Does anyone prefer MDI over pump?

[Unicorns_and_stuff]

Hi All,

I have recently been given the opportunity to have a Medtronic 780g pump and been on it a couple of weeks but I’m not convinced pump therapy is for me!

My control is pretty fair and I had never been offered a pump before however as I am in the pre conception clinic I was offered it!

I really don’t like being attached to it 24/7 and being more afraid of DKA! I still have to carry my insulin pens/test kit with me and the faff of putting a guardian 4 sensor on doesn’t seem worth it! It seems to work well when sugars are in control but anything over 10.0 will stay high for 4 hours or until I have to put fake carbs in to bring it down!

Has anyone else experienced a similar view?

 

[eventhorizon]

Hi.

You would need a crow bar to pry the pump out of my paws. I couldn't even imagine going back to MDI. Just the thought of it makes me feel a little anxious!

It will take a while to get everything settled into pump life and its steep learning curve but the benefits far outweigh the negs for me.

I am using the Tslim / Dexcom loop. Nothing has improved my diabetes life in 24 years more than this piece of tech.

 

[AndBreathe]

Hi All,

I have recently been given the opportunity to have a Medtronic 780g pump and been on it a couple of weeks but I’m not convinced pump therapy is for me!

My control is pretty fair and I had never been offered a pump before however as I am in the pre conception clinic I was offered it!

I really don’t like being attached to it 24/7 and being more afraid of DKA! I still have to carry my insulin pens/test kit with me and the faff of putting a guardian 4 sensor on doesn’t seem worth it! It seems to work well when sugars are in control but anything over 10.0 will stay high for 4 hours or until I have to put fake carbs in to bring it down!

Has anyone else experienced a similar view?

Unicorns, I'm neither T1, nor a pumper so have nothing specific to offer you except to say that I have watched many people settle into pumping over the years and for some, the early days are harder than had been anticipated. For almost all it becomes a distant bump in the road, once things settle.

Good luck with it all, and good luck with your conception plans.

 

[Tony337]

Hi
Type 1 in my 50th year.
The game changer for me was the libre.
Had it over 5 years hba1c of 40 and happy on MDI routine.

The libre gives me all the information i need and the thought of a pump fills me with dread.

We are all different and it makes this forum such a fascinating place.
I've noticed an awful lot of dissatisfaction with the libre on this forum recently yet i adore mine and wouldn't be without it.

I wish you well.

Tony

 

[Chas C]

It took me 10 years to overcome the fears, internal issues of having something connected to me. I only wish I knew then what I know now and I would not have wasted those 10 yrs saying no to a pump. I've been looping for 4 years and prior to that standard pumping for 8 yrs its the best thing I ever did.

 

[Juicyj]

Sorry but a couple of weeks and you will feel jittery, it's just a couple of weeks into a lifetime of pump therapy, expectations with pumps are incredibly high but you don't realise that after some work making adjustments that life can become so much better - ease off the gas and take your time, good control doesn't happen quickly, it takes time. Have you discussed this with your DSN and made any adjustments yet since starting ? Also have you tried doing any basal fasting tests yet ? As you will need to do this on an ongoing basis to tweak doses. Pumps require effort but it depends on your expectations, as I thought the same when I started but didn't realise that the first few weeks are the worst until ratios are adjusted and fine tuned.

Approx 6 years into pumping and I would never go back to MDI, ever !

 

[Antje77]

I'm on MDI by choice (although I'm not sure if I'd get a pump if I wanted one, I never asked).

There are a couple of reasons why I think I'd hate to be on a pump, and no reason to expect it would significantly improve my numbers. So at this point in life I'm happy with my pens, but things may of course change in the future.

 

[Nicola M]

Hi All,

I have recently been given the opportunity to have a Medtronic 780g pump and been on it a couple of weeks but I’m not convinced pump therapy is for me!

My control is pretty fair and I had never been offered a pump before however as I am in the pre conception clinic I was offered it!

I really don’t like being attached to it 24/7 and being more afraid of DKA! I still have to carry my insulin pens/test kit with me and the faff of putting a guardian 4 sensor on doesn’t seem worth it! It seems to work well when sugars are in control but anything over 10.0 will stay high for 4 hours or until I have to put fake carbs in to bring it down!

Has anyone else experienced a similar view?

I couldn't imagine my life without an insulin pump especially now I'm also hybrid-closed looping which by the sounds of things you are too. Given that you are only a couple of weeks in it's not surprising you havent got it all figured out yet as it can take some time to fine-tune everything. My biggest piece of advice though, is do not under any circumstances put fake carbs in to lower your blood sugar, as tempting as it might be that will mess with the algorithm and make things even harder down the road.

 

[SimonP78]

I use MDI, I don't see the appeal of a pump, but equally there is a fear of the unknown. One of my colleagues said he had similar concerns about going onto a pump but that he's very glad he did.

I wonder if those with pumps (and those without) could list some of the positives/negatives they see of moving to a pump (or not doing so)?

I have two (and a half) concerns:
* having a thing dangling from me (though having a libre is part way there I suppose),
* potential for failure of the technology (both in terms of more electronics which need to be charged/looked after/etc, and also canula sites)

 

[michelle88]

Everyone has different preferences. I'm one of those T1Ds who is happy being on MDI. I've tried an Omnipod before but I just couldn't get on with it. I didn't like having to change sites every three days and I wasn't happy with a plastic pod stuck on my body. And every time I changed sites, the first few hours I had terrible absorption and my BGs would spike so much. I've never had a pump with a cannula before but the thought of a pump occlusion stresses me out. That said, I know many love their pumps. I love my Dexcom G7 and pens

 

[Juicyj]

@SimonP78 I too had a fear of the unknown and handing my control over to an automated device, it was literally like putting your life in this tiny device's hands as far as I was concerned, however although control on MDI was ok, I was micro managing my control and it was burning me out, I am a working mum aside from t1d and trying to juggle all the balls at once was incredibly hard, I was tired, depressed, but was willing to try anything as I knew control was important otherwise all the balls would come crashing down, I also didn't like the idea of being tethered to something either. It took me a good 3 months to find my feet, but once you see stable levels, better control you sort of wonder why you didn't do it sooner, in regards to expectations I did think I would get great control pretty quickly but you do go through a period of questioning everything and wanting the old familiar, however with better control comes less burnout, improved sleep, ability to manage different situations more easily and less micro managing.

@michelle88 Sorry to hear about your Omnipod experience, have heard this happen quite alot with the pods, sometimes the Omnipod isn't the right solution but there are other pumps available, I use steel tips cannula sets so it's very rare to get an occlusion and then I get an alarm if I do so can be easily corrected, set changes don't affect my BG levels though and I always have pen back ups if there was a failure, it's just finding the right solution to suit you.

 

[Nicola M]

I use MDI, I don't see the appeal of a pump, but equally there is a fear of the unknown. One of my colleagues said he had similar concerns about going onto a pump but that he's very glad he did.

I wonder if those with pumps (and those without) could list some of the positives/negatives they see of moving to a pump (or not doing so)?

I have two (and a half) concerns:
* having a thing dangling from me (though having a libre is part way there I suppose),
* potential for failure of the technology (both in terms of more electronics which need to be charged/looked after/etc, and also canula sites)

I was terrified of going on a pump, especially knowing I was going to be tethered to a machine 24/7 it just didn't seem like it was going to work for me. 9 years down the line though and I do chuckle thinking back, 99% of the time I forget I am tethered to a machine until it screams at me for one thing or another.

I think failures are probably few and far between, I mean like with anything even MDI things can go wrong but that is also why you have a back-up plan for if something does go wrong. In my 9 years of pumping I've never had a failure that resulted in anything "bad" happening and with Medtronic at least if you report a failure, even minor ones they'll ship a new pump out to you the next day so you're never really without. Canula sites are easy I mean you have them in for less time than a CGM anyway and so if you can wear one of those a cannula will be nothing, if you pull it out it's easy to just pop another back in and if for some reason your cannula isn't working properly its very easy to pick up on that and correct it before it becomes serious.