Over the holidays, hubby and I managed to slip away for one-night romantic getaway, and I finally did it! (Check your imaginations at the door, Guys – nothing kinky) I finally decided to enjoy a hot and steamy jacuzzi session without worrying about my OmniPod. Not where it was, or wasn’t, or what was happening to the fragile insulin inside.
This February will mark my three-year anniversary wearing the thing, and I love the freedom it gives me. I love the fact that I don’t have to carry around two devices, since the glucose meter is built right in. I love the way it calculates doses for me, and tells me when I still have insulin on board, and allows me to temporarily reduce my background insulin when I’m working out. And I love that it does all that without the need for tubing hanging off my body.
When I meet other PWDs, they sometimes ask if the pod isn’t uncomfortable or “too heavy.” I’d definitely say no to both, with the exception of wearing it on my upper arm, when it sometimes does wobble more than I’d like, not to mention getting caught on door jams.
Wearing any kind of diabetes device attached to your body 24 hours a day is of course a compromise — opting for one inconvenience over multiple others. For me personally, the OmniPod system has been an excellent choice. But the one aspect of wearing it that has been frustrating at times is the hot water issue: never being able to take a hot bath or soak in the jacuzzi without worry. I know I shouldn’t get in with the pod on, but my only other choice is to waste the pod and insulin, and potentially mess up my BG control by being unplugged for a while.
So… I’ve learned to lie sideways in a hot bathtub to protect the pod on my belly from being submerged. But it isn’t comfortable, defeating the whole purpose of a hot bath, if you ask me (!)
We aren’t lucky enough to own our own jacuzzi, so this is only an issue for me when we travel. I try to plan in advance to place the pod on my arm (my least favorite site) so that I can actually sit in the jacuzzi and just stretch my arms out above water. Again, not soooo relaxing.
After three years of fussing with this, the weirdest thing happened when I finally decided to “let go” on our getaway. So much for planning ahead: I had the pod on my upper left thigh. It was a good, well-functioning site that wasn’t irritating me in the least. *sigh*
“Just pull it off!” my husband said.
“No way. Maybe it won’t get cooked. I’m just gonna leave it there; consider it an experiment.” (everything’s a diabetes experiment in my world)
His turn to sigh …
After nearly an hour in and out of that sizzling tub, I checked my BG: 67. Huh?
Yes, I had taken a sizable correction not long before our hot-tubbing adventure. So this could have just been residual effects. But an hour later, BG: 84.
“Wow! It’s still working! Maybe that thing wasn’t as hot as we thought!” I grinned. And just as I stood up to celebrate, the softened adhesive came unstuck completely, and the pod plopped on the floor of our hotel room with a clunk.
Hubby looked amused.
“Don’t say anything!” I replied, a whole lot louder than I had planned.
I was so excited for your great success and a happy ending to your story – until that clunk. Oh well, good for you for giving it a try though. And now that you know the insulin survived, maybe next time you can add a bit of tape over it or something – to help solve the adhesive problem.
I am not going to start an Omnipod versus traditional pump war, but your post shows why I’m not ready for a tubeless pump. We do have a hot tub and I wouldn’t want to deal with the hassle and guilt of potentially ruining a pod everytime I went in the tub. (Currently I also feel that the tubing is much less problematic than the size of the Omnipod, but that’s me.) Next time you’ll have to use extra tape and then give us feedback on how the insulin performs 1 or 2 days later.
Loved the end of your story, although I’m sorry that your hot tub success ended up with a clunk.
My daughter always bathes with her pod on. We were told that was one of the pluses: that she could bathe or swim without disconnecting.
Though we don’t let her in hot tubs…I thought the extreme hot water could cause blood sugar to drop.
Didn’t you read the HUGE warning sign? LOL?
Ouch… so funny, but not.
Better luck next time?
Still… aside from the hot tub antics, I would love to try one! There is no omnipod distribution in China though (even though it is manufactured here) and I am still on what I consider Old Faithful – Medtronic. Elizabeth
And, I should add – at least it didn’t clunk in the tub!
An hour is a pretty long time, I’m not surprised you had adhesion problems at that point. I have no problems with pods in a regular bath tub, but I don’t usually stay in longer than 30-40 minutes.
For placement on your arms or other times when you are concerned about pod “wobbling” or other adhesion problems, have you tried a self-adhesive bandage? I use this one (from Walgreens web site, but other stores like CVS sell them, too): http://tinyurl.com/yelszx8
We have a hot tub and a pool, one of which Caleb uses daily for multiple hours in the summer. We have yet to experience an issue with his hot tub use and have never had a pod just fall off despite hours of soaking. Congrats on the success of your experiment! I hope it leads to many more relaxing soaks for you!
Amy,
Great article!
I recently started the Omnipod and have been listing the positives and negatives of the machine every step of the way on my blog. Here’s a link to the post:
http://glucosebuddy.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-omnipod-marriage-will-it-last.html
Congrats on your experiment. Lol sorry the sucker fell off! Lol
I’m not on a pump as a result of the contact sports I currently play (afraid it will get ripped off), but am curious, wouldn’t a normal pump have the same adhesion issues at the injection site? Or is the adhesive different and more stable since it has less weight on it?
Type 1 since 1971. insulin pump therapy used and just told I have to start a statin & an ACE inhibitor. Anyone out there have opinions about 1)which are the best & 2) which has least side effects???
My 13 yr. old daughter has been using the Omnipod for 2 years now. She LOVES it and can’t imagine life with D without it. She is very active, playing many sports. It has never been a problem. But since the very beginning, she has wanted to wear a Tegaderm over the whole pod. We buy a year’s supply at bulk pricing and it costs very little money this way. OF COURSE insurance won’t pay for the Tegaderm. =( But it alleviates problems like this. She soaks & swims & never has the “gummy adhesive” issue. Its wonderful. Maybe buying some of these to use JUST when you are in the water for a long time (like a jacuzzi) would be a good idea. For my daughter, she just feels more comfortable with the Tegaderm all the time. She feels the same as you with it on her arm, but the Tegaderm helps that as well. All in all, we feel the Omnipod is the BEST option out there (at least for us!)
Great story!
Hopefully newer tubeless pumps on the horizon which are detachable (ie. Solo pump) can resolve this issue.
As someone who enjoys being in the water and is a diver, i usually convert to MDI’s during vacations but diving would be a bit sketchy using Lantus. Nor would a pod likely stand the depths to which one dives. So, Solo pump Im ready for you!
I’m on an Animus One touch ping pump and I’ve been considering the Omnipod. I’m confused about one thing you said: “I don’t have to carry around two devices, since the glucose meter is built right in”. Isn’t the glucose meter a seperate device from the omnipod? That seems like 2 devices to me. Or is the glucose meter built right in to the Omnipod itself, and you don’t need to carry anything else with you?
OmniPod is very convenient. Exercise spontaneously, skip a meal or have a couple of snacks. With no tubing to tangle. No painful injections, no needles. Just one quick insertion every few days to covers your insulin automated, virtually pain-free insertion, no needles and the list goes on. LOL..
I’m glad we have these.