Pumps V Injections

DAFNE was great but since I have tried to get more active and loose weight I am fluctuating badly and lost warning signs of hypos.

I have recently been left confused when my doctor recommended I go on to an insulin pump.

My mentality is that they are for diabetics that may not remember to take their insulin, or the less active / mobile. (is this just my misconception?).

I am on 4 injections a day at the moment but have been suffering regular hypos, mainly casued by exercising and irregularity of diet due to an "unbalanced" lifestyle.

Apparently a pump can increase flexibility in lifestyle and enhance control. But I am worried about the limits that may be put on me. Im an active 34 year old male who enjoys football, rugby and crawling around on the floor getting dirty. I recently had a monitoring device for 3 days which was for too intrusive to live my normal life. Showering, sex, sleep and even sitting at a desk were regularly annoying.
I know the pumps these days are smaller but still need fixture and stability.

Sugar level control & pump V dealing with hypos and frustration.

If you have any advice I would love to hear from your experiences.

Thanks. D.

Damo, Think that you are right - you DO have some misconceptions here:
"My mentality is that they are for diabetics that may not remember to take their insulin, or the less active / mobile. (is this just my misconception?)."

I had injections for 42 years before attending a DAFNE course and moving onto pump therapy - brilliant! The pump does increase flexibility in lifestyle and the way in which insulin is delivered can only improve control - I have had a pump for a month now and along with the DAFNE principles which I have learned, am getting there.

Is it for you? Only you can answer that one I guess but I would certainly give it a trial - nothing is irreversible, I wouldn't think that you have to sign up for life but suggest you should be prepared to give it a decent amount of time.

I play squash with my pump attached - no worries there and I feel that so long as you take reasonable precautions with a pump and delivery tube, footy and rugby should not present any insurmountable problems - the manufacturers of my pump have a pump case designed for active folk like you.

Showering, sex and sleep - no worries. The pump can be detatched for up to an hour at a time which should take care of items 1 and 2 (?). As for sleeping - wear a pair of boxers in bed and clip the pump to the front of them - you don't know it's there when asleep. Before I started my pump I had similar worries and heard that people stick the pump under the pillow - not sure how that works if you turn over in bed as much as I do!

At the end of the day, the pump is a choice - for some it will be fantastic for others it may be a pain. If the latter, stick to injections but I for one love the freedom it is giving me.

Alan

p.s. Three days is not really long enough to assess how you would get on with a pump - in my view anyway!

pps Losing weight is much easier with a pump - although my recent success in this area may also be attributed to the DAFNE regime. One thing to bear in mind is that it is common to need less insulin when on pump therapy compared to injections.