Hi
It's a bit hard to tell you what pump to go for. They all have different features.... in some ways its a bit choosing a mobile phone only of course, a pump is device for delivering insulin. Try to find a website that compares one pump's features with those of another.
What pump to have can depend on its size and where you plan to have it on your body. If you intend to have it clipped to your waistband, then make sure that the pump company supply a plastic clip type pump holder. Accu chek used to supply one of these for the Combo but now dont do it anymore :crazy:. Instead something else is supplied but people have complained a bit I think. If you plan to have the pump elsewhere on yr body like in a wrap around yr tummy (Spibelt etc) or in your bra (if you are a woman) then ideally you need a bluetooth type of remote. I have an Accu chek Combo pump which has the remote and can tell you that although the remote is very good and I dont have to touch the pump, the pumps accuracy in delivering the correct bolus really depends on a bg test being done. Unfortunately, although you can do a bg test on any meter that you want; you cant enter the bg reading into the bolus wizard manually so you are reliant on using Aviva teststrips. I'm not sure whether Animas will allow any bg meter to be used but Medtronic do, so that may well be an issue to keep in mind incase your GP tries to restrict or ask you to change to another bg meter that has cheaper teststrips.. You should also be aware that you will need to do quite a lot of bg tests during the day and also during the night, to make sure that the pump is working ok and also to keep check on yr bg levels as there will be times when the basal rate of insulin will need adjusting and also the carb ratio. Weather temp changing can affect how fast or slow insulin works and also where on the body an infusion set is inserted can also make bg levels change.
There is a lot of things to think of every day in using a pump. It's not all 'wine and roses' and you do need to count your carbohydrate carefully if you are going to eat food before you start pressing the buttons. The good thing about them is that when you have set the basal rate and the carb ratio correctly they can give you a smoother level in how your bg levels are controlled.
There are things that I like on the Combo pump and things that I wish I had known a bit more about before I chose it. The bolus rates are in 0.01u adjustments whereas on other pumps the adjustment is in 0.001u. The basal rate adjustment is done hourly on the Combo but again its just in 0.01u for anything upto 1.00u. If you are needing a lot of insulin on MDI then make sure that you know about how the basal rate adjustments affect the pump in delivering insulin over 1.00u. The Combo tends to jump a bit for anything over 1.00u per hour but not sure how the other pumps deliver. So do look at the fine tuning capabilities of the pumps in delivering the bolus and the basal. I like the infusion sets that come with the Combo. They are fairly flat in profile and are easy to insert and come in clear colour so dont really show that much. They also dont catch in your clothing so that can be just as much as an issue with pumping as actually using a pump. :wink:
