GluCare has partnered with Insulet to provide UAE patients with a new insulin pump called Omnipod. Omnipod DASH, simplifies living with diabetes. This insulin pump is a small, wearable Pod which can deliver up to 72 hours of continuous insulin. The Pod is controlled by a sleek Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM) which makes it simple to manage everyday tasks like carbohydrate counting, bolus doses and more.

With Bluetooth wireless technology, Omnipod DASH works with two iOS mobile applications (Omnipod DISPLAY and Omnipod VIEW) which allows users quick and easy access to their PDM data on their smartphone and the ability to share therapy status information with up to 12 friends or family members. Omnipod DASH also has complimentary iPhone widgets which give users the ability to see their Continuous glucose monitor data and insulin delivery information together on a single screen on their personal iOS mobile devices, helping to make diabetes management simple and seamless. Omnipod DASH includes the following features:

• Discreet, tubeless, waterproof Pod
• Customizable basal insulin profile and bolus calculator
• Intuitive graphical displays
• Rechargeable lithium ion battery for PDM only

The PDM (personal diabetes manager) is a remote to give orders to the pod to give insulin. The pod is worn for 3 days and constantly gives micro doses of insulin (basal). The pod location should be changed every time you put on a new pod. Common sites include the abdomen, back of the arms and lower back.

Your GluCare educator will help you with the pump set up and information about its usage. In addition, your GluCare care team will be able to download your information and download this before your visit, so that insulin data is captured in your electronic medical record.. GluCare is currently working with Insulet to be able to do this remotely with the Omnipod 5, due to be released in 2023 in the UAE.

Devices bought from GluCare will have warranty coverage worldwide, and if there are any issues with pods, these will be replaced immediately at GluCare.

Advantages of the Omnipod:

The biggest pro is not having to inject yourself multiple times a day. You just have to press a few buttons and you will get the amount of insulin you need. You can always add extra insulin for example if you decide after you meal that you want to have a dessert.

In many social settings it is very convenient to have a pump. For example at parties or events where food is being consumed over a long period of time. You can have multiple courses with a good pause between without having to inject multiple times.

It’s also handy if you are out and about and you don’t want to go somewhere private to inject. If you are riding in a car you don’t have to worry about using needles.

An insulin pump has a lot of settings that you can’t do effortlessly with injections. One of them is extended bolus for meals that are consumed over a longer period, or carby or fatty food like pizza. When you eat pizza, the blood sugar rises over a longer time than usual and is often high 3 hours after eating.

By using the Extended bolus feature on the pump you can adjust the dosage so that you get an x amount of insulin right away and an x amount later, e.g. 50% now and 50% after one hour. This way the blood sugar will become more stable.

If the blood sugar is too high the pump recommends a certain amount of insulin to lower it to a target value. When you get the pump there are a lot of settings that are programmed such as how much 1 unit of insulin lowers your blood sugar, how much basal insulin you need per hour and how much you need for meals.

You can also program special settings like increasing or decreasing the basal rate for a certain amount of time. This is very handy when you plan on exercising, then you can decrease or turn off the basal insulin. If the blood sugar is on the lower side before bedtime you can lower the basal insulin for the night so you don’t need to eat before going to bed.

Another advantage of using the Omnipod is you don’t need to do the insulin math calculation anymore! The only thing you have to do is enter the amount of carbs you plan to eat and the pump does all the calculations. It takes into account IOB (insulin on board) which is an estimate of how much insulin is still active from the last bolus and it calculates how much insulin you need according to the time of day and what your blood sugar is at that moment.

The Omnipod is waterproof but it’s not recommended to wear it in high temperatures like in a sauna or in the hot tub for a long time since the insulin can overheat. If you have a tubed pump you can disconnect it for a short time instead.
It’s not recommended to wear a pump in body scanners at the airport or some medical scans like a CT scan.

GluCare will work with your insurance company to get the pump covered.