What qualifies you for a pump? Does dawn phenomenon? Does being registered sight impaired? Would be grateful for comments as not getting much help elsewhere
If you are living in England, the criteria are defined by NICE.
This paper says:
Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion or ‘insulin pump’ therapy is recommended as a possible treatment for adults and children 12 years and over with type 1 diabetes mellitus if:
- attempts to reach target haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels with multiple daily injections result in the person having ‘disabling hypoglycaemia’,
or
- HbA1c levels have remained high (8.5% or above) with multiple daily injections (including using long-acting insulin analogues if appropriate) despite the person and/or their carer carefully trying to manage their diabetes.
My advice would be to talk to your diabetes team (e.g. DSN) as they can "adapt" these guidelines.
Yes it does very much depend on what your local hospital's criteria is - personally I got mine based on the fact that my t1d was affecting my quality of life, as I was putting alot of work into keeping my levels in range, my DSN put me forward for funding based on this. It really does help to have a good relationship with your DSN to enable you to work with them and have a strong case, also be prepared for set backs too, my first approach for funding was declined but we persevered and second time round I got approval. If you struggling with DP then a pump would help with adjusting ratios over this timeframe to manage it.
Thank you so much! I would never consider a pump at all but now I think it would definitely benefit me. Because of poor vision I find it so hard to. Inject out of the house and also the dp is constant. I will ask my dsn, got to be worth a try!
