- Messages
- 165
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hi all,
I'd be really interested to hear any thoughts from people who used to take insulin injections, who have moved to using a pump. It's something I'm considering, after having taken injections for 15 years - I've spoken with my diabetes team, who are excellent, and have learned much about pumps and the various advantages they have over injections. I already wear a Dexcom G5, so am used to having something attached to me (albeit smaller than a pump). I'm not concerned in the slightest about body-image issues, or the social or practical side of wearing a pump.
A year ago, I had a very bad hypo, which changed my approach to managing my diabetes, and to insulin; in particular, I developed a severe hypo-anxiety, and for quite a while, I ran my sugars very high to avoid the possibility of lows. I lost 10kg over the year, and I think I'm only now on the road to recovery. I have since started a low carb diet to limit the amount of insulin in my system at any one time, which I'm much happier with, and my sugars are now thankfully under much better control; however, the (perhaps irrational) worry of hypos, although to a lesser extent, is still very much part of my life.
A pump sounds like an excellent idea; but the anxiety about hypos causes me to worry about being permanently connected to a reservoir of fast acting insulin - my mind just defaults to thinking about what would happen if the pump malfunctioned in some way and delivered too much insulin in one go. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has worried about this, and how those worries were overcome; I know this must sound quite silly to experienced pump users, so my apologies, but any thoughts would be most welcome!
I'd be really interested to hear any thoughts from people who used to take insulin injections, who have moved to using a pump. It's something I'm considering, after having taken injections for 15 years - I've spoken with my diabetes team, who are excellent, and have learned much about pumps and the various advantages they have over injections. I already wear a Dexcom G5, so am used to having something attached to me (albeit smaller than a pump). I'm not concerned in the slightest about body-image issues, or the social or practical side of wearing a pump.
A year ago, I had a very bad hypo, which changed my approach to managing my diabetes, and to insulin; in particular, I developed a severe hypo-anxiety, and for quite a while, I ran my sugars very high to avoid the possibility of lows. I lost 10kg over the year, and I think I'm only now on the road to recovery. I have since started a low carb diet to limit the amount of insulin in my system at any one time, which I'm much happier with, and my sugars are now thankfully under much better control; however, the (perhaps irrational) worry of hypos, although to a lesser extent, is still very much part of my life.
A pump sounds like an excellent idea; but the anxiety about hypos causes me to worry about being permanently connected to a reservoir of fast acting insulin - my mind just defaults to thinking about what would happen if the pump malfunctioned in some way and delivered too much insulin in one go. I'd be interested to know if anyone else has worried about this, and how those worries were overcome; I know this must sound quite silly to experienced pump users, so my apologies, but any thoughts would be most welcome!