Insulin Pumps

I have ordered John Walsh's book FROM THE UK! I rang Diabetes Australia (Queensland) and they had not heard of it. The guy I spoke to said they had one book on "pumping" but he could not tell me the author. it cost $60 but as I can get the Walsh book for way less than that I am presuming it is not the same book.
I am fast beginning to realize that if getting information re a pump is this hard then getting support post pump will be even harder. i will read the book when I get it in two weeks! Maybe these problems are a test to see if I am really committed! Helen

I too used to have standard seeting of 1 unit to 10g for my exchanges when diagnosed....however, this has all changed witht the pump, I am currently on 1 unit for 10g for breakfast, 1 unit to 20g for lunch and 1 unit to 8g at tea time. It is great to be able to change things automatically on pumps without having to work things out myself when I eat.
I am still having lows from midday through to 3pm though despite having lowered basals to 0.25 hourly and the bolus doses to 1:20g. Don't know how low I can go on my doses on accucheck pump. I know they say in their training manuals not to go below 0.40 on basals, but I have had no choice.

I thought the UK suffered badly from getting pumps compared to Germany and other countries but our troubles in UK seem to be nothing compared to poor Helen in Brisbane. Helen, I think you are still a contender for a pump, although your doses are quite high, as you doses when on pumps are a lot smaller.....mine are at least and my requirements for insulin are still dropping rapidly since changing from Novorapid to Apidra insulin.

hi im emma and am failrly new on here can anyone advise on what you use a dual square bolus on pump is for i have minimed pump and my hcp is totally ignoring my emails can anybody help? emma x

Davejg

Tell me more about this Medtronic pump! I am taking part in research and there is a Medtronic Paradigm Veo minimed pump sitting on my kitchen table waiting for me. I am having to check my blood with the Contour Link BG monitor, which then sends the results to the pump, I put in the carbs I will eat and the pump comes up with a number that it would send along the tubing if it were attached. I am still actually injecting insulin at the moment. I'm taking 6 or 7 lots of insulin a day - 6 EVERY day and 7 if it goes mad like the other night! I don't know how these pumps work - the insulin: is it a mix of QA and BI? Or if it's just QA, will I still have to have BI INJECTIONS? I am on 2 Lantus jabs a day (that adds up to a whole 10 units in total).

I'm used to carb counting - have been doing it 38 years too. I was horrified a few years ago when my friends daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and carb counting wasn't really emphasised enough. Even now I say, how many carbs was in that cake, and she says oh it doesn't matter, it tastes so good! Mmmmmmm!

Guys, just to let you know, I get a mix of green, red and orange boxes on my DAFNE charts, every day. I did actually ask, via email, if it will ever work! I got a phone call.

Jackieh

Hi Guys!

Well I go into hospital next Wednesday to be "fitted" with an Animas 2020 pump. My understanding is that I am then fairly closely monitored for 24+ hours (by nursing staff) and let loose (by the CDE) when she thinks I have "got it". I am really busy at the moment and am getting a little nervous but hope that It all goes smoothly. The sales person for the pump has been an excellent resource and has responded to my requests for info etc very quickly.

It appears that I am now fully recovered from the surgery and my TDD is back where it was 8 months (pre surgery) ago. It is probably best that this has happened before the pump. Do any of you run an Animas pump? It is not as common as the Medtronic version but as I said before I asked for info from Medtronic, gave them my email address and telephone number (last October!) and still have not heard from them! Helen

hi jackieh

the medronic pump uses purely qi insulin which is spread out of a 24 hour period of time and then you do a bolus when you eat using the same rules as dafne with the carb counting, you test your blood it sends bg to ur pump you then type in your carb portions and the pump will work out the correct dosage based on base settings that youve pre arranged with your team beforehand you need absolutely no injections at all, the only disadvantage of this being that once disconected you have no insulin going in as a continuous thing like you wud with the background jabs so it is failrly easy to get into dka, but ive been on a medronic pump for a year and unless you muck things up completly it rarely happens hope this helps

emma

Emma
Thank you so much!
But without the background "mopping up" in between the QA, won't there be just highs and lows and not just a nice even line of BG results? Fortunately for me, I am still getting used to this pump. We've got a few months to get ratio's and stuff right. To think years ago it was 1 injection a day, I had 7 yesterday - roll on the day when I don't have any!!
Thanks again Emma!
Jackieh

Head along to www.diabetessupport.co.uk............they have their own pump section in their forum and lots of pumpers, some of which are using the medtronic, who will be willing to share their experiences with you.

Its unlikely you will hear them say anything negative about the pump. I am starting the ball rolling tomorrow to see if I can get one.

As you say your sensitive to insulin and have lost your hypo awareness so you really would benefit from a pump, the doses you can deliver are tiny, really tiny.

The hard work is there in terms of testing and night time tests but once you have settled into it you will never look back.

Some people have hypo unawareness all the time regardless of what they do, but for most people running your sugars high for a while will be fine, and you don't need to worry about complications, personally the risk of going low, unconscious, comma is far less appealing than running high for a while and not really increasing the risk of complications. Treatment for complications we all may get are good and getting better.

Hope to see you over at diabetessupport.......................

Hi, as novorapidboi26 I am one of those who whatever I've tried still can't get my hypo awareness back , but since I have been on the pump my hba1c has improved greatly , I too joined the diabetes support forum at novorapidboi26 recommendation and can say the pumpers section is a big help ~ Jenny

Well my pump and I have been friends since Wednesday...initially very concerned but am now beginning to trust it more! Doing BG tests very frequently (hourly). The Credentialled Diabetic Educator (not a pumper) failed to "enable" a function on the pump that allowed for boluses! before she went home. So there was some s..t hitting the fan for a while but I now think my endo is impressed with my manual reading skills! (and confidence to fiddle!). Helen