argue against a "saline 3 day trial', saline can sting and could possibly sabotage a future with the POD. a dummy POD should suffice, if your kiddo can not stand it attached for the 72+8 hours then you have to be ready for that.

I wish you luck!

 

OP had always been my first choice but the only problem when we first started thinking about pumping was the .05 basal increments. Seriously.. that was my only concern (I believe). For that reason, the dr. advised against it. Now that she's getting a lot more basal and we can do .05, I'm willing to give it a good go. I'm worried about the flexible cannula honestly (OP's is flexible right?), since we did have issues with insets. They worked great at first but then we got some kinking and clogging. Then when everyone had the issues with the new pods, I was thankful we didn't do it. The rep has told me that they fixed the issues from the beginning stages and they're alot better now.

I'm willing to make it an everyday pod as long as it's a good fit. Whatever she likes better as long as the reliability is the same is ok with me.

I made an appt and the first one I could get is 7.18

 

I don't see why the demo pod has to be activated in order to see what it is like having it on the skin. I bet Insulet will send you demo pod free while you wait for your next appt at which time you can ask to skip the saline trial. And yes the cannula is flexible. Btw, I would take what a rep from any pump company says with a mountain of salt. You should be realistic that while your experience can be satisfactory and worthwhile overall, podding is unlikely to equal the reliability of tubed pumping.

 

I find the part of your post that I've bolded presumptuous.

 

And I'm laughing because, having spent more than a year dealing with OmniPod, I think the previous poster has probably used the pods for more than a few weeks. I will be just as presumptuous and say that I believe the reliability of our tubed pumps has greatly exceeded the reliability of our pods.

Original poster, I think doing a saline trial is odd...and to do it AFTER you have already been pumping, is really, really odd. I'm glad our practice has never done saline starts!

 

If you are finding the OmniPod pump so unreliable, I'm wondering: 1) whether you're using it correctly or 2) why you continue using it all. The last thing in the world I'd do is use a pump I considered unreliable on my own child.

We're new at using the OmniPod and we seem to be having no problems whatsoever. Other parents on this Forum who are happy with this pump seem not to be having problems with it either. Just because you, or anyone else for that matter, do not like a particular pump does not mean it is an unreliable pump for everyone. It just means it is unreliable for you.

 

Thank you for your concern but I feel quite confident in my ability to use a pump. There is no great difficulty in pod usage.

I have no concerns in using an unreliable pump on my own child. He's old enough to make the decision and he prefers pod failures to a tube. He also considers it an unreliable pump, as does my daughter. I know this because I just asked them.

And, if you will interrupt your attitude for a moment, you can read back and see that I said, "I believe the reliability of our tubed pumps has greatly exceeded the reliability of our pods." Notice the "I believe" and the repeated use of "our." This is clearly a statement of my opinion of the reliability of the devices we have used. If I wanted to say it was an unreliable pump for everyone and suggest that it never be used, I would have said something like, "I know for a fact that pods are the most unreliable pump option out there. No one should ever use them because they suck."

I hope you continue to have good luck with the pods. We have not. We had an absolutely terrible experience with the pods and are quite happy to have only one child on them. I went through a very anti-pod stage during the worst of it but I am over it and am not some nut that goes around the internet trying to convince strangers to change pumps. But to suggest that I can't manage to use a pod correctly simply because a comment amused me? Whatever.

Get whatever works for you. I really don't care. It has no impact on my life what the rest of the world does. Be happy and enjoy the pods. I hope that every other pod user out there has better luck than we did. There is no one right option for everyone and I want everyone to be happy with their choice.

 

I would not interpret " the reliability of a tubed pump" to mean that the pod is unrealiable.

A tubed pump is just a different animal than the pod. And unless you have been on both there is no way for you to understand the difference. Be able to understand the ease of just putting on a new site at any time is it's a bad spot, or the ability to unhook and add insulin at any time. Ability to use various methods like "super blousing".

 

You're relatively new here. If you search OmniPod on this site you will see that many of us have had issues with them in the past. At one point the board was saturated with Omnipod issues. Granted, for most of us things have gotten much better but there are still times when we will have a few pod failures back to back (this week as a matter of fact). Having been on the Omnipod for 6 years now with both the original and now newer system, I can assure you we're using it correctly. But pod failures still happen. For no rhyme or reason. They just happen. And they're extremely frustrating for parent and kid alike. So I would count my lucky stars you haven't experienced that yet and hopefully you never do.

 

Do you regret the Omnipod? Or feel the benefits outweigh the frustrations?

 

Actually, I read every single post on this Forum pertaining to the OmniPod before choosing this pump for my daughter, along with every piece of information I could get my hands on elsewhere. The many negatives I read on this Forum did not outweigh the positives I read and heard elsewhere. I have no doubt that Pod failures are frustrating. I am just confused as to why so many people on this Forum who have so many problems with the OmniPod system continue to use it. And I don't understand why, if the OmniPod is so unreliable, that other parents who have used this pump for years just don't seem to be experiencing enough problems to lead them to post negative things about this pump and/or discontinue using it. I don't think I'm unique in thinking that the OmniPod is a reliable pump for many people. On the flip side, I'm sure other people don't find it reliable. Once again, for me personally, and for my daughter, I would not continue using a pump that I found to be so frustratingly unreliable. If the OmniPod turns out to be an unreliable pump for us, we certainly will not continue using it.

 

I don't believe I ever claimed to understand the difference between a tubed and a tubeless pump from the standpoint of experience. Having read a very great deal about the different pumps prior to making a decision, I certainly understand the difference between a tubed and a tubeless pump in theory. Not having used a tubed pump does not, however, stop me from finding the OmniPod system to be a reliable one based on our experience with it.

 

StacyMM, if you will interrupt your attitude for a moment, you can read back and see that I did not "suggest that [you] can't manage to use a pod correctly simply because a comment amused [you]." Notice the "I wonder." That was clearly a statement of my confusion as to why you continue to use the OmniPod when you "believe the reliability of [your] tubed pumps has greatly exceeded the reliability of [your] pods."

Just like you have the right to laugh, I have the right to wonder.

 

We don't regret the Omnipod for a minute. The benefits for my son far outweigh the frustrations, especially since he has no interest in pumping with a tubed pump.

 

I'm glad you liked the 'interrupt your attitude' phrase - I was quite amused by it when I came up with it.

I'm also glad that you have had a blissful few weeks of podding. I'm sure that you will have incredible reliability with it. My reliability issues were clearly a fluke. And I'm sure that if you are ever unfortunate enough to have pods fail, you will be smart enough to switch pumps to one that is more reliable. It's not my number one priority, but every family is different.

 

This is my son exactly. He may be frustrated by it but has never been so frustrated that he would switch to a tube to end those frustrations. If tubeless if the most important factor, the OmniPod is a great choice.

 

I'm not sure that I'm correctly understanding your last sentence. My understanding is that you are saying that one is able to "super bolus" with a tubed pump but that it is not possible to "super bolus" with a tubeless pump. If that is what you are saying, then I am confused all over again. Because my understanding is that "super bolusing" (based on John Walsh's definition) means loading a bolus with the proper amount of insulin according to the carbs that will be eaten plus the next two hours' worth of basal and then suspending basal for two hours. Unless I am misunderstanding the OmniPod manual, I am able to "super bolus" with this tubeless pump. What I just said could be a completely moot point if I misunderstood what you said...

 

I'm assuming those that are having a lot of problems with the OmniPod but choose to stay with do so because of the tubeless feature. I know when we were going through issues in the past, I would have loved nothing better than to run over the damn thing with my van, but I didn't because my son wanted to stay on it, failures and all. So we stuck it out and luckily for us things improved greatly. We all have our reasons for why we choose the pumps we do and I don't think it's our place to question someone else for their choices.