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Message: <blockquote data-quote="etmsreec" data-source="post: 2753976" data-attributes="member: 22426">Hi,I don’t have the issue of needle phobia, though I am aware of it.  I would expect it to be very debilitating for a type 1.  For what it’s worth, you have my sympathy.For me, your needle phobia and the consequent difficulty on getting bloods and doing injections would be a reason to put you on the list for a pump as quickly as possible.  The Omnipod, for example, is a device that is stuck on the skin and delivers up to 200 units of insulin over the three days that it stays on.  There’s no separate basal injection, the short acting in the pump is dripped in as a background insulin.  There’s cannula inserts automatically when starting the pod, which might be better as one doesn’t see the cannula when applying or starting it.  Would that help?Libre 2 is being phased out in favour of Libre 2 Plus, which runs for 15 days instead of 14, and works with Omnipod 5 for looping.If it helps, the Dexcom One is the same price for the NHS as the Libre 2, and it has the advantage that no needle or fibre is seen when applying the sensor.  The applicator is quite chunky, but if not seeing the insertion needle helps then perhaps discuss with your team?  The Dexcom One is prescribable by the GP.  Dexcom One and Dexcom G6 can be calibrated, too, whereas Libre cannot - if the Libre’s wrong then it will stay wrong until the sensor gets changed.  One may do a finger prick blood test and tell the Dexcom what the blood value is if what the sensor is reporting is not consistent with what the user is feeling (e.g. sensor saying hypo when the user is thirsty and frequently urinating.My final point would be why are your team doing bloods if you have a needle phobia?  You have been out of hospital for a month and, presumably, wearing a glucose sensor for a month?  The Time in Range (also known as time in target, but that’s not so nice an abbreviation) is now taken as a better indication of diabetic control.  HbA1c can be skewed by a lot of time high or hypo, whereas this will show up in the TIR figures.  If you are able to apply and change the sensors then they should be using that.  Point of reference: I’m on Dapsone, which kills off red cells at an accelerated rate, so the HbA1c is worthless.  My diabetes team just use the CGM (sensor) details.</blockquote>

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