insulin pump vs insulin pen
- Thread starter Steve11
- Start Date
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- 23,618
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
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good evening, thanks for the info from all of you
learning quite a lot about the pump and its benefits,
but for now i will stay with the pen, it keeps me on my toes with regard to being T1
Pumps aren't for everyone Steve, if your happy on MDI then there's no reason to change. Best wishes and hope it goes well.
jopar
Well-Known Member
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- 2,222
I've been pumping now for almost 8 years, I've never taken a pump holiday, and no way would I want to go back to MDI...
The disadvantage with a pump is that you've only ever got 2 hours worth of insulin in your body at any one time, so if things go belly up (something I haven't experienced in the 8 years I've been pumping) then you've got to act swiftly, but you should have a back up supply, syringes/pens and some background insulin and a plan, otherwise if you've only got quick acting insulin you have to inject every two hours to cover the background...
Some people who may need to take their pump off for various activities such as swimming or contact sports, inject what would have been background insulin every two hours, but this is trail and error to work out what best suits..
You can take pump holidays, and return to MDI, but need to remember that when you start pumping again, it can take several days for any background insulin to filter completely out of the body..
To start pumping it's hard work, a you need to get your basal programmed in, before you start looking at carb ratio's during the day, but well worth the effort, you find that you do have to every now and then tinker with setings to keep on track.. But for me having the pump has made me normal or should I say as near to being none diabetic as possible, yes I hit a glitch every now and then, and it's never going to be perfect but it's amazing what results you can get, and the name of the game is keeping in a good range as much as possible...
The disadvantage with a pump is that you've only ever got 2 hours worth of insulin in your body at any one time, so if things go belly up (something I haven't experienced in the 8 years I've been pumping) then you've got to act swiftly, but you should have a back up supply, syringes/pens and some background insulin and a plan, otherwise if you've only got quick acting insulin you have to inject every two hours to cover the background...
Some people who may need to take their pump off for various activities such as swimming or contact sports, inject what would have been background insulin every two hours, but this is trail and error to work out what best suits..
You can take pump holidays, and return to MDI, but need to remember that when you start pumping again, it can take several days for any background insulin to filter completely out of the body..
To start pumping it's hard work, a you need to get your basal programmed in, before you start looking at carb ratio's during the day, but well worth the effort, you find that you do have to every now and then tinker with setings to keep on track.. But for me having the pump has made me normal or should I say as near to being none diabetic as possible, yes I hit a glitch every now and then, and it's never going to be perfect but it's amazing what results you can get, and the name of the game is keeping in a good range as much as possible...
