Pleased As Punch!

Well blow me away! At my 3 monthly check up today I went armed with my latest attack plan for getting myself a pump... Saw the same consultant as always and started a new line of attack putting my argument to him... same discussion we have had for over two years now... and you know what he finally capitulated!... I have the pump doctor giving me a phone call when his back from holiday and then I shall be on my way to getting a pump finally... out with the 10+ injections a day.. the getting up at 4am to inject for my DP... the crazy splitting of my background insulin to allow exercise! I am soooo pleased...

Cheers every one!

SAH154 said:

Congratulations what amazes me is how I read a lot of the posts on here relating to how care in the NHS varies so wildly - My PCT is in a very poor area but the treatment is top notch

Perhaps they issue pumps based on their idea of clinical need?
Mine kept trying to get me to use one and I had the hard sell every 3 or 4 months at clinic so either other PCTs are tightwads or they issue them to people with poorer control in affect having a good HBA1C make you a victim of your own success? Either are wrong as we all should get the best treatment available I know pumps are expensive but how much does dialysis cost prevention better than cure and all that

If I have to go back on insulin think I'll take them up on the pump as perversely now I no longer inject I can see the benefit of them as opposed to injections

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I have always been told that the PCT would be unlikely to fund because of my HbA1c..

But I only have a good HbA1c because I am willing to make more sacrifices to my day to day life.. i.e. inject much more often, test more frequently, and for the most part eat a very controlled diet, etc... My argument had always been if I had a more 'normal regime' and only tested 6 times a day and injected 4 - 5 times a day then my control would be much worse.. I know this because it was before I took it on myself to get things sorted... I have always had really fickle control and it's only under control because of the harshness of my regime.

Thus my argument had always been my need is the same as anyone else with fickle / brittle control... just because I choose to make the further sacrifices to ensure I keep good control doesn't mean that I wouldn't get exactly the same benefit from pump as anyone else.

borofergie said:

Well done! Weren't you just a lIttle bit disappointed not to be able to wheel out the full weight of your carefully rehearsed argument.

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Maybe a little! but to be honest I have been arguing for this for close on two years... so was a relief more than anything else.

iHs... consultant has often queried my hypo awareness and number of hypo's.. good thing my meter has a memory or I doubt he would wholly trust my spreadsheets! I am still hypo aware mostly around the 3.5 - 3.8 mark. In the last twelve months I have had 3 sub 3.5 mmol/l readings and none sub 2.5 mmol/l in years... I do test a lot and therefore on the odd occasion where I might have hypo'd I spot this early and rectify the problem before it develops... If I see my hypo awareness slipping then I tend to run my fastings BG's at 5.5 - 6.0 mmol/l for a week and I find that will bring my awareness back.

Clearly it is worth pointing out that running such tight HbA1c's is not without risk.. and I do so with my HCP's knowledge and support... based on a proven history of control. Any type I considering such as regime should consult with there HCP... I run my blood glucose this tight because I suffered a lot of damage to the blood vessels in my eyes when I took a blow to the head (all my own fault!).. on the odd occasion why my control has slipped my vision due to the damage in my eyes has deteriorated quite rapidly.. this control ensures that I keep my sight.

Reference the pump... I am doing a lot of reading and am certainly hopeful that I can get one that will allow CGM which I may consider self-funding or at least giving myself the option of having days of CGM... my job involves a lot of travel and its on these days where the routine is less strict and I have much less time that CGM would be a god send. Although the pump is going to be a lot of work! so is my current regime so I am not sure if it will be more time consuming... its more that it's going to make this level of control less hassle (i.e. not loads of injecting, greater basal flexibility, etc...)..

phoenix said:

CGM brought up some surprises for me. I was going low at night, and then back up again but only to the 5s.
(I'd suspected it because of waking up sweating but never caught it with a meter reading)
I actually got my pump because my HbA1c was 4.9% : too low said the docs and I was offered a pump totally out of the blue... was one of the first in my area to get one.
Since then it's been in the high fives,( and the consultant still frowns) Whether that it is because I avoid some hypos or because I have less pancreatic function since then, I'm not sure.I have self diagnosed LADA rather than classic T1) but then I've never tested as much as you do.

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Phoneix... I have the joy of a 14 month old who still isn't sleeping through the night so most nights I get a test (or two) in between 1am and 5am