children and insulin pumps

[michellecross]

Hi there, can anyone give me some advice please. My son is 3 and was diagnosed at type 1, 3 months ago.As you can imagine he hates having his injections done.And although I am strong in front of him it breaks my heart when he is begging me please mummy dont do it
I have done a bit of reading about Insulin pumps but could you give me some advice if this is a good or bad thing for a child of his age. If it is not possible on the NHS, I am willing to pay if it will benefit him and stop him getting so upset on a daily basis.

Thanks

A desperate mum in need x

 

[elaine38]

My 9 year old daughter was given the opportunity to try a pump but as soon as she had it fitted she got really upset and asked them to remove it, she said it really hurt. Part of the problem was that she cannot tolerate injections in her tummy. I was really disappointed, I had hoped that it would make things easier. Like you we were prepared to pay for the pump if need be, we had heard such good things about them.
Sorry I can't offer any more advice. Have you spoken to your diabetes nurse abouth the injection problem?

 

[jabba]

hi there

I am going onto a pump in a couple of weeks but it hasnt been easy getting there, you have to jump through a lot of hoops as it costs the NHS quite a lot and i'm not sure how you stand regarding buying it for yourself? (you can ask but you still need them to give you the back up)
The main problem you might have is the duration your son has had diabetes, 3 months is not long although it may feel a lifetime as i can imagine how hard it is for you to jab the poor little guy, is he on 2 or 4 jabs a day? as he's newly diagnosed it may only be 2 but to be considered for a pump I think at least 4 a day is the norm?
Your best bet is to get enroled onto a DAPHNE course or if possible some sort of carb counting course as this is something you will have to do and fully understand, next would be to see if your team do any glucose monitoring although this does involve a sensor with a rather large needle on it to get a canula in,, also if you can get a copy of pumping insulin by john walsh as this is full of useful info which will not only be invaluable in controlling his D but also will give you loads of ammo when you approach the D team asking about pumping..
Puumping also is not an easy straight forward process it involves loads of blood testing and time to get right and as said before I am not sure how you stand with it being such early days??
I really hope the above helps and that you can find your way to helping your son as best possble, just keep on at them and jump through their hoops, if your still not getting any joy can you register at another hosp D clinic? remember the squeaky wheel gets the grease !!
good luck
Ps also if you find your son suffers a lot of Hypo's tell them and keep telling them, it's a biggie towards pump therapy.
and to add some more I just remembered when I went in the other day (clinic) they had a minimed teddy called lenny the lion or something and he was covered in pump infusion sets that they use to train children so obviously the kids do get these things....

 

[diabetesmum]

Hi there,

Both my daughters (aged 6 and 13) are on pumps. If you would like to PM me I would be happy to answer any questions about our experiences.

Basically, getting a pump depends on your postcode to a great extent. We are in Glos and they have been doing pumps for children for a couple of years now. However I know that before that, one of the local families paid for their son's pump and the PCT agreed to fund the 'consumables'. Now he is fully funded like everyone else of course.

There is really no lower age for going onto a pump. In other countries (eg France I was told), newly diagnosed babies are put straight on to pumps. I think there is a great deal to be said for going straight onto the pump as that way you don't have to 'unlearn' the way of doing things that you have learnt on basal/bolus or other injection regimes. It is quite a different mindset on the pump. So I would not let your child's age or the short time since diagnosis put you off going for a pump.

Jabba is right, going onto the pump is quite a lot of hard work up front, lots of BG testing (including thru the night) for a few days, and you have to demonstrate that you are all clued up about carbohydrate counting. Our clinic ran a 2 session course to train us up. However once you have the carb/insulin ratios and insulin sensitivity worked out, life becomes easier and provided you keep your eye on the ball, as it were, in my opinion the child's quality of life is much better. My 6 yr old hated injections, and now she only has one needle once every 2 days, which is so much better. Occasionally it hurts putting the infusion set in but once it has settled down after a coupple of mins it's fine.

Anyway I've burbled on for long enough, the best bet is to raise it with your clinic and see what the funding position is in your area. And as I said if you want to PM me, please feel free.

Regards,
Sue