BROKEN PUMP. HELP please

[isabellkinga]

Hi everyone, my insulin pump has broken again. It's late and I don't have any long acting insulin. I know I should and I know I should know what to do by now but it has been one of those days, weeks actually and I'm just not thinking straight.
What should I do before my replacement pump gets here, which could take 24 hours.

Any help or advice would be so very much appreciated.
Thank you

 

[elainechi]

i thought pumps only use short acting insulin????
but if you have no insulin in the house....don.t worry too much...cut the carbs and phone your gp in the morning for an emergency prescription to be faxed to your usual chemist x

 

[isabellkinga]

Hi Elaine,

Thank you so much for your reply. I am not all alone after all!
Yes you are right they do but when they break down there is no basal insulin in the body so we are always advised to have an emergency long acting to see us through until we get a replacement or whatever.

What a pain. I will just need to keep checking all night I suppose and give myself micro doses of humalog as and when. All guessing. It's been quite a week . . . . things can only get better from here!

Thanks again

 

[elainechi]

check before you go to bed and when you get up....your bs will be higher but your body will be ok as its a rare occurence just correct it in the morning.. now go to bed and sleep...good luck for tomorrow xx

 

[isabellkinga]

Thank you.
Maybe I should just do that as you say. Thank you so much.
All alone here today and have had the worst day ever so I really appreciate it.
xx

 

[CarbsRok]

Hi everyone, my insulin pump has broken again. It's late and I don't have any long acting insulin. I know I should and I know I should know what to do by now but it has been one of those days, weeks actually and I'm just not thinking straight.
What should I do before my replacement pump gets here, which could take 24 hours.

Any help or advice would be so very much appreciated.
Thank you

Simple solution is to inject your short acting in line with your insulin durration. There's no point in using a basal for 24 hours anyway as it will just mess everything up.
Hope you are soon sorted.

 

[AMBrennan]

.don.t worry too much...cut the carbs

Low carb diet is IN NO WAY an acceptable treatment for DKA. That very fact that you mentioned this is at all merely proves that you have no idea what you're talking about.*

If you are an ignorant T2 diabetic with no understanding of T1 or insulin pumps, just stay away from the T1 forums and stop giving DANGEROUS INCORRECT advice. [Yes, you - type 2 diabetic on insulin - will live if you don't take insulin for a week]

T1 diabetics produce no insulin, and if you're using an insulin pump you have ZERO long-acting insulin. After five hours, there will be ZERO insulin in the body. This is why pump failure can lead to DKA - a serious medical emergency - very rapidly.

Your best bet is to frequent small doses of fast acting insulin to replicate the effect of the pump.

* If you want to eat low-carb - fine, it's none of my business; if you're managing your condition well - great; but when you come to the T1 forums and claim that a low-carb diet can cure DKA, you are making it my business.

 

[elainechi]

hi you talking to me??????? if so at the time i replied a t1 unlikely to be having any more carbs at night and may be don.t til you get some short acting insulin....i presumed that she didn.t have an insulin pen or syringe to give the short acting insulin.... she said she had a bad day!!!!!
its very unlikely to have dka in that short time in my opinion...thank you

 

[elainechi]

sorry just remembered she was going to be all night testing testing and stressing causing her bs to rise even quicker....all i know that she needed to calm down and think...

 

[CarbsRok]

hi you talking to me??????? if so at the time i replied a t1 unlikely to be having any more carbs at night and may be don.t til you get some short acting insulin....i presumed that she didn.t have an insulin pen or syringe to give the short acting insulin.... she said she had a bad day!!!!!
its very unlikely to have dka in that short time in my opinion...thank you

Hi Elaine,
having an insulin pump means only short acting insulin is used, the pump is programed to administer a set amount each hour to mimmic the persons basal needs, the other parts of the pump are programed to adminiter a bolus on comand at the right ratio same with corrections needed.

As this means there is no long acting insulin in use at all a pumper can go into DKA very quickly, ( in some cases 2 hours) So it's vital if a pump fails the pumper must start injecting insulin to mimic the pump as best they can and test test and test again.

That daughter of yours has been lucky, I suspect due to her team putting her on mixed insulin due to her complete non compliance. This is why they have refused her a pump amongst other reasons.

 

[elainechi]

to be honest jane is extremely lufky...she goes a couple of days without insulin and i mean NONE without any dka symptoms. awful to say but a bit of feeling really unwell with a drip in her arm and a night or so in hospital may shake her up a bit cos i keep trying and trying but can.t take much more

 

[CarbsRok]

to be honest jane is extremely lufky...she goes a couple of days without insulin and i mean NONE without any dka symptoms. awful to say but a bit of feeling really unwell with a drip in her arm and a night or so in hospital may shake her up a bit cos i keep trying and trying but can.t take much more

Hi Elaine,
sending you a ((((((((((hug))))))))))))))) it must be very hard for any parent to stand by and watch their child in self distruct mode :cry:
Have you been along to see your GP and explained to him what is going on and the effect it is having on you?

 

[elainechi]

gp aware...her diabetic team aware of how i feel.managed to get counselling for myself already on antidepressants!!!!!! no counselling or pych available to children even at school...cutbacks....all are waiting for first dka or complications......trouble is shes been told that she.ll go into a coma if bloods are 30 + for 2 weeks.... well she never did.so beleives nothing they say....tomorrows another day....x

 

[CarbsRok]

gp aware...her diabetic team aware of how i feel.managed to get counselling for myself already on antidepressants!!!!!! no counselling or pych available to children even at school...cutbacks....all are waiting for first dka or complications......trouble is shes been told that she.ll go into a coma if bloods are 30 + for 2 weeks.... well she never did.so beleives nothing they say....tomorrows another day....x

Your situation sounds just awfull
Another thought for you, if you haven't already done this is write her a letter and tell her exactly what she is doing to you. Ignore the if she doesn't do so and so she will get complications, just tell her what her actions have and are doing to you.