Former podders

Any other former OmniPod users get an email today? My favorite part was how they referred to the issues with the roll out of the smaller pods as "hiccups." :tongue: And I'll admit I'm curious about the "pod promise" that was mentioned. Not curious enough to talk to DD about going back...but curious

Where was this survey when I really wanted it - back in the middle of that huge mess! Oh well, better late than never. And now that I'm past the frustration my response will be more polite, so it works out better anyway.

 

No email here. Then again, I never received any communication from them during the 5+ years my son was using their product - I learned all the news here. :wink:

 

no email here either!

I understand things are better with the pod failures but still hear of lower BG readings on the PDM. If i were ever to go back i would not be using the PDM for BG's.

 

We were shocked at how much higher the #'s were when my son first started using the Verio IQ when he started on the tslim. 3 months later his A1C was down a full point! We had no idea he had been running that much higher on the Omnipod until we switched.

 

And that is why we left, before the recall was made. Two a1c's that had gone up with no real reason! I was going batty and I decided to go back to the PING to try to figure it out, then the recall happened and I decided that i did not want to chance something else coming down the pike. We are happy to do a mix of PING and Lantus to get what is best for my dd.

 

No email here either, but I would be interested in reading it.

 

Me too!

I still have an in warranty PDM but I have not ordered pods in well over a year. I wonder if they consider me a former podder or not.

 

Same here Meg, it's been over a year for us too, but the PDM is still in warranty.

 

I love the tubelessnes of the Omnipod. It's enough to keep me using it. Pod failures have only happened maybe two times in nearly a year for me. That being said, if they want to get a decent market share, they have a long way to go. The pump is so much "needier" than my Paradigms or Cozmo was. I realize this was almost certainly FDA mandated. If my pod is hitting self kill time during a busy day at work, the constant beeping is beyond annoying and disruptive. I don't always have time to go shut up the beeping on the PDM (for an hour). If I know the 80 hour mark will be once I get home, all of my coworkers don't need to know my pod is about to expire. "Uh, do you need to go check your blood sugar or something?" And don't get my started on the mandatory post site change BG check reminder. I have my Dexcom. I don't need this. Having to change a pod in the middle of the night is bad enough without having to wake up and shut up the PDM an hour and a half later when things start to normalize.

The PDM definitely reads lower than other meters. And it's full of unmet potential. Everytime I use my PDM I think of the awesome full service diabetes management device it could be. And it's not. Let me log exercise on it and have that upload to CoPilot. Let me see averages by tag. Let me select more than one tag, because pre exercise could also be post meal. And I could be fasting and have my period. Etc. Make the PDM more customizable (from a computer, not scrolling through the alphabet) and have full logging capabilities (think OneTouch Ultrasmart level).

 

From a current Podder:

Insulet, are you listening?

 

Heck, I'd settle for making it slightly less thick than a brick, and the buttons slightly more responsive than trying to operate a tv remote control through a couch cushion.

But the PDM is a prime example of what happens when there is no competition in the market. Why improve it? What's the other option?

 

Ha ha! When we first switched to the tSlim I was pounding on the touch screen, lol. Old habits die hard. :wink:

 

I included most of that in my reply to them. The self-kill (I love that phrase, BTW! I'm going to call it 'pod suicide' from here on out!) and check BG are my biggest pet peeves. We've never used tags so I never gave that a thought, and I completely forgot about the meter. My daughter's A1C went up when she started on the pods and dropped when she came off...and her a1c was such a surprise on the climb because her Dexcom numbers suggested a lower number...except that it was calibrated to PDM readings that were too low.

LOL. What a great way to describe. They have this huge awkwardly shaped remote and then have all those little buttons clustered together. It's a PITA. That also made my reply.

 

For sure agree on all of the improvements that Insulet needs to get busy with. I am so used to the touch screen now on the tSlim, I find myself pounding on the screen of the Verio meter! It sure looks like it should be a touch screen!

 

The tubelessness feature is the only one my daughter cares about, but I agree with all of the above. I do wish some competition would come out so the designs would get better!

 

I do think Insulet had a great start and included a lot of innovative features at the time. But how long has it been since the last PDM update? I find unmet potential more frustrating than simplicity. It never bothered me that my Paradigm didn't have a carb database. I find it obnoxious that Omnipod has one that I can't add foods to a bolus amount automatically from or customize.

 

I agree wholeheartedly ^

Our dd refuses to switch to a tubed pump. That was the issue when we started 4 years ago. Reading about the Freestyle strip issue leaves me wondering if all PDMs are equal. Her A1C reflects pretty accurately her CGM/PDM #s if anything her A1C is lower. She still tests on average 9 times a day. For the past year+ we have been happy with the new smaller pods. Although initially she considered going back to MDI due to high failure rate.

I am looking forward to getting rid of the antiquated 1990s styled PDM. However, with a kiddo that throws her diabetes bag down like a sack of potatoes I am happy with the durability. She's still in grade school but I have to wonder if the annoying reminder alarms will make it a deal breaker come middle school. There is definitely a lot of room for innovation in the next generation PDM.

I read on Diatribe that Insulet will be launching a PDM integrated with LifeScan Verio test strips soon (how soon I have no idea). It's obvious from this that Omnipod acknowledges the Freestyle Light strip issue. Anyways, we aren't moving to a new system at this point so here is hoping that the future of Omnipod will either get better or a new wireless pump will surface

http://diatribe.org/drugdevice-name/insulet-omnipod

 

We never used the freestyle OmniPod meter. From day 1, I saw a huge difference in the numbers compared to our one touch, which she has used since dx. We would have 40, 50, 60 point (lower) differences. Other than that, we still love the omnipod. Yeah, I think they could do much better with the aesthetics of the PDM. It looks ridiculous. I do wish they had competition. But there is no way Hana would ever switch to a tubed pump.

 

Apparently this is now changed and the new PDM is meant to use Freestyle Lite strips which I'm super happy about as find the lite and lite strips to be super accurate and low on meter errors. The PDM doesn't really bother me but it would be nice not to give my fingers a gym work out every time we press a button but that is my only moan about Omnipod we love it, we never experienced the failure days. In a year podding we've had 3 failures, all in a week bad batch i think but the supplier sent replacements no problem

 

Insulet has been known to change their minds, over and over again!