Omnipod Dash

[Tom1982]

Our daughter is going on to the Omnipod Dash next week (the 24th) would be the Omnipod 5 but we’ve decided to stay with the Dexcom G7 in the hope it’ll be loop-able at some point in the near future. Anyway, just after a few tips from any current users. Anyone got any suggestions to make it a smooth transition from pens to pump!?
Also, we’ve had three trail pods, one Josie wore and two were put on soft toys. All three failed in a day! Is this normal!?
Cheers
Tom

 

[rebrascora]

Hi Tom
Good to hear your daughter is moving onto a pump and hope you find it successful.

I can't help you with tips as I am still managing well on injections but I am sure others will be along soon. I think @Bloden has recently moved on to Omnipod from injections and I believe @nonethewiser has been an Omnipod user for some considerable time.
When you say the dummy pods failed, can you explain in what way? I am guessing they fell off, which is probably totally understandable with cuddly toys because their surface will most likely be furry. Could your daughter have pulled the pod off herself to match the cuddly toys? Or perhaps the skin prep was not thorough enough or the site chosen exposed it to knocks or getting caught on things. As with CGM, placement can be quite critical I imagine and with a small child you will be limited, as well as picking them up and handling them exposing the pod to more hazard than the average adult. I am guessing there are overpatches available to help with securing it more thoroughly.

 

[Tom1982]

Hi Tom
Good to hear your daughter is moving onto a pump and hope you find it successful.

I can't help you with tips as I am still managing well on injections but I am sure others will be along soon. I think @Bloden has recently moved on to Omnipod from injections and I believe @nonethewiser has been an Omnipod user for some considerable time.
When you say the dummy pods failed, can you explain in what way? I am guessing they fell off, which is probably totally understandable with cuddly toys because their surface will most likely be furry. Could your daughter have pulled the pod off herself to match the cuddly toys? Or perhaps the skin prep was not thorough enough or the site chosen exposed it to knocks or getting caught on things. As with CGM, placement can be quite critical I imagine and with a small child you will be limited, as well as picking them up and handling them exposing the pod to more hazard than the average adult. I am guessing there are overpatches available to help with securing it more thoroughly.

Yeah, bit apprehensive but should be good! It’s mad though, they are not falling off, the PDM is saying Pod error change immediately! It’s not like we’ve even fitted them wrong. In two of the three cases the nurse done it!

 

[PattiEvans]

I don't know about fitting them on toys - maybe they failed if they were filled because the insulin wasn't going into the toy as it would a human. I've been on the Omnipod dash for more than 2 years now (after 8+ on a tubed pump) and I've only had 1 pod failure - it just stopped talking to the PDM. I had another where I had filled it with insulin that had gone off, but the pod was delivering OK.

When I first went on the Omnipod they wanted me to have only 4 different basals through the day, but as I pointed out, I was very confident with my insulin needs and actually needed far more different basal levels throughout the 24 hours. I was right. Keep an eye on trends, if she goes up or down at a certain time of day, try increasing or decreasing the insulin 2 hours before that time. I am using Apidra in the pod, which is quicker than Novorapid but not as quick as Fiasp. What insulin will your daughter be on?

 

[Tom1982]

I don't know about fitting them on toys - maybe they failed if they were filled because the insulin wasn't going into the toy as it would a human. I've been on the Omnipod dash for more than 2 years now (after 8+ on a tubed pump) and I've only had 1 pod failure - it just stopped talking to the PDM. I had another where I had filled it with insulin that had gone off, but the pod was delivering OK.

When I first went on the Omnipod they wanted me to have only 4 different basals through the day, but as I pointed out, I was very confident with my insulin needs and actually needed far more different basal levels throughout the 24 hours. I was right. Keep an eye on trends, if she goes up or down at a certain time of day, try increasing or decreasing the insulin 2 hours before that time. I am using Apidra in the pod, which is quicker than Novorapid but not as quick as Fiasp. What insulin will your daughter be on?

She uses Fiasp. We’ve always had a few issues with night m time highs. Will they (the nurses) help us write a basal program?

 

[Sally71]

She uses Fiasp. We’ve always had a few issues with night m time highs. Will they (the nurses) help us write a basal program?

Yes, when my daughter went onto pump the pump rep was there and she had some sort of algorithm to work out the initial basal pattern, then the nurses tweaked it over time. Don’t expect it to work perfectly from the off, it will probably take quite a bit of tweaking to get it right. But that’s the great thing about pumps, if you’ve got a problem with highs at night they can just increase the basal during that time and then drop it down again during the day, whereas with injections you’re just stuck with it working whenever it works. Hope it all goes well for you!

 

[Tom1982]

Yes, when my daughter went onto pump the pump rep was there and she had some sort of algorithm to work out the initial basal pattern, then the nurses tweaked it over time. Don’t expect it to work perfectly from the off, it will probably take quite a bit of tweaking to get it right. But that’s the great thing about pumps, if you’ve got a problem with highs at night they can just increase the basal during that time and then drop it down again during the day, whereas with injections you’re just stuck with it working whenever it works. Hope it all goes well for you!

Thank you. Out of curiosity what would a typical basal set up be figure wise? Is it like 0.05 units between 12:00 and 13:00??? Then 0.07 units between 13:00 and 14:00 And so on? Or is it more general like longer time frames?

 

[Sally71]

Thank you. Out of curiosity what would a typical basal set up be figure wise? Is it like 0.05 units between 12:00 and 13:00??? Then 0.07 units between 13:00 and 14:00 And so on? Or is it more general like longer time frames?

Something like that. The original pattern that the rep set up changed every hour, but the nurses quickly fiddled and said they didn’t like it changing so often! So we’ve usually had something like 7 different levels throughout the day. It all boils down to whatever works best for your daughter and will probably take quite a lot of trial and error to get it right.
I know your daughter is young, but 0.05 per hour is a TINY dose, it will likely be a bit more than that! The amount per hour gets split into several doses every few minutes, on my daughter’s original pump it was split into 20 doses given every 3 minutes, I think her current one splits it into 12 and gives it every 5 minutes. The smallest my daughter ever had was 0.18 per hour, which was 0.015 every 3 minutes. It changes as they grow and with the seasons and so on so expect much fiddling! We also found for a while that she needed much less insulin on school days than when she was at home, so for a while had one basal pattern for school days and another one for weekends and holidays and had to keep swapping between them. That’s gone by the board now as it doesn’t seem to work any more, we just stick to one. But the options are many so that hopefully you can find what works best.

 

[Bloden]

Thank you. Out of curiosity what would a typical basal set up be figure wise? Is it like 0.05 units between 12:00 and 13:00??? Then 0.07 units between 13:00 and 14:00 And so on? Or is it more general like longer time frames?

Great to hear your daughter’s getting a pump. 🙂 Everyone’s different - I’ve got about 7 different basal rates for the 24-hour period, ranging from 0.3 to 0.6 units/hour. My DSN set up the time slots (she used my data from the week before pump start day) and was pretty spot-on with the initial slots and doses. I use Temporary Basal Rates all the time (before activities like shopping or housework, and before exercise) but I haven’t used extended blouses at all (I hardly ever eat pizza or takeaways, so it just hasn’t been necessary). @Pattidevans mentions making adjustments 2 hours before you want them to come into effect - I make adjustments 1 hour before I want them to come into effect - but we’re all different.🙂

My transition was pretty smooth without any massive meltdowns but I think a lot of that was down to my DSN - she was brilliant. Good luck!

 

[nonethewiser]

.Anyone got any suggestions to make it a smooth transition from pens to pump!?

Much like @Bloden my transition went smoth enough, had basal rates near enough sorted within first week, your daughters diabetes team will ensure things all go smoothly.

Few tips, make sure you keep insulin pens in reserve, also keep seperate note of basal rates & times from Dash handset, I just take photo on my phone. Also make sure you order more pods early enough, be sure to order when you get down to your last box of 10, plus when asked how many boxes you need when ordering ask for 3 which is maximum.

On my Dash homescreen when activating it but not unlocking it I have my name & mobile phone number in case it accidently gets lost.