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New to Insulin Pump

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 83869
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Deleted member 83869

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Hello, I am going on the insulin pump on the 9th October and well I am rather scared but excited at the same time! Anyone got any tips or advice please Oh I am a 19 year old girl btw Thank you
 
No tips yet, I'm in the same boat. I get mine next week and go "live" on the 7th. Are you trialling with saline first or starting straight away with the insulin?

I've chosen the animas, hope I don't regret the lack of remote but I felt I'd probably spend all my time looking for it :lol: how about you?

I know what you mean about excited and nervous, 'm really looking forward to getting more stable levels (especially in the morning when I'm usually high) but I am worried about having the pump attached all the time. Most people seem to say they adapt fairly quickly, hope I do too.
 
ah! I think I am going straight onto the insulin! Im getting the Accu Chek Aviva Combo! I'm more worried about it hurting and getting it ripped out etc! I just hope it helps to improve my control as I always have a high Hba1c! :/
 
Hi

I have the Combo pump. I think you will find using a pump fairly life changing as its ability to control your blood sugar levels far better will greatly depend on getting the settings correct and this can only be done with any accuracy, by testing bg levels every 2-3 hrs. Failure to test may well result in the pump not being able to deliver the correct amount of insulin. The pump does not magically control bg levels by itself and needs frequent bg testing to get the best from it ...... it involves getting the basal rates correct to stabilise bg levels to be a certain level which ideally is 6mmol so lots of times when you cant eat any carb or protein and just eat sugarfree jelly, diet coke or weak black coffee so that the basal rates can be set. After that comes the insulin to carb ratios being set correctly and the correction factor to lower bg levels if they have gone too high.

The infusion sets supplied by Accu chek are well made and don't protrude on the skin and are fairly straightforward to insert so don't worry about that aspect.

There's a lot to using a pump but try and take it in your stride as it can take time (many months) before all the problems get ironed out.
 
Hi, I already have the BG metre for the combo have had that for months now, so I know how that works and stuff!

This may sound stupid but would the pump be pretty much the same as a sliding scale that you get put on in hospital?
 
NicolaAnne1994 said:
Hi, I already have the BG metre for the combo have had that for months now, so I know how that works and stuff!

This may sound stupid but would the pump be pretty much the same as a sliding scale that you get put on in hospital?
Click to expand...


Sort of yes but sort of no as well. Very few diabetics who get put on sliding scale will have perfect bg levels no matter what because the rate at which insulin will lower bg levels by is done by a scale (which might not be correct unless frequent bg is done to determine whether the scale is correct or not. Also the cannula is put in a vein whereas an infusion set cannula is inserted in the skin so insulin works a bit slower than in a vein.

I didn't do wonderfully well on sliding scale as my bg levels were jumping about too much so nurse was glad to disconnect me and let me go back to injections again and do my own thing.
 
I've only ever been on sliding scale when I have been in hospital with dka and my sugars are always perfect and as soon as I come off of it the are all over the place again :/
 
Good advice already by ihs. Also using the accu chek combo. Such a big difference from mdi. Important from the start to ensure hourly basal rates are correct, then work on bolus ratios. Alot of effort required at the start but well worth it.

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Hello, I have used a pump for the past 12 years and it has been the best thing for control and stability.

The amounts of insulin onboard at any one time are tiny compared to the 4 reservoirs a day I used to inject on MDI. This reduces the threat and duration of hypos especially with a display on the pump showing active insulin. When you first start it takes a lot of testing and tweaking of the basal levels, sometimes you improve your control others you make it a bit worse, but stick with it as once you get the basal levels correct the pump really becomes life changing. I'm hardly aware that my pump is attached to me anymore, it lives on my waistband quite happily and on the few occasions I have yanked the canula out by getting the tubing caught around a door or drawer handle it's more annoying than painful.

I wish you all the best with your pump, it is a big change but absolutely worth the effort.
 
Sorry for hijacking the thread here, but why did you all go on a pump in the first place?

Did you have poor control, just want a general improvement, or other reasons?
 
For me had good control on mdi, good hba1c etc, but, suffered hypos alot through excercise. Also suffered with high sugars from 4am to 8am on mdi known as dawn phenomenon. If I had enough basal to cover morning readings I would hypo in middle of night. Kept loads of records. Was told a pump would be very helpful to avoid the hypos and also dp.

Sent from my GT-S5360
 
I went on a pump through having too low an a1c of 6.4% and having too many low bg levels every day which although I was able to deal with myself, the impact started to affect my OH who kept asking me if I was going to be ok if he went out for the day which I didn't like, as diabetes is my illness, not my partners. The reason why I got an a1c of 6.4% was due to worrying about complications and my GP telling me to get it down to 6.5%.

Since having a pump I've kept my a1c in the high 6's but not sure what my next a1c will be as am avoiding the starchy carb in my diet as much as I can and eating more of the green veg stuff instead which has resulted as stated by other forum members, less of a jump up in bg levels.
 

I thought that might be your rationale. So did you get much resistance from your PCT to getting a pump? I'm in the position of having good control (latest HbA1c of 46) but worried about the potential for post exercise hypos, hypos in front of clients etc.

My consultant is behind me, but thinks the PCT may not look much further than immediate cost.
 
I was in regular contact with my hospital dsn at the time and having 3 monthly appointments. Tried different insulins, snacks etc and it was her who said "have you thought about a pump" my response was id love one lol. she arranged everything for me till I had a call for pump training (4 months later) havnt even seen my consultant during this whole process and have not seen him since, now 7 months since pumping. Have had appointments with dsn and I think because everything has gone well no need to see consultant. Was very surprised to be offered the pump tbh, but very pleased.

Sent from my GT-S5360
 
I'm waiting for another 4 people before I can get mine as do in groups of 6. Was only 2 of us at the intro last month. Can't wait till I start. I know there will be a lot of learning about setting basal rates. Looking forward as work nights in a physical job so will prob have to have a diff profile for work nights compared to nights off. Hoping to get my a1c down from 10.5 to normal range I'll be on accu check combo too.


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Great, a good pump. As said put the hard work in at start and it will help alot. Be set up in no time. Only 4 in my group.

Sent from my GT-S5360
 
Hi, I've been on an accu check pump since February, and been type one for 3 years this October. The pump has returned my mojo and positive attitude. I have the flexibility I need for my work and consistently good BG's. Yes I go up and down a bit and still get a low but this is more down to me over cooking my insulin or experimenting with multi wave settings. Ie if I have 3 biscuit I'm fine if I apply 30 units, however if I do 30 units over 40 mins I go low. So it's proof that it takes months to learn the ins and outs.

My first pump was faulty, and accu check we're amazing. Also, don't believe what you rad about air bubbles, follow the instructions and make sure your insulin is at room temp.

Does any one insure their pump?


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Yep, insured on my house insurance policy.

Sent from my GT-S5360
 
Thank you for all of your answers!

Erm I'm going on the pump because well my control has never been great in the 5 years that I have had diabetes, I have had DKA about 3 times and ended up in hospital for each and have had a few other complications already and I am only 19! My hba1c is slowly coming down but it is still high as it is 91!

So hopefully with a bit of luck things will start to improve and then I will be happier
 
Was told at the intro session it has to be insured as part of your agreement with the hospital.

I know can't wait for my group to reach its numbers they did say they can pool patients from a nearby hospital too to get the numbers to start a group.

Not sure what that hba1c is cos I use the old % thing lol


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