Insulin Pump

[Ca2910]

I am going on a pump trial next week( accu chek avivia combo pump ) and I want to know about how it works ...
I have one question about the pump... Does the pump give you fast acting insulin and background insulin
Or does it only give you fast?
This keeps confusing me ... My nurse sends me loads of information packs and it does not mention it ...

 

[nathan92]

Yes just fast acting and u will not need the background any more. I started on the pump in December 2013 I love it and it works great


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[Ca2910]

So what is the pump like , what changes will I notice and does the pump help more with control of BG

 

[novorapidboi26]

you still require a quick acting meal time dose and a continuous background dose, the pump can do both at the same time.........

so you will program in your background delivery rate, for example, 1 unit an hour.......this will likely turn out to be many rates over different times of the day..........its this delivery of basal that makes control much more accurate.......you will eventually be getting the exact amount of background that you need, which in turn allows you to achieve accurate mealtime/bolus doses........

overall this means less insulin going in that you would of been previously used to with injections.....this for me was the most noticeable change......

 

[nathan92]

The hospital will program the pump for your hourly doses but u will need to do your meal time bolus each time u eat. It's very user friendly and with me it has helped keep my bg under control and I use to hypo a lot and now well I have had 2 since being on the pump. Yeas it helps very well with bg controll .


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[Beth_Robinson]

Basically it gives you a tiny amount of insulin every few mins as a background dose (You programme this yourself; it will change depending on how much insulin you need at different times of the day and normally requires a bit of trial and error) Then, every time you have a meal, you will carb count, and give yourself more insulin like you would with injections. It affects your life a bit in the first few weeks but you honestly get used to it, tbh I don't notice it most of the time. You can just shove it in a pocket or get a clip to clip it on jeans or whatever.. You can take it off sometimes for sport/showering but it's pretty durable; mine's never broken and I've dropped it enough. It's fine to sleep with and really does help overall. It's just that quite a lot of effort needs to be put in in the first couple of weeks to make sure it's all good Hope this helpss, message me if you want to know nything else

 

[cure_diabetes]

I hope it all goes well and that the pump helps you xx