Back up regime

[Trina]

Hi people. What do people do as a back up in case the pump malfunctions? I was told to get two pre filled disposable syringes, one for short term insulin, the other for long term, which is what I was on prior to the pump. However my surgery just won't issue a prescription for these. Any comments people?

 

[phoenix]

Just a quick comment as I'm not in the UK but yes I have backup pens. It's considered so important that I have to produce them every 6 months to my 'pump' nurse to show that I have them and they are still in date. (she even checked I remembered how to decide on the Levemir dose last time I saw her)
Remember that in the event of high levels you should correct with an injection so at the very least you need syringes to use with your rapid insulin.
Printing out and showing your doctor these pages UK publication might be useful.
(p 29) High levels.You can't follow the procedure correctly without a syringe or pen.
(p41) replacement schemes for pump malfunction
http://www.diabetes-education.net/pdf/r ... rkbook.pdf

 

[jopar]

I'm lucky as hubby is also a T1 diabetic, so I don't have to keep a background insulin, in an emergency I can swipe one of his levimer cartridges..

For my quick acting I just have some just keep a supply of insulin syringes so that I can draw up from my humalog vile if necessary.

You do need at least cartridges of background, and some syringes for quick acting, if you are having problems with getting your GP to prescribe these, then you must go back to your pump dsn or consultant and ask them to write to your doctor, which they will be more than happy to do for you, your doctor has to follow the instructions of your consultant.

 

[Spearmint]

We're very lucky to have been given a back up pump!
It stays at home though and we carry a novorapid pen around with us everywhere we go.
I still have a few cartridges from her pens in the fridge so don't need to ask for anymore yet but the hospital did ask the GP to prescribe them if we need them.

 

[Trina]

Thanks people, you've come up trumps once again. The advice I was given by dsn was to have a supply on short and long acting inulin but watch out for the 'sell by' date. Just concerned that these come in packs of 5 and I would be wasting insulin, particularly the long acting insulin. However really grateful for all your suggestions. Thanks again people.

 

[iHs]

Trina

I always knew that I would need to keep some sort of backup incase something went wrong with the pump or infusion set so if ever I find myself running out of insulin in the cartridge and I am out, I use my insulin pen to deliver my dose and of course whenever my bg levels have gone really high, I never use the pump but use the pen instead. This acts as a sensible safeguard.....

My GP prescribes my bolus insulin in vials but because Ive still got pen cartridges left over from MDI days, I carefully withdraw insulin from a vial using a syringe and then transfer about 30u into an empty pen cartridge and then use that to last me about 30 days. This saves me from having to draw up insulin in a syringe when out in public (insulin pens are much better), keeps me all ok and safe and saves the NHS some money. The pen works very well.... no problems whatsoever so far (nearly 2.5yrs now I have been doing this). I just prime 0.5u of insulin through the pen needle before I use it.

 

[phoenix]

Just concerned that these come in packs of 5 and I would be wasting insulin, particularly the long acting insulin

That one concerns me too. When I mentioned it to the pharmacist, he suggested I gave him a bit of notice when I needed to fill a prescription for replacement pens. He now makes sure I get ones that have got as long as possible before expiry, better than getting pens with perhaps only a year left on them.

 

[iHs]

Another alternative which I think Phoenix has used is to just use insulin pen cartridges to fill the pump cartridges. All you need to do is put new pen cartridge in pen and using the cartridge adaptor for the pump attach this adaptor to the pump cartridge with the plunger in the up postion and then push on the insulin pen without the pen needle being attached and then wind up the pen to the highest amount of insulin that it can inject in one go and literally push the insulin from the insulin pen down into the pump cartridge... just keep winding up the insulin pen and simple inject it downwards into the pump carridge at the bottom. All a GP would then need to do is prescribed 5 pen carridges instead of vials.... Two birds killed with one stone.... insulin in pen cartridges and insulin in the pump. Everyone safe and sound :thumbup: :thumbup:

 

[phoenix]

Another alternative which I think Phoenix has used is to just use insulin pen cartridges to fill the pump cartridges

.
Yes, I have used disposable pens (I've never actually seen a cartridge here!) to fill my cartridge and use up the rapid insulin before it expires.
Even with getting long expiry dates for the levemir though , I've had to dispose of 2 whole packets since being on the pump. That's about €140 worth which seems an awful waste. Would be better if they were able to dispense in packs of one or 2 pens because with increasing numbers on pumps there must be a lot of wasted insulin,