Pros & Cons Of Insulin Pump

chilli_pepper

Could someone who uses a pump let me know the pros and cons of using one ? Has it changed your life for the better , made your Diabetes more managable ?

Thanks in advance.

robinph

I'd be interested in any opinions from people using the a pump as well and how it all fits in with day to day life and using the thing.

For what I think was the third time now it was briefly mentioned to me at my last visit to the hospital. Still not sure how serious they are about actually getting anyone setup with a pump though. From a couple of things they mentioned I'd guess that the only pump available to us in Ireland is from Meditronic? Anyone any idea which model of theirs it might be, I'd guess the cheapest?

They did say that they would need to write a letter to HSE(?) saying how I needed the pump and that you then just have to wait an age to see if they will let you have it.

philten

Hi,

I have been on a pump for best part of 5 years now - got it from the Mater - at the time I showed an interest in getting one and they wrote a letter to HSE explaining why I needed one - not sure exactly what the reasoning was - maybe something to do with poor recognition of hypos or something. At the time it was about €3000 which was paid for by HSE.

I am currently using a Medtronic Paradigm (508 is model I think), second one I've had. Had a couple of issues (mechanical) with the first one which Accuscience replaced immediatley. Accuscience are the 'main dealers' if you like for the Medtronic.

Simply it works by delivering a pre-programmed basal rate of insulin throughout the day which can rise or fall depending on your normal routine e.g. if you find you are high in the morning you can program the pump to deliver a higher basal rate in the morning. When you eat some carbo's you then give yourself a bolus using the pump to cover what you've just eaten.

It has changed my life with diabetes. Biggest change I have found is more flexibility around what and when I can eat. On the what you can eat I have tended to start eating more like a non-diabetic i.e. more of the things you shouldn't ! Reason being is that its easier to just bolus that little bit of insulin to cover what you've just eaten. However you do need to count your carbo's so you bolus the correct amount - probably where I fall down the most in that you over estimate or under estimate!!

The flexibility is another plus in that you are not really tied down to set meal times as there is a constant low level 'basal rate' of insulin from the pump, which in theory if you were to eat nothing during the day or skip a meal your bloods should remain on an even keel.

You do need to check your bloods more often - before every bolus (in theory ).
You need to change the infusion set and insulin resevoir in the pump every 3 days or so. This is not that big if a deal - more of an annoyance I find - takes about 3 mins.

Not sure what else to say - I don't find it any hassle being hooked up to it 24/7 - simply keep it in my pocket - I don't try to hide it too much. People notice the small clear tube pocking out of my pocket sometimes and I tell them what it is if they comment. Its very easy to disconnect if in shower or go swimming etc.

My hba1c's are around the 7.0 mark and have been down to 6.8 since on the pump so the results speak for themselves.

One negative is if for any reason the pump stops delivering you do go high v.quickly as there is no long acting insulin involved - happened few times and felt pretty bad pretty quick!! So need to keep back up of insulin pens in case pump goes wallop.

Overall it has given me more freedom and better control but you do have to put some time an effort in to test more and count your carbo's. Initially its a learning curve but gets easier. Plus there's the ability with some of the newer pumps to communicate to glucose sensor and automatically change the basal rate to suit you bloods.

I would never go back to pens and trying to manage fast and slow acting insulin.

Hopefully gives some food for thought - no pun intended!!!!
Phil

robinph

Thanks for that, I'll probably be back with more questions for you once I've digested all that etc.

One thing you brought up which I was wondering about though, if the pump breaks or whatever to mean it stops delivering the insulin, just how quick is it that you'd start going high and notice it?

philten

reckon about an hour/hour an half or so in my experience - although depends on what your sugars are when it stops delivering.

Have to say the pumps are very reliable - if something happens it is usually to do with it not being primed properly after you change out the infusion set - so more user error rather than the pump itself.