Saturday, January 21, 2012

Pod Problems . . .

Just before Christmas we started having terribly stubborn highs . . . correction after correction and Nate was still high.  Not super high but he would linger too long in the mid to high 200's with no movement and often develop ketones.

I never give up on a pod - EVER.  I've never had a pod just not work!  There has to be a reason it's not working . . . bent cannula, occlusion, bad insulin or even a little boy that randomly removes pods without my knowledge.  I could not get to the bottom of this!!

These highs were baffling at 1st but then I remembered the Apidra issues that others had blogged about. So I started watching for the highs and low and behold right around the 48 hour mark Nate started going high for no reason.

What the what?

No . . . Please no!!  This cannot be happening.  Pod changes are so bad already!  I cannot imagine having to now do them every 2 days.

I knew at 11a on Christmas day that it was the 48 hour mark and I should change the pod but the little man was having so much fun --- I just couldn't do a pod change on Christmas day.



 I should have done the damn pod change!!

 Later that day I had a mini meltdown as his PDM read HIGH (over 500) after a day full of carbolicious treats and after numerous corrections his Dexcom said HIGH with a double arrow up.

I have to say just as I was falling into my diabetes groove something like this pops up and just totally ruins my good groove.  So annoying!  I was totally hating diabetes on Christmas day.  I cried a little.

I started thoroughly inspecting the pods.


Most of them looked like the above picture.  They were occluding but not enough to set off alarm. We did actually have one occlusion alarm but just one.  Insulin was still getting through --- it was almost as if Nate's body was having a reaction to the cannula or the insulin.  Normally the cannulas do not look like that when I take off a pod.  I have no idea.  I think he wasn't going super high because I kept correcting so some insulin was able to get through but not all.  I really had no idea so I called my fabulous OmniPod peeps and they arranged for us to get some Novolog to see if that helped until we could get through the holidays.

I really struggled with changing from Apidra back to Novolog.  We've been pumping with Apidra for 18-months and I LOVE IT.  I was not looking forward to going back to Novolog but I was also struggling with changing Nate's pod ever 2 days.  What to do - what to do?!?!

And without doing a thing --- just like that . . .

As quickly as it started ---- it ended.  No new insulin, no new pods, no change to anything.  Diabetes just started playing (somewhat) nice again.

Seriously wanted to pull my hair out and then wham all is back to (diabetes) normal.

All I can say is what the what and that's just because my grandmother still reads my blog and she gets mad at me when I say what the fuck?!?



14 comments:

Oh no! I can imagine your frustration, we love apidra too!

Hope the novalog fixes all!

Anonymous said...

Glad the Apidra is still working. And please tell grandma that there are times when cursing is more than appropriate.

Melissa said...

I found you through Stephanie's blog (lifeasapancreas) - we're new to the club (Yippee?) but I appreciate your candid nature. Thanks for sharing your days and challenges and highs with the diabetic community - we're looking at the omnipod for our almost 4 year old, so it's nice to hear similar stories. :)

Stephanie said...

Girl!! Your Christmas day sounded like my Christmas day...except we HAD to do a pod change. Adam woke up with the pod ripped off (didn't realize it until after presents) and he was HIGH on the PDM too. Even after a pod change, he remained high all day because I couldn't bear to tell him "no" to all of the treats. :(

I've noticed that when we do pods in Adam's rear - we get cannulas like that. Not totally occluded, but just enough to make us go INSANE. Sigh. It's always something, isn't it? ((Hugs))

I think it's just always going to be hard to accept these five, seven, whatever day periods that totally throw off our regular habits. They are so unexplainable, but I just think there must be so many little things going on in the body that set these things off, and we'll just never know. And no matter how many times they happen -- even if just temporary -- they are completely maddening.

Tracy1918 said...

Are you kidding me?! Wait....why are we surprised? Stupid diabetes!

Sarah said...

so glad it's working now...I won't even tell you about my Christmas Eve meltdown due to the big D...grrr! But then again, it all blows over and here we are things running smooth (for now!) Take this moment and run with it :)

Penny said...

UGH. This is EXACTLY why we left Apidra after about 6 weeks. Ain't no way this Mama is changing Pods every two days. Glad it worked out, but honestly hon, keep the 48 hour mark and Apidra in the back of your mind. Sorry this sucked for you, and for Nate. I would have cried too.
Love ya.

Garidan said...

My daughter was diagnosed type 1 on 16 november 2009, two months after Nate. She's now 3 years old, on MDI, and I'm starting looking around for a pump.
I'm reading a lot about omnipod experiences, but I'm really scared about it's failures.
Someone think omnipod users forgive it too much for its failures.
When it's good , it's a big good, when it's bad it's a big bad...
Do you think Nate would accept better a water-proof animas ping, if it stays in 3 full days, with no failures ? Did you ever tried, or could try for some days ?
I think the omnipod problem is it's bigger than a tubed-set and so it's esier to move the canula when you it the pod, so you get blood in and around it.
It's difficult too to stick on a little body: omnipod is flat, our childs body is not.
Do you use additional tape to keep it firm ?
I don't want to put my doubts over you, but I need to know by who has real life experience with a little child.

We had similar issues last month. The pods were not alarming but my daughter was not getting the full amount of insulin. I spent an hour and thirty minutes on the phone with an Omnipod rep and still don't know why it happened.

Anna said...

Glad you are back online, Laura. Sorry about the Pod problems. We just went through that...if the Pod didn't alarm when it was on it wouldn't beep twice when it filled. Seemed like something was wrong with every other one. Luckily Insulet replaced them so we're fully stocked again. I think it's back gre gre from somewhere...is there a witch doctor in my neighborhood? :) Just glad when the starts align again and I can breathe. Happy New Year to you and yours!

Figures, huh? We had highs around Christmas, too. But she started spiking a fever... Stupid D.
So SO SO glad that the issues stopped. We are really liking Apidra but we live in fear at the 48 hour mark. So far nothing major. Fingers crossed.
Heres to more awesome numbers and less crap!
Ps- we taught Sweets to say WHAT THE WHAT. it was better than the alternative! :)

Meri said...

I love when it just all works itsel out! Right before Christmas L had some wicked lows. I was just about to change basal rates when WHAM, the lows disappeared! I'm so glad you didn't have to make major changes during a major holiday. That would have been a major bummer!

PS I miss your face. Feel like I haven't "seen" you in ages...you know? Always wishing you happiness my dear Laura! <3

Anonymous said...

Ain't it grand when D issues mysteriously resolve on their own? (Doesn't happen often enough!) We have to do set changes every 2 days - little guy's body heals too fast, I guess. At least it goes faster with the Pod (used to use the Ping)!

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Just a Mom

I am NOT a doctor, nor do I play one on this blog.

I AM a wife.
I AM the mom of 3 wonderful children.
I AM my son's pancreas.

The information provided on this blog is from our personal experiences with Type 1 diabetes. Because something works for us does not mean it will work for you.

Please consult your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about your health care options.

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