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Having to choose a pump now

S

SophiaW

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,015
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Our diabetic nurse has emailed through some links so that I can look over the pumps available and make a decision. She will visit us with the pumps so that we can see them and have a play. But in the meantime I need to look at the websites to help me make a decision.

The three she's linked are Animas 2020, Accu-check Combo and Medtronic Veo.

Please help me to make an informed decision. If you have experience of any of these pumps please let me know what you do and don't like about them. I know each will have advantages and disadvantages so I'd like to be a little better informed when I make a decision. There's no better way of knowing a pump than from hearing from those who have first hand experience of using them.

I've read the websites and feel that I have a fairly good understanding of each pump now. But commercial sites always talk about the advantages of their product but seldom talk about the little problems that might be experienced in the day to day use of their products. For example I found the other thread on this forum interesting about air bubbles in the Accu-check pump.
 
Sophie

Yr dsn should by rights, show you each pump before you make a decision. No one should be asked to make a choice just from looking on the internet :?: :cry:

For kids I think personally that the Animas is probably good as it has a clear display and the reservoirs are easy to fill without any bubbles. The infusion sets such as the Inset II are very easy to put in and the adhesive is not very wide. Your little girl will have no trouble at all with putting in a set and will be able to also chose a colour that she wants. The tubes are also mat which is easy to see insulin travelling through it as you prime. Accu Chek's are shiny so not so easy.

The only reason why I went for the Combo is because of the bluetooth remote as I wanted to hide the pump in my bra and didn't fancy the idea of having to fish it out all the time to bolus. Your little girl will probably not need a bra for a few more years :lol:

I think you need to try and meet up with other pump users at your hospital and see for yourself in real life what the pumps are really like.
 
Thanks for the reply :) Our nurse will be bringing the pumps around for us to take a look at, but in the meantime she emailed through the websites so that I could have a head start with reading up on the different features of each pump.

Another question I have is that my daughter does swimming lessons. The lessons that she does with school last around 45 minutes. Can she disconnect a pump for 45 minutes without any problems or is 30 mins the max time that the pump should be disconnected.

The feature we do like about the Accu-check is the remote. She does like to wear dresses so this would make it a lot simpler for her. But if we're going to experience bubble problems when I think the importance of having a remote seems less necessary. She can always get used to wearing skirts and tops instead.
 
I have disconnected for around an hour when having a shower so going swimming will be no problem. Yr daughter can bolus a small amount of insulin before she disconnects in any case if she finds that her bg levels tend to go up, or bolus a correction when she reconnects. The choice will be up to you and yr daughter and how she copes bg wise when taking part in exercise.

The Animas pump is waterproof up to a certain depth. As long as she swims along the surface and doesn't go diving, she will be able to put the pump inside her cossy :)

My friend went swimming with her Animas. Medtronic and Acccu Chek you will need to disconnect.
 
I wish the Animas did a remote, it appears to tick all the other boxes for us.
 
It doesn't matter which pump you use, you still can get air bubble issues..

We did a survey on the insulin-pumpers site, as one of the members does work with sastitics, so compiled the data collected..

Basic out come, was that all makes of pumps got air bubbles, they was no identifiable difference in type of insulin used, and technique helped but didn't make an over lot of difference to whether an individual suffered problems or not..

As comparing pumps..

Bolus

Most pumps now deliver the same dose, so not the issue it used to be..

Basal

Can the basal be changed every hour or every 30 minutes, this for some can make a difference in control..

Screen

Is it easy to read?

I know that the Animas has colour where as the old spirit pump not sure about the combo, has fine text and not brillient contrast, so can be difficult to read the information..

Menu

How easy is using the menu on the pump, more so if a child and other adults/carers might have to help with the pump

Wizards

Again this used to be an issue, but all the above generally include similar wizards now..

Canular's

What range of infusions set's are available, what type of locking device.. Some pumps you are totally restricted to there infusions sets due to the locking device..

A pump user a luner lock can use other manufactuer's luner lock infusion sets..

Delivery motor meginisum (sp), for most this doesn't make a difference, but there are an old few where it does, seems to be mainly those that are very insulin sensitive..

Some pumps will deliver basal or square/multi-wave bolus, continusally a screw thread type action..

Other pumps such as the spirit/combo deliver the basal and bolus in a shunt motion, a delivery every minute! i.e the programed basal of an hour will be divided equally and delivered every minute..

Main features for the above pumps

Animas 2020, colour screen

Spirit Combo has a remote control, that also include the blood glucose meter and all the wizards

Med Veo.. This incorpartes an CGM within the pump, not funded under the NHS but can self fund if needed..

Even though I can't give a report on the individual pumps, hopefully the information what I and many pumpers would be looking at in a pump will help a bit
 
The only thing I could add, is that out of hours the Accuchek Combo Pump people are always there and you get to speak to someone who knows what they are talking about. A call centre person take the call and passes it on to a diabetic pumping nurse who calls you back within minutes. Not a problem when you get used to a pump but the first couple of weeks I found were a bit scary and I phoned them twice at weekends. They were lovely and took me through exacly what to do over the phone and put my mind at ease. I knew my DSN would know first thing on the Monday morning that I had to contact Accuchek as they send your DSN an email.
Only a small little bit of help, but it was there...don't thinks ome of the other pump manufacturers do this?????
 
Thanks everyone for your replies :) Our DSN is coming to see us in just over a week so that we can look at and play with the pumps and have a good chat. Good customer support is invaluable to have, I have heard a few people praise the Accu-chek pump for that now.

Being able to read the screen with ease is important, my daughter and I should cope well but my husband can have difficulty in the wrong lighting conditions sometimes.

Jo, thanks for all that info, it gives us a lot to think about and some questions to ask when we see our DSN.
 
Just an update...

We saw our diabetes nurse yesterday and she brought along three different pumps and some infusion sets for us to take a look at and play with. It was an interesting morning. The infusion cannula and needle wasn't as big as I had thought it would be. I don't think Jess will have any problems with inserting those but of course closer to the time we'll let her try out the different ones and see which she preferres for comfort etc.

Initially my husband liked the Accu-chek because of it's remote feature. I really like that idea too. But I liked the built in customisable menu that the Animas offers. I feel this feature will help Jess to become more independent with her diabetes. When she's out or at a friend's house for tea she'll be able to work out roughly the carb content of her meal with help from the menu. After we had a chance to play with the pumps and work through their menu's both my husband and I preferred the Animas pump. We found it to be very intuitive and easy for us to both navigate our way around.

Our nurse left the Animas pump with us so that Jess can have a play with it when she got home from school. I showed Jess the bolus menu and how you can either input the number of units you want, or use the built in menu to select foods, add your BG reading and let it suggest a bolus for you. I only needed to show her once and she was away, like she'd been using it for weeks. She was able to navigate her way around the menus with very little help and has taken to it so well. For each meal and snack she's input the bolus onto the pump as though using it for real. She also slept with the pump last night to see how that would go and said she had a comfortable sleep.

We'll have this loan pump for a few days which is a great opportunity for Jess to get used to it. We plan to have made a decision by the weekend as to which pump we want but I think so far it's pretty much decided on the Animas pump, in pink of course. When the new pump arrives (still a long way off as the paperwork and funding needs to be done now) Jess has decided that it will be her "pet" that helps with her diabetes and she's thinking up a name to call it.

It was beneficial to meet with the nurse and look at the pumps first hand but I think the most reassuring thing I got from yesterday is Jess' reaction to the pump and how easily she's taken to it. I did have concerns about how well she'd cope with having the pump on her 24/7 but so far she hasn't wanted to leave it out of her sight.
 
Hi

For kids I think the Animas is a good choice. The Inset II is very easy to put in and your daughter will be able to do it with no problem.

While you wait for the funding to go through, get yourself a free sample spray of Lift Plus from Opus Healthcare Essex. It makes the removal of the adhesive set easy to pull off the skin.

Good luck - Enjoy :wink: :)
 
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