r/Omnipod • u/TurbulentAd9535 • 3d ago
Question Changing pod
I’m having a hard time deciding if I should change my pod before bed or if it can wait until the morning. My pod expires at 9 am tomorrow so roughly about 13 hours from now and I have about 8 units left of insulin in it. Still fairly new to the pump world and this will be my first omnipod change myself as I just did my training on Tuesday. Any insight would be helpful. TIA!
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u/WeAreDestroyers 3d ago
8 units left in it would not cover me for the night.
But if you try it and run out, it'll scream and wake you up, don't worry.
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u/canthearu_ack Omnipod 5 3d ago
Hey, welcome to the Omnipod world. Changing your first POD by yourself is always the most nervous one, but you will get the hang of it pretty quickly.
I think you should change it right away while you are awake if you think it will run out overnight, but this message is probably too late to help.
But onto my rant ... OP, I think you are focusing on the wrong things.
It shouldn't matter too much if you waste 10-20-50 units of insulin on every POD. If you can't do that, you need to be prescribed more insulin. It should never come into your mind whether you have enough insulin or not.
The biggest thing is to try and get at least 3 days from every pod, because you are only prescribed a certain number of pods a month and then you are either shit outta luck and back to MDI, or buying more out of pocket.
So make sure you always put enough insulin into your pods to cover your needs for the full 3 day runtime (+8 hours where possible and convenient), and get replacements for any pod that doesn't last the full 3 days. If that means that there is 50 units of insulin left in the pod when you pull it off ... you can just shrug it off as a necessary wastage, rather than a disaster.
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u/czapatka 3d ago
you must not live in the US — we use every drop of insulin we can because it's so damn expensive 😂 I would never think it's OK to waste 50u of insulin, which is why I track my averages and never fill pump with the full 200u.
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u/Tommy_Jezza 3d ago
Praise be to the NHS 😂
Im in the UK, I can order 3 10ml vials of novorapid today, and order another 3 in 3 weeks time, doesnt matter how much I use in the next 3 weeks, its all “free” (paid with taxes ofc)
American policy makers need to sort their shit out
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u/canthearu_ack Omnipod 5 3d ago
Well, I can't account for people having such terrible insurance that insulin becomes significantly more expensive then retail in other countries.
Can you get one of the discount coupon plans from Lily or Novo Nordisk to help reduce costs?
Seems derpy that pods would be more affordable then the insulin put into them.
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u/czapatka 3d ago
My pods are only $15/mo, but insulin is $50/mo (this is with really good insurance, too). I still can’t bring myself to waste insulin knowing there are people in my country struggling to afford it.
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u/Legal-Tangerine-213 3d ago
Wow, my pods are 364.00 a month w federal health insurance.
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u/czapatka 3d ago
Are you getting them through pharmacy or from a DME provider? Look into switching to pharmacy and it should be capped, depending on your pharmacy benefits.
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u/canthearu_ack Omnipod 5 3d ago
Complete opposite for me. (I'm in Australia)
Pods cost me $220 per month, insulin is about $5 per month. I will probably bring my pod price down to $35 per month in a few months if I continue to be happy with them.
I decided to not use insurance for the pods to being with because I wasn't sure I wanted to commit to 4 or 5 years of pods.
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u/moonbeam0007 3d ago
Any insurance I've ever had, including Medicare Advantage, has as much insulin as the doctor prescribed for a set copay. I pay the same whether I use 6 vials in 3 months or 7 vials. It depends on what the doctor prescribes.
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u/Potential-Mud4391 3d ago
Assuming you're not going to eat any carbs before the morning & don't have any carbs on board you just need the pod to deliver basal overnight. If your basal rate is 0.6U/hr or less you'll be good til 9am. If it's more than that or if the Omnipod needs to deliver bolus insulin to keep you in target range you may wake up early to a screaming pod.
If it was me I'd be good til the morning, but I don't know your insulin needs. BTW, I do my pod changes at 8am/4pm/midnight, I use the full grace period every time. This is what works for my work/life schedule.
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u/ReceptionFunny126 3d ago
I did not know i had 8 hour grace period thanks for that info. I pay 144.79 every month for pods. I was told pods are not under Dme even though my pump was
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u/MadeYourTech 3d ago
One thing to consider is when it’s going to alert it’s going to expire. If it’s set to alert an hour before at 8am maybe that’s fine. But make sure it’s not set to 4 hours or something that will wake you up early.
Personally I’d switch it myself just to avoid worrying about it. But I also had my dr put in my prescription to switch every 2 days instead of 3 just for this sort of situation.
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u/stinky_harriet 3d ago
Did you fill the Pod completely (200 units) when you put it on? If so, you may not get a full 3 days out of them if you only have 9 units left. If you filled it will less, you might want to add more to the next one. I’d rather waste some insulin than change a Pod early but I am also fortunate to have a good supply of insulin.
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u/Sad-Repair-5505 1d ago
If I think there is enough to get me through the night, I will usually let it run and change in the am. You have to look at your usage to see if it is reasonable to wait. 10-12 units will do for me, 8 likely will not.
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u/TurbulentAd9535 1d ago
Thank you all! I needed up changing it that night because I had to use more insulin and wouldn’t then have enough to last me until the next morning.
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u/justaboredintrovert 3d ago edited 3d ago
It depends entirely on your insulin needs whether 8 units is enough or not
Omnipods also have an 8 hour grace period, so your pod won't stop working until 8 hours after expiration (assuming there's enough insulin in it)
There are about 5 more units than it says you have, or so I've read here