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Which insulin pump would YOU choose?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sweet Mother
  • Start Date Start Date
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Sweet Mother

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My 12-year-old son wants an insulin pump! He's a good kid, organized, gets good marks in school and plays sports. He's been giving himself multiple daily injections ever since he was 8 years old; he's had type diabetes since he was 3 years old. He loves gadgets and has decided he wants an insulin pump. I don't know anything about insulin pumps and to tell you the truth, they freak me out. I know it won't seem so scary once we take the classes, but for now, we haven't even decided on a pump, yet; so one step at a time! I'm taking my son to see his doctor soon, but for now, she faxed me a list of all the available insulin pumps to choose from. My head is spinning! I don't know what's more important, size, weight, connection; I don't even know what any of these things mean! I'm going to list all our choices and I would really appreciate it if someone who knows something about pumping (and 12-year-old boys!) would recommend the best one. Right now, for me, it's a guessing game. Ultimately, it will be my son's decision, but I'd like to get him off on the right foot. It's a big decision for a 12-year-old boy; he needs a little backup! So, if anyone could please help me decide before I show my son, I would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance.
http://www.diabetesnet.com/diabetes-technology/insulin-pumps/current-pumps/onetouch-ping
  • Animas Ping
  • Accu-Chek Spirit Combo
  • Asante Snap
  • Medtronic Paradigm Revel
  • Insulet OmniPod
  • Sooil USA DiabeticareIIS
  • Tandem Diabetes t:slim
 
The Accuchek Spirit combo is old... It has been replaced by the new Insight pump...

Years ago when I got my pump everbody tslked about its colour, the colour of the protective skins etc... It is lovely to see that these questions have been replaced by more practical ones!!

I love my accucheck combo for tbe following reasons (hope others can lust theres in same format:

Plus's for Accuchek Insight:

1.0) 5 different basal rate profiles to use (so would be able to use one for school holidays, one for weekends and one for schooldays etc if needed). These can actually be named.. Ie xmas hols, schooldays, weekends, summer hols etc)

2.0) great capabilitys to fine tune due to 24 1hr slots (at least) and if units required per hour are over 1.0 then the increments are now 0.01 not 0.05 which was a pain on the old accuchek pump.

3.0 fabulous all singing, all dacing handset.. No need at all to get the pump out unless changing cartridges etc.

4.0 accuchek have ordering systems for cannulas etc by phone or email.

5.0 accuchek customer service for me has been second to none. This is my 2nd accuchek pump.

6.0 the handset is rechargeable. Like a mobile phone but is superb with battery life and recharges very quickly.

Negatives:

1.0 it does not link straight to a CGM if you wanted the use of one.

2,0it isn't tubeless

3.0 the battery cover for the pump is awkward to remove, however-this may be just my pump...

I could think of loads more positives like the logbooks, graphs, data etc... To me it is the best. Others prefer ones that are tubeless ir have CGM capability. I had a CGM from Abbott (freestyle navigator) and found it a nuisance and too inaccurate. I personally would never go back to a CGM as it's false readings ruled my life. I am one of few patients that found it a nuisance. The Dexcom CGM's have better reviews than the Abbott Navigator.
 

Thanks! That was fast! But, I'm still understanding this "per hour" thing. With MDI, you just shoot up once for the day (24-hour insulin) and then once with every meal (if needed); I don't know if I'm going to like him having insulin streaming in his body constantly. Do you still get hypos with an insulin pump? If I'm asking too many questions, I'm sorry. Just trying to get a better grasp on things. It's all very new to me. Thanks for putting up with me.
 
You need to ask as many questions as possible...

1.0 I can alter every individual hourly rate or even 1/4ly if needed. See my basal rate profile below.

On. A pump your son will only have quick acting insulin pumping through... No long acting insulin... That is why you can gain so much better control. Ie if your son had sports on certain days you could set up a profe sprcifically for sports days... So when it is fine tuned (this does take a while)..

If a soecific pump can only allow blocks of basal settings then this does not allow such fine tuning.

You will see from my prifile below that I have a lot of different rates if insulin going through me.

I have DP which means when I get up I need huge amounts of basal and my basal rates if insulin going through me go up by more thsn double and then gradually decline etc.

You can certainly still get hypo's. Nothing but fine tuning a pump will stop a hypo. However this is where a CGM can be useful...however that does mean an extra gadget for a child.. And I personally after having that extra gadget for 9 months would never go back to one.

I am very active but I speak as an adult.
 

Thanks, but now I'm really confused! What is this you say about only having fast-acting insulin "pumping through," and no long-acting insulin? Does this mean he has to still give himself manual long-acting insulin injections with an insulin pump? I must be missing something! (Probably breakfast!) LOL
 
I dont think the Accu chek Insight is available yet in the U.S, only the Spirit Combo. Difficult for anyone in the UK to advise really, because the Snap, T-Slim, DiabeticareIIs are not available yet.
 
iHs said:
I dont think the Accu chek Insight is available yet in the U.S, only the Spirit Combo. Difficult for anyone in the UK to advise really, because the Snap, T-Slim, DiabeticareIIs are not available yet.
Click to expand...

I didn't know that, sorry! Actually, I thought this was an international forum. Don't people from the US post here, too? Someone told me this was the best forum of all the diabetes forums, that's why I signed up! Awe, I'm sorry if I'm asking too many unrelated questions! Thanks for bearing with me, though!
 
You're not asking un related questions. They are all relevant. Yes we do have US persons and french and Australian etc..

You completely come off injections.... All that happens is on a pump you only have one quick acting insulin pumping through on a constant basis. Tbe accuchek pump actually delivers a squirt of
insulin every 3 minutes....which is why you don't
Need a background basal insulin.
 
America is a bit behind on insulin pumps compared to Europe due to all the red tape of the FDA. For example the US equivalent of the medtronic veo was only release in 2013 I think whereas it was here four years earlier, similar situation with the animas vibe. As far as which is best can you have a proper look at each one? They all essentially do the same job so it's a matter of preference (looks are obviously important to a 12 year old as is durability. The Omnipod has the bonus on no tubing but the only way to deliver a bolus is via the PDA which is fine as long as you remember to take it with you, forgotten PDA = no food! Also my diabetes team are not so keen on the Omnipod as they are worried about it's accuracy but I have never used it so have no first hand experience. I have a medtronic which is reliable and with good customer service and are worldwide so if you are abroad and hit a problem it should hopefully be easier to solve.
 
The forum is international so welcome. Most things about diabetes get discussed so have a read of all the threads. The pumps available in the UK are the Animas Vibe which is now available in the US. the Accu chek Insight,. Medtronic Veo and soon the 640G, the Omnipod and the DanaR.
 
For what it's worth, one of my friend's son went on to a pump two months ago. They selected the Medtronic 640G for him. He is 6.
 
I'm currently reviewing pump options.

Just had a week with the vibe/dexcom. I didn't rate it at all.

1) Couldn't find tune basals as well as I could with the Accu Chek, only 8 basal profiles per 24 hours. So not the fine tuning I was used to with the Combo.

2) Screen is unreadable in sunlight, quite annoying, especially as I was using it with cgm and was trying to check it regularly.

3) Menu system is clunky and inefficient. Like an old command terminal MS DOS style.

4) 200 Unit Cartridge Size

5) Despite regular calibration, the G4 was never accurate to within 2mmol. It failed on the third day with a ERR01. My abbot libre is so accurate I'm happy to bolus from it.

6) Whole pump just seemed dated and poorly designed to me, but then I'm a bit of a negative nancy. Best thing about it was the metal clip which looked fairly indestructable.

I wouldn't consider the omnipod due to them being less reliable more prone to failures than a tubed pump.

The insight is a good pump, but the remote already seems dated and again I found it clunky and took a while to connect to the meter. Don't like carrying around loads of stuff and the remote was so slow on my combo I'd often just take the pump out my pocket and do things manually before the remote had even managed to connect via bluetooth.

I've placed an order for the 640G in light of the above. It's seems to be the best pump I have available as a standalone pump, it also have the ability to add CGM should I require it.

I was considering funding full-time CGMs which is why I was looking into the Vibe/Dexcom route, but for me it's looking like this will be more hassle than it's worth.I still have warning signs. Found the alarms annoying, the data inaccurate etc...
 
buckley8219 said:
I was considering funding full-time CGMs which is why I was looking into the Vibe/Dexcom route, but for me it's looking like this will be more hassle than it's worth.I still have warning signs. Found the alarms annoying, the data inaccurate etc...
Click to expand...
Sounds as if you hadn't inserted the sensor correctly or dislodged it in some way, so hardly the pumps fault. I've used the dexcom sensors for a year and have found them to be very accurate. Many of the alarms can be switched off as well.
 
CarbsRok said:
Sounds as if you hadn't inserted the sensor correctly or dislodged it in some way, so hardly the pumps fault. I've used the Dexcom sensors for a year and have found them to be very accurate. Many of the alarms can be switched off as well.
Click to expand...

Don't think so, it was inserted in front of the rep and the nurse, following their precise instructions. I also taped it down with opsite flex fix. Pretty good with insertions of sensors/infusion sets so that was not the issue. The filament looked perfect upon removal.

May have been a dud sensor, something to do with the heat, who knows 36C with me yesterday which was the day it failed.

I just felt as a system, the vibe and the Dexcom is underwhelming.

I'd rather use a standalone Dexcom and a separate pump, at least then you can use the G5 and the latest algorithm. Signing up for a vibe now which is 7-year-old tech and which is locked down to the G4 and the slower less accurate and less responsive algorithm for another four years just seemed a bit silly. Also that we'll soon be paring the G5 with iphones/android makes this system less attractive.

As for the accuracy, I know many use them and rave about them and I don't doubt them, but for me personally not sure it warrants the expenditure and the hassle. Just another set of data and numbers to fret about, that I don't believe would reduce my HBA1c or simplify my diabetes. Diabetes already takes up enough of my day. Of course this is an individual thing and I can see that some might love the system.

What I liked about the Libre was that it massively reduced the amount of finger pricks, down to 1 or two tests a day after the first day the sensor settled in. This wasn't the case in my experience with the Dexcom.

I've decided I'll not be using a CGM full time as the benefits for me don't outweigh the costs, which is why I've chosen the 640G because it looks to be the best standalone pump, that also has the option of adding a CGM should I want it in the future.
 
Silver mother I have an accident-chek combo pump due for upgrade September the hourly rate it dosed over 3 minute intervals so your son will never get a huge dose unless he chooses a standard dose if he does this I would suggest he gives him self no more than 6 units at anyone time it will (bloody)hurt
 
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