Sunday, September 14, 2014

New and delightful pod problems

One problem I've had since I started using the OmniPod is the way my skin reacts to adhesives. Every time I change a pod I have a pod-shaped rash left where the pod used to be, and it sometimes lasts for several days. At one point I had three separate pod rashes at the same time. I've been trying to find ways to solve the skin problems, because I don't want to stop using an insulin pump I paid over $6,000 for. First I tried Skin Tac wipes. Skin Tac is a liquid that is supposed to form a barrier when you apply it to your skin before applying an adhesive. Sadly, the wipes did not prevent my rashes. They just left sticky residue on my skin that my clothes kept sticking to. Next I tried a product called Tegaderm, which is a film that you put on the skin. You put the adhesive on top of the film. I put a Tegarderm patch on my arm and put my pod on top of it. But when I activated the pod, I did not feel the cannula insert itself into my skin. I decided to keep the pod in place for a while to see if my blood sugars shot up, but the pod kept beeping as if it hadn't been changed when the old pod expired. After it beeped multiple times in half an hour I removed it and applied another pod without the Tegaderm film. Changing the pod didn't stop the beeping. I had spent the night out of town, and after my pod change it was time to go home. I took a bus and a train out to the ferry, and the pod, which was in my luggage, continued to beep -- LOUDLY -- for the entire trip. I tried to shove it down to the bottom of my bag in hopes that the clothes in my bag would muffle the beep somewhat. When I got home I could still not escape the pod's beeping. I put in a drawer and I still heard the beep. I put the pod in a cupboard in the bathroom at the farthest end of my house from my bedroom so that the beep wouldn't keep me awake when I went to bed; no dice, as the beep was loud and clear even at the other end of the house. I read that someone on the Insulin Pumpers Facebook page had once pried open a pod to stop the beeping, but I had no idea how to do that. Finally, I went to my toolbox and found a hammer. I put the pod on the floor and tapped it a few times. There was no change in the pod. I put it on a mat so that I wouldn't damage the floor, and I hit it harder. Still no damage! (I guess that speaks well of the pod's durability.) I finally took it outside and gave it a few good WHACKS. Finally I saw some damage, and finally, the pod stopped beeping. I still do not know what caused the beeping, and I also still don't know what to do about my skin rashes. I hope to try the Tegaderm again, but next time I will try to cut it around the edge of the pod where the cannula comes out in hopes that will allow the cannula to pierce my skin the way it is supposed to. I just hope I don't have a skin reaction to the Tegaderm itself.

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