Has anyone ever had a string of pod failures from the same lot/box of pods? We are on the third or fourth pod failing in a row a day or two early from the same lot number.
None have alarmed. All have seemed to either leak or have an occlusion that wasn’t detected. They’ve been installed on different body parts. And there’s been, like, basically zero exercise that might dislodge them due to Christmas (unless eating is an exercise…but no running or climbing). Insulin is Novolog, not expired, refrigerated properly, etc. and it’s not static-y or dry here now.
They seem to dispense some insulin, but all have smelled of leaking insulin/shown signs of a longer term leak when removed (the tape has wrinkled and discolored near the cannula).
After numerous 40 minute phone calls this week to get the replaced I’m wondering if the next step is getting a whole new set of them and getting rid of this lot.
To make sure I understand, you are seeing evidence of leaking insulin, you are not getting pod failure/occlusion alarms, and I’m assuming bg is not behaving as expected/running too high or unresponsive to doses?
My guess would be site failure from lots of holiday meal boluses (if you’re not supplementing with injections to protect the site, which maybe isn’t necessary for his body/skin type) and the holiday inactivity leading to his cells not really using insulin too efficiently or at all. I could be totally wrong.
I was running in the 70’s overnight from Thursday to Friday, kept going low after normal breakfast Friday morning…then I decided to take the day off from life and just laid around and read all day. My body just stopped using insulin after doing that for a few hours…I threw so many injected corrections at it yesterday and it never came under 180 with a whole lotta insane corrections. All I can gather is that my body was too inactive to even use what I was injecting. Hot bath didn’t budge it either.
I’m going to get back to my regular activity levels today using this same pod/site and see what it does today.
I hope you guys get some answers that help! I don’t know if my answer is in the ballpark at all or not! Happy holidays!!
Me again…I was thinking more about it and realized I never answered your stated question.
Yes. I’ve had bad luck with multiple pods from the same lot without alarms. But I never could isolate definitively whether it was the pods or something with my T1D. I sometimes have bad luck with several in a cluster…and then can go a while without issue.
I suspect I had a bad lot of pods this summer but didn’t put it all together until I started logging insertion issues at home. I scarcely got 2 days out of many of the pods with worse BGs and pump bumps overall. As soon as I got my new order, I switched over and have had much better results.
That is exactly the kind of well reasoned answer I was looking for! I figured it might be inactivity coupled with more food. But the fact that I have noticed leaking on a few of them is what confused me. Your explanation would make sense.
I don’t know how much crazier we have been eating because of Christmas, actually. But it’s probably likely that it has been somewhat crazier eating than normal, and definitely less activity. EH is noting that while he’s not been rock climbing and running in the last few days, he’s still had step counts of 7000, so it’s not been completely inactive days.
We rarely get an occlusion alarm. Even when insulin is clearly not getting anywhere. I think that Allison has hit on the answer – the sites are failing – for whatever reason. They have some absorption – for instance, last night he injected right before bed, traveled down from 200 to 150 and then shot right back up again. We’ve now considered sickness too, he just woke up with a sore throat. He’s getting another melanoma removed on Tuesday, so that’ll cut down on activity for a while too.
And @CatLady I’m remembering you mentioning it long ago. I searched the forum before posting but never found the thread. Thank you.
Either way, it’s a bit of a drag. Not a really big deal, but lots of highs and need for swapping out.
I’m wondering if giving a large bolus would be less likely to blow the site if he extended the bolus?
Thanks for your replies ladies! I appreciate it! And I hope the winter season is good for you both!
I was experiencing the same issue. having ridiculously high BGs, then blousing, then coming down a bit, but then bouncing right back up. thought it was my pump or my infusion site, so I, as @Eric tells me: “when in doubt, swap it out.” so I continued swapping it out without any luck. I was feeling fine, so I didn’t consider that I could be sick. it was actually my husband who suggested that maybe I had a bug of some sort. so I raised my basal rate from 100% up to 120%. and guess what; my BGs came right back into normal target range. but, by the next day, I began FEELING sick. I raised my TB up to `130% and today was the first day that I’ve been able to lower it back to 120% (so I am assuming that I am on the mend. Phew.)
I’ve gone through this scenario as well. Medtronic is really excellent with their customer service. the’ve sent me replacements overnight, even when it is an entire box of dud sets.
I have had bad batches/boxes that have lead to site issues. Site issues are insulin leaking out of the site besdie the cannula and occasional occlusions.
My theory is that the adhesive on these pods sucks and because the pod is not well stuck the cannula moves in the skin which causes the site to fail.
I have had boxes replaced in the past because of this. This is along @Eric s comment about the third one being the enemy. I just give up on the box after 3 failures.
With that said these holidays and the rich fatty food have lead to me suspecting pod failures but it is just the food. Last night I gave like 30u of im shots because I was stuck at 150. This moring I have no problems… that tells me it was the fatty sausages and the cream on the christmas pudding and not the pod😀
Rather than bad batches it is probably a different absorption area in your body. Many times I get very high blood sugar readings and find out that if I switch the site it could improve. Of course it could be a bad batch of sensors too.
Yes, I’ve had bad pods from the same box. I never thought to call Insulet though. I will in the future.
I also experienced this with no leakage. This was happening for weeks. I thought I was just getting too many air bubbles in the pod. I tried to be careful and use proper injection techniques (such as shaking the syringe to accumulate air bubbles at the upper end of the syringe so I could stop the injection before inserting the bubbles into the pod). Eventually, I moved my pod to my abdomen from the back of my upper arms. That’s what did the trick. Absorption seemed to be non-existent on my arms suddenly, but fortunately abdomen absorption is working well. Maybe that’s what is going on with EH?
I am on the Medtronic pump and use a Silhouette infusion set; I have NEVER had a problem with the adhesive coming loose. but then again, I am just as lucky with my Libre sensor never coming off even with all of my swimming.
I am guessing that you use alcohol wipes b4 u attach your pod. can u use Skin Tac? when I used Dexcom, I needed to use it. (and Tegaderm on top as well!!! )
but, if I am not significantly rotating my sites, I get scaring and, thus, bad absorption.
I usually have no problems with pods. The weird thing is this has probably happened to about 3 boxes out of many boxes of pods I have used. The last time it happened I just used skin tac for the rest of the pods in the box. I also use skin tac for my right arms as these ones have problems sticking.
When I was using g5 sensors I used skin tac and they would stick for 4 weeks and then fall off.
Now I am on the G6, I only leave the sensors on 10 days and I used nothing to help them stick (except cleaning with alcohol).
Now my son also has the G6 and I have to use skin tac because they just fall off him in a few days if I don’t. I called in to Dexcom for replacents for the last two that fell off early and they are going to send out some patches which I will try too.
when I was using Dexcom, I had similar issues with the sensor falling off. finally, they made me aware that they had over-lay sticky adhesives (made just for this purpose specifically for the sensor). they were great. they did their job. I’m just wondering why it took them 2 years to make me aware that this option was available. very disappointed that they had been so irresponsible in this regard.
I had a bad lot with leaks and the pods not dispensing enough insulin. There were no alarms with any of them. After 8 of them failing I decided to call about the last two, which I had saved to talk with them about. The company offered to replaced all 8 and the remaining 7 I had in the lot They also sent a return envelope for the remaining 7 unused ones to be sent back. A few months later I had 2 failed leaky pods in a row and realized it was the same lot that I likely received around the same time as the others but got pushed to the back of my supplies. I called the company and they replaced all 5 of those (the entire box).
We will call tomorrow! EH told them on the last call: next time, I want to send the whole box back.
And @daisymae I remember that you’ve had sickness make basal go crazy. So we are on the lookout.
@Aaron Christmas pudding! A friend made it this year, and it was so boozy by the time they lit it on fire and served it, that my tounge fell asleep*. We enjoyed the process of the insane 8 hour steaming and story of how it was made, but the pudding itself tasted awful! I’m sure it played some BG havoc too - who knows how many grams of carbs!
@RCA221 and @Trying well he had a shoulder pod, a belly pod, and an arm pod - all wildly different areas. But you’re right to point out different locations might affect absorption. It’s hard to want to switch from one spot to another. Especially if you’ve got an adhesive issue (which he does on the belly but not on the arms or neck/shoulder as much). We usually use an overpatch like the Simpatch, but haven’t been as often lately due to the adhesive stuff and less rock climbing - maybe @Aaron is on to something.
*my tongue didn’t fall asleep because they were slow to serve the pudding - it had a ton of low quality brandy dumped on it for fire purposes.
Our christmas pudding pretty much uses a half bottle of brandy. The fruit gets soaked for a month in brandy then the pudding is made and the pudding sits and ages in a quantity of brandy. Then the pudding is lit on fire with more brandy.
This year we did gluten free for the celiacs so it turned out a bit dry so we then need to rehydrate with a shot of brandy and then cover with cream.
I don’t have this issue since I switched over to the Freesyle Libre, but when I was using the Dexcom, it was a constant issue for me, especially bc I was swimming 4-5 days a week. I had to use skin tac underneath before putting the sensor on, and then I would take the Tegaderm and cut out a little rectangular hole so I could put its on top of the Dexcom. it was a real PITA. the entire process of adhering the Dexcom was, for me, imho, very tedious and something I dreaded.
the Libre sticks so strongly that even with all my swimming, it is challenging to pull it off…even after 14 days.
just putt’s it out there for consideration.
and PS: I use the Medrontic Silhouette and I have a sillier experience with the adhesive ; its very hard to pull off.
Actually the carbs part is easy. If you have a scale, multiply weight by 0.7. This is what reliably works for my own recipe, and traditional recipes are pretty much all the same. If you don’t have a scale, a wodge of one-sixth of an average five-inch pud is roughly 45 grams carb.
As for what you serve it with, classic hard sauce is roughly 13 g per tablespoon. Brandy butter and custard come in at about 3 g per tablespoon.
Now you’re armed for next time!
As for why the pudding tasted awful, if your friend did the initial steaming and served it the same day, there’s one answer.
We enjoyed the process of the insane 8 hour steaming and story of how it was made, but the pudding itself tasted awful! I’m sure it played some BG havoc too - who knows how many grams of carbs!
