Initial Pump Referral

Wouldn't like to give you false hope Dan as the time it can take can vary, I waited about 3 months but I've seen others say it took as long as 6 months.

Anyway good luck and hope you get approval.

It took me 3 months to initially get on the pump from being referred for one.

I waited a total of 13 months from referral to pump start date.
I am in wales and it is partly down to staffing issues in my CCG.

hope you get yours quickly !!!!

July (approval from consultant) to August (funding approved) to October (pump start) in my case. But that July came after years of wanting, and 6 months after really being able to engage with my clinic specifically about pumping.

Worth the wait, @Dan87 , although I hope it's not a long one, obv!

it took me 3 and half years to fight for an insulin pump, when i got told I could go on a pump I started the next day.

Dan87 said:

Thanks for the replies. At least the process has started which could end with me getting one

Was it important to really fight your case as to why you should get funding for one? If so, I'll potentially go with the argument that I have ups (sedentary desk job 8 hours a day) and the lows (playing football for 90 mins on a Sat, and for 60 mins 1-2 times midweek).

On that note, can you take the pump off for 90 mins or is that too long?

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When I started pump I was told to only disconnect for up to an hour. I had to explain why it would benefit me and they didn't think it would from the reasons I gave. My consultant now changes his mind and thinks it has benefited me.

Dan87 said:

Thanks for the replies. At least the process has started which could end with me getting one

Was it important to really fight your case as to why you should get funding for one? If so, I'll potentially go with the argument that I have ups (sedentary desk job 8 hours a day) and the lows (playing football for 90 mins on a Sat, and for 60 mins 1-2 times midweek).

On that note, can you take the pump off for 90 mins or is that too long?

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As with everything in diabetes, your diabetes may vary! I find that football will raise my blood sugars, something to do with adrenaline response, so 90 minute match with no insulin would result in very high sugars for me

Dan87 said:

(playing football for 90 mins on a Sat, and for 60 mins 1-2 times midweek).

On that note, can you take the pump off for 90 mins or is that too long?

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@Dan87 I don't do contact sports like football so I'm not sure how at risk is would be as a piece of hardware, but to be honest I wouldn't be keen to remove my pump - I'd want it tucked safely away of course, but doing its job of infusing insulin.

The reason for this is that when I exercise (I run, cycle and swim) I need insulin to just not go sky high. I do lower my basal rate for during exercise to between 50% and 70% of full whack, depending on what I'm doing, but immediately after stopping (like, IMMEDIATELY) I set a basal rate of 130% to 150% or I'm in the teens for the rest of the day. That's the only way I find I don't go low during exercise and high after.

To swim I remove my pump (about 40 mins, for swim, steam room and shower), but I always bolus half a unit half an hour before I swim, and raise my basal for a couple of hours afterwards, or I'd be high all day. I can maintain a straight line by doing this, but that's less time than 90 minutes.

But as I say, I'm not sure quite how 'down and dirty' things get during contact sports! @brighty14 is an international futsal player - can't remember if he's a pumper though. Brighty?

Referral generally takes more time. Keep in mind a six months window and yes it can be removed easily

Best of luck

Snapsy said:

@Dan87 I don't do contact sports like football so I'm not sure how at risk is would be as a piece of hardware, but to be honest I wouldn't be keen to remove my pump - I'd want it tucked safely away of course, but doing its job of infusing insulin.

The reason for this is that when I exercise (I run, cycle and swim) I need insulin to just not go sky high. I do lower my basal rate for during exercise to between 50% and 70% of full whack, depending on what I'm doing, but immediately after stopping (like, IMMEDIATELY) I set a basal rate of 130% to 150% or I'm in the teens for the rest of the day. That's the only way I find I don't go low during exercise and high after.

To swim I remove my pump (about 40 mins, for swim, steam room and shower), but I always bolus half a unit half an hour before I swim, and raise my basal for a couple of hours afterwards, or I'd be high all day. I can maintain a straight line by doing this, but that's less time than 90 minutes.

But as I say, I'm not sure quite how 'down and dirty' things get during contact sports! @brighty14 is an international futsal player - can't remember if he's a pumper though. Brighty?

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I'm not currently a pumper @Snapsy but it could be on my agenda. After a revisit to the diabetes and sports clinic I may be on the case for. Having just gone through using the libre for the first time I learnt a lot !! Not sure how I managed without it before

brighty14 said:

Not sure how I managed without it before

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Me neither! It's fabulous!

Oooooh exciting, @Dan87 !

I don't have experience of any of your shortlisted pumps, so no advice to give! I love being a pumper, I love my pump (it's an Insight), and I'm sure that whichever pump you go for you will never look back!

Dan87 said:

Considering I play football twice a week (once competitively for 90 mins), should this be pushing me towards the Omnipod?

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TBH I don't know, although the Pods can withstand knocks I'm not sure how one would cope in a heavy tackle say, that said if the Pod did come away you could always replace it during or after the match (as its always best to carry a spare pod when away from home).

Good luck @Dan87

Dan87 said:

I never contemplated having spares, so if the pod got damaged it's not an expensive thing to replace? Whereas if I had a medtronic and it got damaged, that's thousands of pounds worth of damage, right?

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The cost of the Pods depend on the buying power of the NHS Trust concerned (so I was told), but I believe the cost of the Pods are roughly around £20 or below, if one was knocked off during a contact sport then you'd just replace it at no cost to yourself.

Not sure about the cost of a Medtronic Pump or whether any damage to the pump would be covered by insurance whilst participating in a sport, hopefully other pump users will answer this for you.

My diabetes clinic asked me to make sure the pump (Medtronic 640g) was covered as a separate item on house insurance. Whether household insurance would cover damage caused by sporting activity is probably down to the insurance company, and worth asking them.

Most trusts will ask anyone with a pump to make sure it's insured. Check with your contents insurance that it can be added and what the deal would be if damaged during sport. Or there's an insulin pump insurance company for about £7.50 a month.

I've used both an omnipod and a Medtronic 640. I really loved my omnipod, I'm not overly enamoured with the Medtronic. I think both have pluses and minuses for sport. With the Medtronic you've, obviously, got to be carrying round the pump with you, so you need to figure out a comfortable way to be carrying it round when playing. There's lots of pump belts around which should make that easy. With an omnipod you aren't carrying anything around, it's just stuck on so you don't need to think about it. Although you might need to think about where to site it so it's ok for sport, mine didn't much like being on my legs when I went for a run, and it fared better in my tummy if out in really cold weather - the pods can get too cold to work. Then the Medtronic, if you have the sensors, has a predictive low suspend feature where if it thinks you're going to hypo it will suspend insulin delivery - I think this works best for exercise.

If you're thinking about an omnipod do ask to trial a dummy omnipod to see if you're happy with a pod stuck to you. And you should really ask the DSN to hold/touch/poke/press the buttons of/have a general fiddle with all of the pumps that you have to choose from. That should be the thing that helps you most in making the choice.