To pump or not to pump......that's my question!

Louwalker71

Active Member
Messages
25
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I'm think about an insulin pump - assuming I am able to get one!!
What I would really like to ask is from your experiences of having one is it a good idea? Does it make life easier or more complicated? :roll:
 

ccoles1

Member
Messages
16
Hi Lou
From personal experiance I would say Yes :D , It is harder but the benifts far out way the negatives. I have been on a pump since feb 2010 Accu Chek Spirit Combo. My HBA1C was 9.4 when I started now 7.1 (also I was on steriods which really mess blood sugars up). After a while having a pump becomes second nature. You get use to the tube and being connected all the time, but also not injecting 5 times or more a day.
Search the forumns and the internet, talk to people with pumps and find out all you can, be informed.
Best wishes
Chris
 

josie38

Well-Known Member
Messages
281
Hi,

It is worth having one.I have found my diabetes easier to manage with two small children to run round after. When i went for mine i had to meet the NICE criteria and my consultant quizzed me about why i thought i should have one and what difference it would make to me etc.

Fingers crossed hunxxx

Josie
 

Cheryl

Well-Known Member
Messages
180
It was suggested to me four years ago that I go on a pump. My control was very erratic, lots of hypos, but my Hba1c was creeping up year on year. It reached 8.5, yet I was still getting 20-30 hypos per month.

I dismissed the idea again & again as I couldn't bear the thought of being attached to a machine 24/7.
Where would I hide it? How could I wear a dress? What about when I go swimming? Windsurfing? Waterskiing? etc. etc. I just didn't want to know.

Eventually, I agreed with my consultant that I had to do something about my Hba1c & agreed to try it. I haven't found it easy. Two years later I'm still struggling to level out my fasting blood sugar levels & I still spike horribly (16+) after a meal & suffer lots of hypos. BUT, my Hba1c is down to 6.5 & I'm slowly chipping away at reducing the hypos.

It is hard work to get it right (unless you're very lucky & very disciplined), BUT again, I am now so used to having the pump that I really don't like the idea of going back to MDI. I can manage my watersports (as long as I am not too obsessive about my BG going up by the end of a session & the energy I use balances some of that out anyway) and it's so very easy to have a correction whenever I need one with just a quick press of a couple of buttons (and also to reduce the overall dose for a few hours after exercise to counteract the effects of that exercise). There are also various accessories available to help conceal the pump under clothes. Exercise is easier to manage, as are those days when your routine is all up the spout.

On balance, they'd have to tie me down to take it away from me now. I never thought that I'd be happy on it, but I had to tell my consultant that I was going to eat a big slice of humble pie after so long refusing to consider it.

So yes, I say go for it, what's the worst that could happen? You don't like it and go back to MDI, so nothing lost.
 

Louwalker71

Active Member
Messages
25
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Thank you Cheryl that was a helpful insight. Like you I worry about hiding it under clothes - Ok I'm 40 now but i do still Like to wear fitted dresses and jeans and tops!

Also I run 3 times a week and walk the dog daily so my results can be quite erratic. Will work closely with my new DSN over the next few months and then go from there.

Thanks everyone for all your comments it really helps xx
 

ebony321

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,299
Dislikes
Tomatoes, Rude people, Bees!
Hi,

I've found the pump helps with tricky situations, Tricky foods like pizza, pasta etc. Also with exercise, i walk my dogs and found my BG's would fall if i walked too far, so i had to try plan far ahead so i could try reduce my background, but then i'd end up sky high! but now i just reduce my basal an hour before i go and i very rarely have to treat any low BG's

It's hard work at first, testing through the night, tweaking ALOT in the first 6 weeks at least. I found i had a 'pump honeymoon' and for a week i had almost perfect sugars, 'boy this is easy' i thought, then they returned to their normal self, erraticly high in the morning and battling all day to get them down, i suffer from dawn phenomenon badly, this is now sorted thanks to the pump, something i never managed to handle with injections.

Hiding the pump is easy, you can get pouches, clips and allsorts, lots of people get out the sowing machine and create their own perfect way of concealing the pump, my pump has blue tooth control from the meter so i dont actually have to touch the pump to bolus, so i hade mine usually in a pocket or in my bra if i'm wearing tight or pocketless clothes. easy peasy, just gotta find what works for you and what you wear :)

It's hard getting used to being attached, by that i mean remembering to take it with you and not let itswing to the floor when you stand up, a bit ouchy if it tugs your cannula! i've also ripped it out in the night and caught the tubing of cupboard handles and ripped it out too, that was in the beggining when i forgot to tuck my tubing in or put in back in my pocket, i also used to watch it bolus so i knew it was working at first haha! but now i trust it 10484728% to do it's job, and it does it really well.

If you are confident that you will benefit fromone, and are willing to put it some man hours especially at first then i say go for it, it did and still does wonders for me.

Dont forget, the pump isn't for everyone, but there's no shame in handing it back if you decide its not for you :)

Good luck!
 

ebony321

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,299
Dislikes
Tomatoes, Rude people, Bees!
also, my hba1c's pre-pump were from 8.4%-16.1% ... it's now currently standing at 6.6% :) BIg difference!
 

josie38

Well-Known Member
Messages
281
Hi lou,

When I went on the pump i always worried about where to put mine. I am the same age and i like to wear same sort of clothes - dresses it goes in my bra, jeans in my pocket etc......you always find somewhere to hide it. When you are running i think you can a pouch for your arm.

like ebony said when doing your activities you can just reduce your basal for the length of time you are doing them and then test after and put your basal back to normal.

I found i got a bit scared when i had a hypo when i first got my pump cuz you are attached to your insulin and i would panic and forget what dsn told me :oops: :oops:

I know when i got used to mine i thought "how did i do without it?"

Josie
 

duranie

Well-Known Member
Messages
64
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
Winter!
I'd like a bit of advice as to how to get one. I'm apparently "on the list2 as I have complications such as gastroparesis and painful peripheral neuropathy, but the waiting list is along!! Control is pretty good - but I do have to inject a lot to keep it that way, if I don't my complications become unbearable. DAFNE has helped, but not enough.
 

pavmas

Well-Known Member
Messages
68
I have to say that for kids I think the pump is ideal, but for myself I like the pen, once I take the lantus at 7pm that's me to the next day. If I had a pump I would catch it on a door handle or something.

I have good control but if it was an issue about control then perhaps I would change my mind, but as I dont need one just now then that leaves them for people who cant get control.