I have been using pods for a little a month and a half now, and overall I love it.

What is different between the Omnipod and Medtronic

The main difference is that the Omnipod is tubeless. For me, this was a huge selling point. I had the Medtronic for a week and to be honest, I pretty much hated it. This, of course, is my personal opinion. I know of many people who use Medtronic and love it, but I wanted a pump to feel free, to get my blood sugars even tighter, and to live a more flexible life. This was just not possible for me with Medtronic. It was the little things that annoyed me the most. Like where the heck do you put the pump when you’re going pee? When you’re wearing a dress? When you’re going for a run and you don’t want a big clunky thing bouncing around…

The Omnipod, on the other hand, is a small pod that you stick on your arm. Completely tubeless, completely freeing. You don’t need the PDM when you’re going for a run, when you’re using the bathroom, taking a shower, etc. The PDM is used to deliver the bolus, but you don’t need it for your hourly basal insulin. This is programmed into the pod itself. The pod is completely waterproof (up to 25 feet for 60 minutes). So you can wear it in the shower, pool, bath, you name it!

Easy to Use

The Omnipod is seriously easy to use. I had a 4-hour training with my pump educators and then I was free to go. They gave me their emails in case I had other questions, but it is so easy to use, I haven’t needed to contact them. I have been working with my diabetic clinic’s nutritionist to figure out the best basal settings and carbohydrate ratios, but this has all been done over email. I can easily reprogram my Omnipod to alter ratios, basal settings, alarms and sounds, and more.

I’ve Only Had One Alarm Incident…

And to be honest, it really wasn’t as bad as people made it out to be. Yes, the alarm that goes off is loud, but it isn’t ear-piercing loud. If I was in a busy mall, I may not even hear it. The issue was the insulin was not reaching me, so the PDM and Pod began to ring. There was an error message on the screen basically telling me the insulin could not be delivered. As annoying as it was to throw away a brand new Pod and have to activate a new one, it wasn’t a big deal.

In fact, I called customer service a few days later to explain to them what had happened and they asked for the serial number (so keep your pod!) and a few other questions and then they told me they’d send me a new pod with my next order. Good customer service is a really important factor, especially when you’ll probably be dealing with them for the next few years!

CGM

Since Omnipod doesn’t have a built-in CGM, I’m using my freestyle Libre with it. It is great to be able to check my blood sugars by scanning my sensor and delivering insulin, literally with the click of a button. I feel a sense of freedom I haven’t felt in over 20 years! How amazing.

Well, that’s my review so far. Let me know what you think of your Omnipod, or another insulin pump that you use. P.s. Type W1N makes awesome stickers for Pods and other diabetic devices, check them out!

DISCLAIMER:
I am not a medical professional and should not be taken as such. I am only speaking from personal experience. Talk to your doctor about any health concerns you may have regarding your diabetes.

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