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HELP! Coming off pump back to pens for a while

AlexandraMarnie89

AlexandraMarnie89

Well-Known Member
Some people may be aware that I've had a really bad experience with my pump over the last couple of weeks. I ended up with really bad cellulitis from one of my sites, got DKA and had to have surgery to remove the infection from my leg over the weekend as a result I really don't feel comfortable using my pump at the moment and want to go back to pens. Unfortunately my DSN is currently off so I'm unable to speak to them about switching back for a few weeks. I was wondering if anyone has done this and managed to have good control doing it? I can't remember if for my basal rate when I went onto the pump I went up by 25% or down by 25% from the amour of Lantus I was taking
 
Hi

I think you will need t o roughly add 25% more insulin to yr pen from pump dose and use a bit of trial and error with getting the basal balanced up ok with the bolus and decide whether to use once daily or twice daily basal to get the stability ok.
I hope yr leg gets on the mend and fully understand why you've decided to give pumps a break for a while. I'd be doing the same.
 
I hope you're recovering ok after your horrible experience. That was really unlucky for you - and sounds very unpleasant.

I've never gone back to pens, but my total insulin dropped by approx 25% when I went on the pump. I don't remember the exact details for the basal but the drop was around 20-25%.

Could you speak to another DSN for advice?
 
Thanks, I'm in a lot of pain! I didn't realise how deep the infection had gone until I went to have the packing changed today and actually saw it! I've been old I pretty much need to be on complete test because if it gets infected again I could lose my leg! scared the **** out of me! How they expect me to be able to rest as a single mum of a really rough 5 year old boy I don't know! I'm going to do a post about it for JDRF because I never knew that a pump could cause anything like this! If I'd have been more aware I would have got it seen to sooner and maybe wouldn't be this bad.

I've taken a guess at my insulin. If I did the 25% rule then I'd be take 36 units of Lantus but I was only on 21 pre pump so it seems way too much. I've gone with a split dose of 14 in morning and 12 at night for now. See how that goes!
azure said:
I hope you're recovering ok after your horrible experience. That was really unlucky for you - and sounds very unpleasant.

I've never gone back to pens, but my total insulin dropped by approx 25% when I went on the pump. I don't remember the exact details for the basal but the drop was around 20-25%.

Could you speak to another DSN for advice?
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@AlexandraMarnie89 Totally awful : ( I really hope your getting good medical support and meds that can help with the pain.

It must be really hard with your little boy. I hope you can get family and friends to help. Don't struggle on when you should rest. I know how tempting it is when you're a parent.

Take care xx
 
azure said:
@AlexandraMarnie89 Totally awful : ( I really hope your getting good medical support and meds that can help with the pain.

It must be really hard with your little boy. I hope you can get family and friends to help. Don't struggle on when you should rest. I know how tempting it is when you're a parent.

Take care xx
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Can you believe the ward sent me home with no pain meds?!!! I had to fight with my gp surgery to get anything!

Unfortunately my mum is going away tomorrow so I'm gonna have to man up!
 
No, I can't believe that : O

Don't try to man up and put yourself at risk. In this case, 'manning up' is resting as told, even though it's tempting not to when you have things to do. Your little boy is old enough to understand you're not well.

Think about it as resting being the best way to speed up your recovery :)
 
Yep! And they wrote my meds up wrong on Sunday night/Monday morning putting that I'd had paracetamol and codine at half 7 when I'd only had codine and it was at 4:30! so then the day staff wouldn't give me anything because it was charted that I'd had some! I keep trying to upload a photo to gross everyone out but it says the file is too big so I guess that's lucky for you

I'll try my best to rest!
 
mahola said:
Blinking Nora, you aint half been through it. Hope you're on your way to recovery and please rest as much as possible. I know it's hard with your boy but you need to be well again for both of you. Leave the housework!! xx
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I know! Definitely not what I was expecting to happen when I posted about it being a bit sore last week! I'm really paranoid even about doing injections now as well X
 
AlexandraMarnie89 said:
Some people may be aware that I've had a really bad experience with my pump over the last couple of weeks. I ended up with really bad cellulitis from one of my sites, got DKA and had to have surgery to remove the infection from my leg over the weekend as a result I really don't feel comfortable using my pump at the moment and want to go back to pens. Unfortunately my DSN is currently off so I'm unable to speak to them about switching back for a few weeks. I was wondering if anyone has done this and managed to have good control doing it? I can't remember if for my basal rate when I went onto the pump I went up by 25% or down by 25% from the amour of Lantus I was taking
Click to expand...
after 18years on pumps I returned to pens because of canula rejections am unable to use pumps anymore was concerned about managing the change but has turned out for the better as my blood sugars are now predictable and I can generally keep between 4 & 7mml also its a lot off me financially as pumping in Australia is not cheap usually costing around $350 per month for the consumables I am using Levimer for my Basal I find this to be a very stable insulin, I feel sure you will manage OK takes a while to fine tune your basal insulin needs
 
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