Insulin Pumps

Hi Jenny

I have awful problems with air bubbles too, no matter what I do, I can guarantee 5 hours after cartridge change I will have to do a reprime, and guaranteed the next day I will have to do another reprime. Forum members on a different website have offered advice on this, but it just mainly appears that accuchek pumps reservoirs have worst problems than other pumps. Now I will do a reprime after 4 hours, and really banging the pump on the table to shoft the bubbles that have appeared since loading the cartridge, as I know that this stops the bubbles ahead of them effecting me. I also check the airbubbles first thing the next morning after the cartridge change and do another banging / priming session, and this does then alleviate the problems of levels rising the next day.
I also was advised top change from novorapid to apidra insulin, as bubbles would be less, but that isn't true. I changed to Apidra at the weekend and the bubbles were still a problem, and my bg's have gone up slightly higher too, and this is with fasting at different times of the day.
I actually believe that there are a few pump users that put their higher levels down to their basals or carbs not being right, but if they actually did a reprime with hefty banging that they may see bubbles coming from the lueur connections down the tubes. I don't actually think that the bubbles have always gone in to the tubes, but are stuck in the connector stopping the small push through the tubes for a while.
I know because my diet is pretty much the same with 3 days of salads each week and say 2-3 days of casseroles and possibly a carbonara/tagliatelle (multi wave bolus) that it is the bubbles that cause my problems.
I use lloyds carb counting scales to even weigh my lettuce, cucumber, sultanas, walnuts, tomatoes even garlic. I am very exact, and it is all of these regime that has dropped my hba1c from 7.1 to 6.4 in 3 months.
Pumps I think are more complex than injections, but there are definitely benefits with them, IF you are prepared to do some fasting, check BG's a lot more than on MDI, and be prepared to change basals and bolus yourselfs with minimal guidance from health professionals.
My health professionals when I went over to a pump admitted that they had done the theory training, but only (at the time) had 13 people on pumps, so were learning from the othe pump users and now me. They were suprised that within 1 week I had changed my basals and bolus's etc and that my lelvels had stabilised so much. Again, this was down to another pump user helping me everyday by phone, not down to the training or help from the professionals.

Wow, have I got cold feet! Helen

You dont count the carbs in your salads do you?

What amounts do you get from these scales, is it worth it.....I suppose the pump can deal with these tiny amounts....!!

Hi everyone
Well after reading a lot of good comments on here I have now taken the plunge. I started on my medtronic pump last week and must say I love it. It was hard work trying to keep control of my highs and lows on injections and depression because it didnt matter how carefull you are never seemed to get it quite right and always felt like crap. I am actually feeling a lot happier in myself.LOL hope I am not speaking to soon.
Its early days yet and a lot more hard work to do but already feel a lot better and my blood sugars on the whole have been much better and been more stable including to a certain extent it has helped a lot with the dawn phenomenon.
My specialist nurse has been absolutely brilliant and calls me everyday even as late as 10pm to tweek the basal rate if needed.
Being diabetic for so long carb counting has never been a problem to me because that was the way 38 years ago, in those days 10g of carbs was called a line and you had to strictly stick to the amount of carbs you could have. I was on 27 lines which had to be split througout the day and you always had to have 3 lines at bedtime whether you wanted it or not. How things have changed with the new insulins.
Have also been told of a bum bag by my diabetic nursethat you can use for pump users the one from medtronic is £21 which I think is quite expensive,look at www.spibelt.com and they do one especially for pump users the cost is in dollars and works out at about £11 with free postiage and I also have the codes for a 15% discount.
I am sure things are not going to be easy but am very confident know that I am going in the right direction

Well done dude..............the hard work will pay off............im jealous.....

Hello again. I've just had confirmation that I get a pump on 15th Nov, and having decided that it was for me, I am now really nervous!

Being nervous is good, its normal, you must be excited too..............I am even more jealous now...........I need to wait till the 19th of this month to just mention it to my DSN, then it will be passed to consultant then to the pump centre.............

Don't be put off by the thought of better control through doing a few different things to MDI and having to do more tests. After 10 weeks my HBA1C has come down from 7.1 to 6.4, so it is possble to get better hba1C results quite quickly if prepared to do a little bit extra.....and yes, I do actually count every thing salad wise, as on a pump you can give a bolus to 0.1 accuracy rates, not whole units as on pens, so you can get much tighter control on the foods you eat. (Obviouwsly I am not going to weigh all the time, but if you read John Walsh's Pumping Insulin Book it says that 30% of diabetics OVERestimate their carbs, and even after going on DAFNE courses 17% continue to over estimate their carbs. I admit readily I was one of those 30%. I have never been on a dafne course, and I saw a dietitan 25 years ago, so I though I would just re-educate myself with my weighing scales. Certainly pump-wise it has paid off no end.

I was given a pump 3 weeks after having a bad hypo incident whilst driving........and I was as nervous as anything, but of course this is only naturall. Most human beings hate change, so why should diabetics be any different?

I was sort of thrown in to having a pump, I would have had it immediately if my DSN hadn't had 2 weeks holiday. She has stacks of them in her office just waiting for 1 person every week to get one. We don't have to get permission from a consultant or pct as the nurse has purchased them in bulk through the pct in one go. I didn't even meet the pump consultant until 1 week after going on it! The DSN decided it would be right for me. Only downfall is that my consumables have to be ordered by and delivered to the hospital instead of dealing directly with Accuchek myself. I just wish that someone had told me exactly what was involved before I had it. I bought John Walsh's pumping insulin book before I went on to the pump, but the detail before actually knowing or seeing what a reservoir or cartridge was or even seeing a pump was a bit scary.

Pumps definitely can get better results, but they say to allow 6 months to fully get everything sorted. Good luck to those going on to the pumping regime...just be realistic....

My problem is that I have no idea of the support I will receive... I went to an information session (2 weeks ago) because I was seriously considering a pump. I tend to think about things for a while and can not be talked into anything, but when I decide then I usually want some sort of action. I rang around and was told to make an appointment to see a private consultant ($AUD 200... I am fairly sure 1 AUD=0.6 GBP). She was going away and the first appointment was 18 Nov. No one else does the same job in Brisbane! I tried to find out what I could expect from that consultation but all I could get was she may want me to see a private dietician. Rang the endocrinologist and the first appointment to see him was 13 January. I have that appointment. But neither of these people seem very "available"!

At the info session the reps from the various companies were fairly aggressive and one (Animas) offered to come out to the house to show me the pump etc and answer any questions. She uses a pump. I can see advantages to going with that pump (because of the marketing) but am a bit afraid that once the sale is made $5-8000 their support will not be as available (or as useful)! Too cynical? I gave my email address to a rep from Meditronic (most common type of pump here in Australia, I believe) but she has not sent me any information.

So I read all the posts here while I wait.

Another issue (I think) is that I am on high doses (100u TDD most days on 10 carb portions). I do deal in halves and my insulin to carb ratio is 2.7:1 for lunch. I also correct at 3 1/2 hours after a meal if BGs are over 10.0 as my novorapid only seems to last that long. Most of my BGs are <10. I cover everything >1/2 CP. Being able to "inject" 0.1u seems irrelevant.

I have seen a pump...handled a pump etc but what worries me is where is the support (chronic!) and what about DKA and the bubbles! I live alone.

Any suggestions?

BTW does anyone know what the HbA1c of a "so called normal" person would be? Just curious!

As soon as the shops open I will hunt down John Walsh's book!

Helen

I too have john walshs bok and it is great http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pumping-Insulin-Everything-Success-Smart/dp/1884804861/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1288930606&sr=8-13 , I too overestimate my carbs and at the mo is one of my major causes of hypos , but afetr having had such bad blood sugars for so long now im on the pump and getting average blood sugars of between 5 and 8 i dont want to underestimate and see them blood sugars raise ! After 30 years of having brittle diabetes and bad sugars the pump has sorted out my blood sugars in 5 weeks .