New to insulin pump

kellie lees

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
My husband has just moved onto a pump - I couldn’t tell you the name of it but it’s one that disconnects and has a cannular and tubing. We’re just looking for advice on ease of wearing it; where to wear it best; accessories that work etc. I think day to day my husband is fairly ok with it I think it’s more night times in bed and what’s best? At the moment he has a medium length tubing and it seems like a lot of wire and we aren’t sure where best to put it all? Any advice would be welcomed thank you for your support
 

Carlton1512

Well-Known Member
Messages
56
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
When your diabetes misbehaves for no apparent reason.
For general day to day use at work I just stick my work trousers pocket, I used to use a belt clip but find it easier just loose in my pocket. When I'm wearing jeans I put it the little 'watch' pocket next the main front pocket (as in the picture) then tuck the tubing in. At night I wear a sports belt, which was designed by a runner to keep phone, keys etc in. No it's not sexy, but it keeps my pump in place at night mine is a Spibelt - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004QQTDA2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bbQcDbJPVF9P7
9122eea04ee5b87a12cdae24e8c30beb.jpg


Hope this helps your hubby out, after a while he won't even notice it much.
 
  • Like
Reactions: porl69

kellie lees

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Thank you so much for this! The nurses yesterday seemed to be putting us off using a Pocket but I think my husband wanted to just be able to pop it in his pocket but because of the medium length tubing we worried if this was too much tubing on show, and could get caught easily?
 
D

Deleted Account

Guest
At night, it depends what your husband wears. If PJs, it can go in the trouser pocket.
If he wears nothing but a smile, a pump belt is useful.
I used a HidIn belt wrapped twice around my upper thigh.
I was told it could go lose in the bed but found it had a mind of its own which told it to go directly under a boney part of my body and woke me up.
 

kellie lees

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
We’ve ordered a hid-in belt as they seemed the smallest. Can we ask do you find the pump has benefits over injecting with pens?
 
D

Deleted Account

Guest
We’ve ordered a hid-in belt as they seemed the smallest. Can we ask do you find the pump has benefits over injecting with pens?
Absolutely.
But my motivation for the pump was not the usual. My motivation is to improve my bg when exercising.
The ability to adjust my basal is fantastic. I can increase basal to stop me going high when climbing. I can reduce (or suspend) my basal during a spin class. I can adjust basal per hour to find the optimum level when I'll. I can move my basal to match a different time zone when I travel.
My dawn phenomenon is not at pronounced as others but I still notice the benefit of being able to adjust my basal for different times of the day rather than assuming my body needs the same amount 24/7.
I am not going to say it's been easy. It has required closer carb counting and lots of trial and error for the basal levels for different activities.
But it has been worth it enough to progress to my second pump.
 

kitedoc

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,783
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
black jelly beans
Hello. I am assuming your hubbie has the cannula situated in his abdomen area.
I wear my PJ shirt inside out and place the pump on the now inside shirt pocket.
For everyday use a pump belt accessory works well with tubing tucked in, or i can route the tubing under the belt to situate the pump in my pocket except this leaves the tubing exposed.
For intimate moments i remove the pump temorarily.
When wearing a rucksack ( not an bedtime asventure)! for, shopping or in crowds i wear a travel wallet holder over one shoulder and under the opposite arm with thevpump in it. The tubing is long enough for me to reach in the top of my shirt to retreive the pump to operate it.
In this situation i often wear another such wallet running from the other side with my wallet in it but access the wallet from the underside of the shirt.
I look a bit like a banderro with crosssed bullet belts underneath the top shirt.
This arrangement means i need to wear a collared shirt underneath my top shirt in order to prevent the the straps/ loops of the travel wallets chafing the sides of my neck.
But this arrangement also reduces the worry that wallet and/or pump might be stolen in a crowd. Best Wishes.
Addit: i moved to a pump 7 years ago. By that stage i had been on insulin for 45 years and despite 8 plus insulin injections per day was experiencing nighttime hypos which were threatening my diabetes control, my driver's licence and my work status. The pump helped me stop the hypos and retain my ability to continue working until retirement in 2014.
The other thing to say is that plastic cannulas were troublesome in that they tended to bend or kink and slow the input of insulin without setting off an obstruction alarm. The only sign of this problem was an unexplained high bsl reading and the only option was to replace the cannula and tubing.
I moved to using the steel cannulas ( 90 degree ones) and have had much less problem with infusion problems etc and the bonus is that the connection point of tubing to the steel cannula is via a connection sseveral cms distant to the canula site itself so that in connecting and disconnecting the tubing ( say, for showering) i do not end up jiggling the cannula site ( compared to the plastic cannula set up) and also if the tubing gets caught on something the connection sticky pad being separate from the cannula sticky pad site takes the brunt of any tension or pullng and makes it less likely that the cannula itself will he dislodged.
 
Last edited:

kellie lees

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Absolutely.
But my motivation for the pump was not the usual. My motivation is to improve my bg when exercising.
The ability to adjust my basal is fantastic. I can increase basal to stop me going high when climbing. I can reduce (or suspend) my basal during a spin class. I can adjust basal per hour to find the optimum level when I'll. I can move my basal to match a different time zone when I travel.
My dawn phenomenon is not at pronounced as others but I still notice the benefit of being able to adjust my basal for different times of the day rather than assuming my body needs the same amount 24/7.
I am not going to say it's been easy. It has required closer carb counting and lots of trial and error for the basal levels for different activities.
But it has been worth it enough to progress to my second pump.

Yes my husband is very into his exercise so hoping it will help. I think at the moment he’d found the injecting with a pen quite a lot and as a male (so no handbag) he was struggling to remember everything so I think he feels the pump will be easier to manage! We’re just unsure at the moment which is better psychologically - injecting with a pen or wearing the pump. We find this site really gives us insight and good advice so thank you
 

kellie lees

Well-Known Member
Messages
67
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello. I am assuming your hubbie has the cannula situated in his abdomen area.
I wear my PJ shirt inside out and place the pump on the now inside shirt pocket.
For everyday use a pump belt accessory works well with tubing tucked in, or i can route the tubing under the belt to situate the pump in my pocket except this leaves the tubing exposed.
For intimate moments i remove the pump temorarily.
When wearing a rucksack ( not an bedtime asventure)! for, shopping or in crowds i wear a travel wallet holder over one shoulder and under the opposite arm with thevpump in it. The tubing is long enough for me to reach in the top of my shirt to retreive the pump to operate it.
In this situation i often wear another such wallet running from the other side with my wallet in it but access the wallet from the underside of the shirt.
I look a bit like a banderro with crosssed bullet belts underneath the top shirt.
This arrangement means i need to wear a collared shirt underneath my top shirt in order to prevent the the straps/ loops of the travel wallets chafing the sides of my neck.
But this arrangement also reduces the worry that wallet and/or pump might be stolen in a crowd. Best Wishes.
Addit: i moved to a pump 7 years ago. By that stage i had been on insulin for 45 years and despite 8 plus insulin injections per day was experiencing nighttime hypos which were threatening my diabetes control, my driver's licence and my work status. The pump helped me stop the hypos and retain my ability to continue working until retirement in 2014.
The other thing to say is that plastic cannulas were troublesome in that they tended to bend or kink and slow the input of insulin without setting off an obstruction alarm. The only sign of this problem was an unexplained high bsl reading and the only option was to replace the cannula and tubing.
I moved to using the steel cannulas ( 90 degree ones) and have had much less problem with infusion problems etc and the bonus is that the connection point of tubing to the steel cannula is via a connection sseveral cms distant to the canula site itself so that in connecting and disconnecting the tubing ( say, for showering) i do not end up jiggling the cannula site ( compared to the plastic cannula set up) and also if the tubing gets caught on something the connection sticky pad being separate from the cannula sticky pad site takes the brunt of any tension or pullng and makes it less likely that the cannula itself will he dislodged.

Thank you this is all so helpful and good to read
 
D

Deleted Account

Guest
as a male (so no handbag) he was struggling to remember everything so I think he feels the pump will be easier to manage!
Unfortunately, I have found there is still a lot to remember : bg meter, hypo treatment and backup if pump fails. The latter is important because if the pump fails, he has no basal insulin.
Hopefully, he was given syringes as short term temporary backup. But some people carry spare pens with them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: porl69