fallongerie
Well-Known Member
I’m thinking of getting a pump but I can’t get my head around how it works. Is it a mixatard type insulin or do u still have to inject a long acting? Confused.com
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Pumps?
- Thread starter fallongerie
- Start Date
The pump uses short acting insulin for both background insulin and food insulin.
Various basal rates (per hour) can be programmed in where appropriate, e.g. dealing with dawn phenomenon.
If you meet the NICE guidelines, you should go for it. I (and lots of others) find the pump absolutely fantastic!
Various basal rates (per hour) can be programmed in where appropriate, e.g. dealing with dawn phenomenon.
If you meet the NICE guidelines, you should go for it. I (and lots of others) find the pump absolutely fantastic!
Hi Fallongerie _ i'm not a pumper, but there are plenty on the forum; just not right now. I'll have a go at explaining, as I understand it. Of course, someone will correct me, if I'm grabbing the wrong end of the stick.
As I understand it, when using a pump, you only use one type of insulin, and that's the rapid acting one. Just one way it is starkly different from injections is that because of the way it works. It micro-doses your insulin, pretty much all the time, with your fast acting insulin in minuscule amounts "per hour". That works a bit like your basal, to give you your (as close as you can get to it) ideal flat profile, then you top up with bolus doses as required. The pump delivers those doses too, when you tell it to.
You still have to carb count and calculate your doses, but the pump delivers them for you. It allegedly takes some work to get the background rate right, but it seems to be worth it for most.
It can really help those whose insulin sensitivity differs during the day, or Dawn Phenomenon, by being programmed to deliver more or less, throughout the day, or night, it seems. Pumps can also store your settings, so that you can have multiple profiles, for say, a "normal" day, versus one where you really exercise hard, for example.
fallongerie
Well-Known Member
Well that’s more info than I could find out online so thank you!
I'm also thinking of applying for one my HBA1C never comes back lower then 84mol I've had type one for 5 years and nothing I do makes any difference. Every time I go to the docs they always tell me to try harder and all I feel is resentment because they don't know what it's like to be me
