Exploring a pump and have some questions

[LaughingHyena]

At my hospital appointment last week both the consultant and dsn suggested that a pump would be worth thinking about as I've been struggling wiht keeping my levels, well level, for quite a while now. We did talk through a few tweeks to my current ratios to see if we can improve things but I'm going back to talk about pump specifics in a few weeks. There is a pump courseI would need to go on first but there is one in May so I;m kind of hoping I won't need to wait long.

I've been given the names of two pumps, the accu check combo and the animas vibe which are their prefered options, I could look at others but unless there is a good reason not to I think I'd prefer to go with one the support team are familar with.

As well as thoughts on the individual pumps I have a few questions.

Firstly how easy is it for the canula to get pulled out. I'm slighltly nervous of my little boy managing to pull it out for me when I go to pick him up and stuff.

If you unplug the tubing for a shower or swimming or whatever does it hurt if it gets knocked?

I'm also a little worried about the inserter thingies, I have not got on with the pen needles that "fire", even the finger pricker I have to pysc my self up for. Can you insert the canulas without an inserter? I think I'd prefer that.

 

[Trina]

Firstly I can only say that the pump has changed my life. Totally liberating.. Secondly for me the rep from Animas came to my home and demonstrated the Animas pump and he was the only person that actually showed any interest and, must admit I was really impressed, only issue was that my hospital really only supported the Accuchek. The plus side I find is the fact that you can operate everything Bluetooth the handheld device, so from a female point of view this was totally convenient. As for the insertion and removal of the cannula, I find it is far easier than injections and less painful. I hope this helps

 

[Trina]

Firstly I can only say that the pump has changed my life. Totally liberating.. Secondly for me the rep from Animas came to my home and demonstrated the Animas pump and he was the only person that actually showed any interest and, must admit I was really impressed, only issue was that my hospital really only supported the Accuchek. The plus side I find is the fact that you can operate everything Bluetooth the handheld device, so from a female point of view this was totally convenient. As for the insertion and removal of the cannula, I find it is far easier than injections and less painful. I hope this helps

 

[iHs]

When I first got my Combo pump I was very happy and all the teething problems that I had I thought that everything would be ironed out but now that Ive had a pump for nearly 3 years I only like using it when it behaves itself and my bg levels remain stable. Sadly my bg levels change so a pump has kept me on my toes all the time doing bg tests and changing basal rates as needed,
Often infusion sets fail to absorb insulin correctly so thats anoter reason why bg tests always need to be done and also occlusions can also happen and often this happens in the middle of the night. All a pump is is an alternative to injecting insulin by pen or syringe but no one should kid themselves.