There are really only 3 pumps on the market in the US right now - the MiniMed, the Animas, and the Omnipod. From what I’ve read/researched, none of them are bad, people like them, but they do have differences, some slight, some big.
The one really HUGE difference between Minimed/Animas and the Omnipod is that MiniMed/Animas (which will from now on be referred to as “M/A”) are tubed, and the Omnipod is a pod. Meaning, the M/A is a little box that looks sort of like a pager, and it has about 2 feet of tubing that you snake under your clothes to an insertion point.
The Omnipod, on the other hand, is a little plastic “pod” that you fill with insulin and stick to your butt (or wherever) and control with a remote control PDM kinda thing.
That one difference, to me, was everything. I can’t imagine dealing with tubing, having to snake it through clothes, dealing with it at night, etc. So I went with the Omnipod. I’ve had it for a little over a year now, and so far, I love it.
Drawbacks to Omnipod:
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some people have trouble getting it to stick
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the M/A pumps have choices of different types of insertion sets - different lengths of canullas, different angles, etc. The Omnipod, because it’s an all-in-one kind of thing, doesn’t have any choices here. If you are one of the minority of people who don’t work with the Omnipod’s insertion set, you’re out of luck.
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Omnipod has a slight difference in how it calculates insulin-on-board when you do corrections compared to the M/A. Some people really don’t like it.
I personally don’t have any issues with any of these things. My pod sticks just fine, the insertion set works, and I don’t care about the insulin-on-board calculation.
Between the Minimed and the Animas, the big differences are:
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The Animas has a wireless remote, so you can stash the pump in your pocket or wherever and still bolus. The Minimed always has to be accessible.
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The Animas is a slightly newer design. I liked the menus a bit more.
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The Minimed has the option of a built-in CGMS (continuous glucose monitor). However, of the three CGMSs on the market right now, it’s pretty much the one people like the least.
So, getting to your specific questions:
Which one do you use? The Omnipod
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What do you like about it?** Just about everything. I do wish the pod itself was a little smaller, and they are working on a version that’s 45% smaller.
What are the drawbacks? The biggest drawback is that once it’s on, you don’t take it off until you change it (typically 2-3 days). In practice, this makes it difficult to sit in a hot tub or take a sauna or take a bath, because you’ll cook your insulin. Both of the other pumps can be disconnected and reconnected easily. I really wish they’d fix this because sometimes I do want to jump in the hot tub when my pod is on my leg or my back! (it’s not so much of an issue if it’s on my arm because I can hang my arm out of the water.)
Do you have any issues that using a pump has not resolved? Well, so far my pancreas hasn’t come back to life. I think that’s a bit much to ask of a pump, though.
Traveling: I don’t see any more issue traveling with the pump than traveling without a pump. The big hassle with traveling is keeping your insulin cool, and that has to happen regardless of if you’re using needles or a pump. I haven’t had any issues flying with it or anything like that.
What else? I can’t imagine going back to MDI, even though I had pretty decent control on it. I hate needles. I find the convenience of a pump makes my life seem more normal - on MDI, I’d often either not bolus for small bits of carbs or just not eat them. With a pump, it’s no big deal to eat a couple M&Ms and bolus for 2 carbs. That doesn’t seem like a huge deal when I type it out, but man, I can really get a pity party going for myself if I think I can’t eat M&Ms when I want to.
The pump is also really nice for things like dealing with morning glucose dumps and exercise - for example, I can turn down my basal rates if I know I’m going for a bike ride and reduce the risk of going low.
You can really fine-tune basal levels as well. I’ve got it to the point where I can go all day with no significant change in my blood glucose if I don’t eat carbs.
That’s about all I can think of for now. I’d say if you’re at all interested in a pump, call the different manufacturers and have 'em send a rep out to show you their wares. I looked at all 3 of them before buying, and it was a huge help to be able to actually see the hardware, play with it, and talk to the sales rep.