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Pump update - which one?

Sally,

I've had no interference from my clinic at all, I had 2 days of training since then I've been allowed to take total control of my pump.. I've never had to or been made to feel obliged to run something past them... If I need some advice or help all I need to do is ask, just haven't hit a situation that's left me stumped so never asked...

I was pretty lucky, as I had done a lot of research concerning insulin pump therapy, so when I got the pump a lot was putting theory into practice, even though I wasn't happy with having a very basic pump to start with the Spirit no bells and whistles, I've don't have any regrets, because having to think for myself, do my own calculations etc and come up with some work around's (at times I was limited by the then 0.1 increments not being small enough) taught me a lot about pumps and diabetes that I wouldn't have gained using bells and whistles..

dowu, I did look check out Andrews link, and did see it could..

I have the 360 myself, but haven't been able to use it, as I've got the original version which doesn't work on my Win7 64 bit, And when I load it onto my computer via Virtual PC, I had graphic problems, which meant I couldn't see the software window full screen, had to navigate around.. So haven't really used it but I'm sure that this feature on the UK version was disabled, but I could be wrong...

I'm waiting for them to send me a win7 64bit version, which after trying at the beginning of last year, and finally gave up around last June, as I was constantly being told it hadn't been released, so didn't get around to sorting this out until last week, only to be told they are currently out of stock awaiting a new delivery but because this version is updated, then not expecting the new stock to arrive for another month :(

I know the American version and the UK version are different, As with the meters, the mmol/l and the mg/dl are locked at production! But also to get the 360 to work on a 64bit processor, the drivers involved under went some serious rewrites, which meant that it basically had to go through the licencing process again to keep the licence, which went a lot quicker in America then it did in Europe..
 
jopar, i'm not clear on whether you can go into your clinic to get the temp basal alert disabled. Of course Windows compatibility wouldn't matter if the alert could be disabled directly on the pump!
 
Good morning all, just catching up on all the responses of the last couple of days. Couldnt see the screen the last few as Ive recently had laser treatment, lets not go there. Anyway ... in case you're interested, I spoke to my diabetic nurse who confirmed that they have some software in clinic that they can disable the temporary bolus alarm if a patient wants that, so am pleased to hear that at least. Going to in theory get it in September so I can try it out for myself. Funny isnt it, Ive never really been a fan of forums and stuff before, but thanks to all your invaluable input I will from now on. Hadnt realised there's so much good info out there. Sally
 
Hi Sally

Hope your eye continues to be ok and that the laser does its job.

A pump should keep your bg levels better balanced but it will only do this through frequent bg testing throughout the day and making the necessary adjustments to either the basal rate or the carb bolus ratio.... so do be prepared to do about 12 tests per day and some through the night as well. As your control gets better you can then relax a tiny bit but pumps do keep people on their toes as you never know unless you test, whether the pump is working as it should.

The software that your dsn probably has is called 360 Professional. Only diabetes clinics have this though. The software is also able to fine tune some of the basal rates on the pump but again, its only able to do this through the amount of bg tests that you do.

Do make sure that your GP will be ok at prescribing you enough test strips as you will need Aviva strips if you are going to use the Accu chek Combo with the bg remote bolus wizard.

All the best :)
 
Hi ihs, thanks for your response. I already have a medtronic pump and whilst I agree that it does help you to be more stable it hasnt really made much difference to my hba1c results at all. The only thing I would say is that I would rather use a pump than have injections, plus I at least now I get a warning with my hypos. I shall be interested in seeing what the new Roche one does, it certainly seems more advanced than my medtronic, but like you say, we shall see.
 
Hi

sorry for last post....... I didn't realise that you already had a pump and was well used to doing all the adjustments.

Good luck with using the Combo. The screen on the bg remote is ok to see in normal daylight but not so good when it's really sunny so you will need to get into the shade a bit to see everything ok. I usually shove it inside the shadey area of my handbag when I am out and its really sunny.

The glossy tubes that Accu chek supply are fairly resilient but it's not always easy to see any air bubbles so a magnifying glass might be needed. The tiny plastic 10p piece size magnifyer that Accu chek supply with the Tenderlink and the Flexlink sets isn't a great lot of help but does work at being used as a tool to tighten up the tube luer connection to the pump. The Rapid D set tube has 2 small rubber wings at the end of the tube that enables the tube to be tightened up in the black cartridge adaptor so is very easy to use in every way.
 
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