PUMPING AWAY

[Cupcaake32]

Hi im Toni im 23 and have been diabetic for nearly 10 years and would love someone to talk to who is on a pump so i can work out whether it may suit me im on at least 5 injections and tests a day and the bruising is getting annoying and the amount of needles and test strips i go through is stooopid. I hve requested info from pump manufacturers and they seem brilliant and would suit me perfectly i have a very high hba1c and cant seem to get it down i have hd dka 3 times. I no fun times. I have been speaking to girl in usa who is a pumper and she is similar age build and lifestyle to me nd she has said it has changed her life so wish me luck in gettng a pump

 

[Osidge]

Hi

Welcome to the forum. I am moving your post to the pumping part of the forum and hope someone there can help you.

Regards

Doug

 

[leahshort]

Hi Toni im Leah slightly older than you at 30 and have been on the pump for 8months, diabetic 18 years. It was for the same reasons as you that i switched to the pump. The bruising from injecting was looking like I had been beaten up all the time. I had in my head that going to the pump would be a quick fix that everything would be perfect. It wasn't quite like that. Don't get me wrong I would never go back to injecting now that I have changed over. It will take a lot of dedication and time to get the results you want. When on injections I have to admit I didn't take care of myself, didn't test as I should do and as a result had high HBA1C. I have gone down to 8 since being on the pump so that in itself is brilliant. The pump takes a while to get used to being on you all the time but I dont even notice its on me now after such a short time. It involves a lot of fingerpricking initially to get your hourly dosage right and then settles down. For a busy working mum of 2 young children the pump is a godsend once running smoothly it can fit any lifestyle. Really hope this helps you towards your decision. It is an amazing piece of technology and gives a lot more freedom than injecting. (and just incase you weren't convinced ,compared to your 5 injections a day its 1 every 1to2 days yay)

 

[jopar]

Hi Toni

Welcome to the forum..

I've been pumping not far off 5 years now and I would land myself in front of a judge if anybody tried to take my pump of me!

The manufacturers blurb makes the pump sound as if it's a plug and go to perfect control, but as Leah says it does require a commitment to testing and setting up of the pump, sadly it's not quite as simple as that, as the pump is a computer, and like a computer it's only as good as the information/data the operator puts in, and you need to carb count...

What I did, because sadly I had fight a 3 1/2 year battle to get funding which meant I had to build my own case for it...

I studied insulin pump therapy, John Walsh has an excellent book called Pumping Insulin, I learnt the theory behind pumping, and how to use a pump.. Then every 3 months when I saw my consultant, I would have a print out of my BG's... Which would have various numbered highlights, to problems such as hypo's... Then in my other file I would have a corresponding note, describing what had caused it, such sudden change in work load after I injected, then what and how I could have used the pump features to avoid or lessen the impact of that occasion etc..

The advantage of doing this, was a brilliant pump start....

But in most cases it takes around 6 months or more to start really seeing the benefits, this is because when you start pumping, everything is a new situation that you need to work out your tactics for, Leah has reached the stage now, she's tucked a lot of information under her belt, so faced with a new situation she has more data to guide her with the tactics... So more likely to get a good outcome.

I think Leah must be on Steel Cannula's which needs to be changed at least every 2 days, I use Teflon so I can go a day longer, changing every 3 days..