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Injections. Or pump?

If your on a pump, what happens if you don't, or can't eat? Does it still inject you with insulin?

What if your stuck in a tree or something! :wideyed:
 
mist said:
If your on a pump, what happens if you don't, or can't eat? Does it still inject you with insulin?

What if your stuck in a tree or something! :wideyed:
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If you're not eating, you just don't tell the pump to bolus you.

It will continue to deliver your basal insulin (just like you would continue to have your lantus/levemir in your system) but the job of your basal insulin is to keep your blood sugar steady in the absence of food or unusual activity. So provided basal rates were set correctly being stuck up a tree shouldn't cause an issue in a pump.

Being on a pump doesn't automate your diabetes management, you remain in charge of the pump and have to tell it what to do.
 
Type1Bri said:
If you need to you can suspend insulin delivery, great for situations where you are stuck in a tree
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This will only work with some degree of success, if bg is above target as it will take about 1.5hrs to take effect and stop bg from dropping. If bg is at target, then any IOB still at work, will make bg drop even if pump is turned off.
Always best to carry some sort of snack food as pumps are not magic
 
fletchweb said:
I prefer to know that if I'm injecting 6 units of humulog I'm actually getting those 6 units.
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With injections though not all the units are used 100% due to absorption, but a pump, although not 100% efficient uses more of the dose, so less units for one particular meal than you would normally need when injecting.....;)
 
iHs said:
This will only work with some degree of success, if bg is above target as it will take about 1.5hrs to take effect and stop bg from dropping. If bg is at target, then any IOB still at work, will make bg drop even if pump is turned off.
Always best to carry some sort of snack food as pumps are not magic
Click to expand...
The way the 640 suspends is based on a predictive model.

It will suspend when:
  • Your Sensor Glucose (SG) value is at or within 3.9 mmol/L above your low limit &
  • Your SG is predicted to reach or fall below a level that is 1.1 mmol/L above your low limit within approximately 30 minutes.
This combination proves to be very effective at heading off lows (I wrote something about it here). My experience of this was that with a carb counted meal, you could overbolus by around 20% and it would still stop you hitting low glucose levels with the suspend model it employs. In fact, you can set your low level at something like 4.8 and it becomes really quite difficult to go low due to the way this algorithm works.

Obviously it goes without saying that you should always have emergency carbs - that's always the risk with exogenous insulin.
 
I am getting a pump for the first time next month. An animas vibe.. after 50 years of injecting. I might put a thread on yet(not done that before)
 
I have had the Ypsomed Omnipod pump for the last three and a half years now and I love it! Have so much more freedom and my control is really good. A pump isn't for everyone but it worked for me. I've had diabetes for 10 years now, since I was 7. I have had technical problems with the pump but Ypsomed sorted them with efficiency and little hassle.
 
If you were to try for a pump you would probably go on a course first. I've been T1 for 45 years and went on a four day course over four weeks. Basically they covered everything but will sort out your Basal and bolus doses. After the course my control was so good that My medical team and I decided against a pump. I chose not to because I didn't want the hassle of carrying pump spares as well as my normal Diabetic stuff everywhere with me. This was very much a personal choice as a lot of people have pumps and much prefer them. My point is that it is a decision that you can make after attending the course when all pros and cons are explained to you
 
I've been on the pump for 10 month after injection for 43 year and I would not like to go back to MDI at all, my control is alot better but not perfect, Ive had problems with the pump and the handset in the past 3 weeks but I was sent a new pump the next day and the handset took 2 days as I called the helpline on a Saturday about it, what I have found really good over the past week is the ability to control BS much better whilst being on a course of steriods which is pretty impossible when on MDI. I would go for it personally.

Hope this helps
 
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