CGM insulin pumps. . any experience with diabetic seizures?

[loopeylou]

Hi
My husband has been type 1 for 16 years ( he is now 34 years old). He generally has good control, tests regularly and keeps very fit. but .He tends to try to keep his blood sugars on the lower side. His annual blood test was 5.8.

Since we met 5 years ago he has had 4-5 hypoglygemic seizures ( involving convulsions and loss of consciousness). These have always occured during the night and his blood sugar has been around 1-2 mmol. I have called an ambulance a couple of times but have dealt with it myself on the other occasions when he wasn't unconscious. He had his last seizure a week ago.

My husband has just gone away on business for a few nights. I am absolutely petrified he will have a seizure when I am not with him and of what would happen.
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with continuous blood sugar monitors and insulin pumps. I have been thinking a lot about whether this might be a way to alert him during the night to hypos and so to avoid the seizures.

Appreciative of any advice!!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi Loopey Lou

Welcome to the forum.

Funding for pump and/or CGM can be a bit of a postcode lottery, and will depend in part on how the NICE guidelines are interpreted where you live.

In general funding should be given for a pump where all the MDI options have been tried but A1c remains above 8.5% or the person suffers disabling recurrent (or fear of recurrent) hypoglycemia in attempting to get an on-target A1c.

There is currently no approval process for NHS funding of CGM (since there is no NICE technology appraisal for CGM), so you would need to get your partner's case reviewed on an individual basis by a supportive Consultant and helpful PCT/CCG.

However, even without CGM, an insulin pump does have an excellent record in helping people to resolve or reduce severe and/or nocturnal hypoglycemia, so if your partner is interested it would be well worth having some exploratory conversations with DSN/clinic.

More info here: http://www.nice.org.uk/TA151

Good luck!

 

[Redkite]

Hi, is your hubby already on a pump? If not he'd be an ideal candidate for one.

My son uses the Medtronic Veo, and we bought the CGMS transmitter and get funding for 10 sensors per year (we could buy more ourselves but at ?55 each can't afford them). You can edit the sensor settings to alert you if BG falls below a certain level, and the Veo is the only pump to have a "low suspend" feature which turns off basal delivery if BG levels fall below your required lower limit and you don't respond by pressing any buttons. This is quite a good safety feature of the Veo. The drawbacks are that the pump alarms aren't very loud (this might be ok for an adult, but is annoying for a parent when the child is in another room with their pump under the duvet!), and also sometimes the CGMS readings (interstitial glucose) can be at variance with the actual blood glucose, so it's possible to go low when the sensor thinks you're higher, or even for the pump to suspend for a low or bleep its alarm when actually your BG is perfectly ok. It's good technology but not perfect yet!

The dexcom seems highly recommended by those who use it, and parents whose children have tried both seem to find the dexcom's accuracy better than the medtronic's. the dexcom also has louder alarms, and the readings go to a standalone device, whereas the Medtronic sensor readings appear on the pump screen. So you can use dexcom CGMS on injections if you self-fund. One drawback with the dexcom is that you can't take paracetamol, well you can but it messes up the read-out, can't remember why.....

 

[Redkite]

P.S. Do you have a glucagon injection kit at home to use if he loses consciousness?

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hi
My husband has been type 1 for 16 years ( he is now 34 years old). He generally has good control, tests regularly and keeps very fit. but .He tends to try to keep his blood sugars on the lower side. His annual blood test was 5.8.

Since we met 5 years ago he has had 4-5 hypoglygemic seizures ( involving convulsions and loss of consciousness). These have always occured during the night and his blood sugar has been around 1-2 mmol. I have called an ambulance a couple of times but have dealt with it myself on the other occasions when he wasn't unconscious. He had his last seizure a week ago.

My husband has just gone away on business for a few nights. I am absolutely petrified he will have a seizure when I am not with him and of what would happen.
I was wondering if anyone has any experience with continuous blood sugar monitors and insulin pumps. I have been thinking a lot about whether this might be a way to alert him during the night to hypos and so to avoid the seizures.

Appreciative of any advice!!

Sounds as if your hubby needs to run a bit higher at night.
Is he also aware of the changes in the law regarding assisted hypos at night and driving?
Also if your husband had a seizure then it's an automatic driving ban.