I would be reluctant to choose any pump that doesn't have insulin cartridges. I love my accuchek insight pump for its prefilled pumpcarts. No more drawing insulin up with risks of air bubbles, I just pop a new cartridge in, so easy and quick
Interesting. I have been thinking of my pump desires and pre-filled cartridges is a no no for me.
Between set changes, I use about 80 units of insulin. From what I have seen, the smallest cartridge is 200 units so I would throw away more than half of the insulin which seems a huge waste (for me). By filling the cartridges myself, I can put about 120 units in, have insulin to spare and waste far less.
In the three years I have had a pump, I have not experienced air bubble problems.
My other pump desires are
- at least 4 basal profiles. My current pump has 4 and I use all of them. I expect, if it has more, I will use more.
- ability to bolus as small as 0.05 units
- ability to set basal in increments as small as 0.05 units
- controller (either on the pump or remote) which is visible in bright sunlight. The Easter sun was gorgeous but having to go indoors to dose for my picnic was a pain.
- as small and discrete as possible. As mentioned above, I only use 80 units so the smallest cartridge and, preferably a small battery rather than the bulky AA that I have in the Animas today.
I have been using a tubey pump (Animas Vibe). It is my first pump and the tube is ok - it only gets caught on things when I don't tuck it in and you quickly learn to tuck.
Next month, I am going to trial a patch pump (the Medtrum). My main reason for this is the last criteria - size. The jury is still out whether a patch or tubey pump is preferred.
And the last (and most important) criteria are:
- reliable pump that does not break
- good customer service if the pump has problems
- easy to order supplies. My preference is online
- quick delivery of supplies. I usually plan ahead but wouldn't want to wait 2 weeks for new sets
And finally, ...
- it is available from my CCG. As much as I love having my pump, the sacrifices I would have to make to be able to afford to fund one myself would be too great if it was not available on the NHS.