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Insulin Pump & BM Machines, any info??

A

alaric

Member
Messages
15
Hi all,
I posted a thread a short time ago where I asked for guidance on an insulin pump and how come I am a candidate, was put on a waiting list for one for 12 months and was then told I can't have one as it's a funding issue, anyway, I've been doing my research with a lot of help from some kind people on here and can hopefully tackle my supposed diabetes health specialists if and when they will grant me another appointment with some hard facts ( GOOGLE, INPUT & NICE thankyou very much!!! ).
However, following on from my Pump inquiries, my Practice Nurse told me that my BM Machine would not be suitable/would not work if I was on a Pump. I have a Bayer USB, which I have to say, is a superb bit of kit but as I got fed up of entering competitions & not winning, went and bought one ( Please no one tell me how you won a Bayer USB :evil: !!! ).
So, here's my question ( eventually, I hear you all sigh... ), if you are on a Pump, do you have a special BM Machine?. I am being fed continual false information from my ' Healthcare ' Team so are they telling the truth, will my BM Machine be of any use if I ever get a pump? and is there such a thing that perhaps could be attatched to you and give you a continual reading of your BG levels?. Apologies if this has been brought up before. Please, if you have a minute, could you help me out with some info?. Fore warned is fore armed!!.
 
Hi

You can use any bg meter you want with any pump but in order to access the bolus wizards which are on the pda you would obviously need the correct teststrips. The pumps are Medtronic Veo (Contour Link - Contour teststrips), Accu Chek Spirit Combo (Aviva Combo - Aviva testrips), Omnipod (Omnipod pda - Freestyle strips), Dana (Dana pda - Dana teststrips). Cellnovo (pda - TrueOne teststrips).

The only pump that doesnt as yet have a pda is the Animas 2020 so any bg meter will do.

Your DSN didn't explain things all that well to you so you can now go back and have a conflab.

Whatever pump you get, the pump companies will supply FOC the relevant bg pda that you will need.
 
Thanks iHs,
thats shed a bit more light. I didn't realise that a pump worked hand in hand with its own BM machine. Basically I need to gather as much info as I can with regards to a pump so that I can carry on with my seemingly never ending battle with my Diabetic Team, I think it could be time I got a 2nd opinion. Once again, many thanks!. :)
 
Hi alaric,


I use a accu-chek spirit combo which comes with its on bm machine. The bolus wizards are ok they just advise how much insulin to have when you enter the amount of carbs you having. I have used my xceed meter, which my dsn told me to use to monitor ketones if my bs ever go hi. I have used my xceed meter when my combo bm meter has run out of batteries.

So if you can work out your own carbs:insluin ratios it doesnt matter what bm machine you use. I was told to use which meter is good for you and your confidence in working out your ratios.

Josie
 
You can use any BG meter with any pump, but if you've got a pump that uses an inbuilt wizard where the wizard can download the blood glucose reading from the BG meter, then to use this facility you have to have the BG meter that is compatiable with the pump. If you haven't got a compatiable meter then you have to enter the blood glucose reading into the pump manually..

The spirit combo is slightly different, as it doesn't carry the wizard software on the pump, but uses the aviva expert blood glucose meter and it's this thats got all the wizard software on it. It works everything out on the blood glucose meter then tells the pump what to do.

The only other problem when you are using a non compatiable meter for your insulin pump, is with the managment software, if you've got a compatable meter and pump you can upload all your data to the computer management software, and view all results and use all the software facilities.. It just makes life easier..

I have the original spirit pump so the aviva expert blood glucose meter won't communicate with my pump, I could still use it though just mean's after the meter worked out my bolus, correction etc I would have to manually set my insulin pump to do it..

And do I really need the management software for my reading, not really as you always write everything down in the monitoring book anyway..
 
Wow thanks chaps, just the kind of info I'm after, I know I haven't got a pump and who knows, I may never have one but as they say, think lucky!. The more info I can get then the more 'ammo' I have to do battle ( figuratively speaking!! ). Once again, many many thanks!!. :D
 
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