How long have you had a pump?

[Inka]

Just wondering how long everyone has been a pump user? I’ve googled and there don’t seem to be many users who’ve had a pump more than 20 years. I ask partly out of interest, but also because I read (and have found) that cannula sites can ‘stop working’. So, I’m wondering if there’s a max time or anything.

 

[Sally71]

My daughter is coming up for 10 years in July. I can’t say that sites have stopped working as such, however for the first 9 years she always put the cannula on her abdomen, alternate sides, and never had a problem until last summer when her skin suddenly started to rebel and now she gets horrific contact dermatitis if she tries to stick anything there at all. So now has to use her arms for cannulas, which is also where she puts sensors so I do wonder how long that will last!

 

[nonethewiser]

10 years here. Surely if you rotate cannula sites regularly issue shouldn't occur.

Recently been using legs which not done before with surprisingly good results.

 

[helli]

Hmmmm, I wonder if that would also be 20 years from now for a new pumper or whether the cannulas have evolved.

 

[Flower]

24 years for me, I started on a Disetronic pump in 1998, this was my second Disetronic in 2003. Disetronic were bought out by Roche in 2003 I think. It was such a reliable pump and lasted 4/5 years without any issue.



I’ve had serious issues with cannulas over the last few years & most of my stomach is a no go zone for cannulas as they don’t absorb and react badly enough to push the cannula out from my skin. I have one area down my right hand side that absorbs still & it’s hard not to overuse it.

I had to insert the 1990’s/early 2000’s cannula by hand without an inserter and the needles were bigger compared to today. A lot of my damage was from longer length syringe needles in 70’s/80’s before needles were on prescription, I used to reuse them to get good value from each box I bought 😳

 

[Inka]

Another D-Tron user! Mine was blue too 😎 I loved them. Pretty indestructible. I dropped mine on the road once and it was completely fine.

I didn’t realise you’d had a pump so long @Flower My stomach was the first place to give me issues too. I couldn’t use it for literally years. I’ve managed it again recently but it’s only got a few places I can use and is quite erratic.

 

[Inka]

Oops @Flower I got so excited at seeing the D-Tron, I didn’t ask if you’ve ever considered going back to injections or using a combination of pump plus injections? One guy I read about took half his basal by injection and the rest by pump (due to absorption issues) and he also had a two day pump break each week. Another person used the pump for basal but bolused by pen.

Myself, I now take pump breaks. Now I’ve got the Libre, I can compare TIR between the two.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Feels like it’s still quite a new thing for me, but it was Nov 2011 when I started, which makes it over 10 years!

 

[Flower]

They were such robust pumps weren’t they @Inka I loved my D-tron once I got over the initial fear of using a pump.

I wouldn’t want to go back to injections or a pump/ injection combination. I started using a pump after having night seizures from long acting insulin which was the start of me losing hypo awareness. I’d be too scared to inject more than a couple of units of insulin at once. I feel safer with the low level of circulating insulin from a pump.

 

[Inka]

Same reason I got a pump - awful nocturnal hypos! They took over my life. I was really scared when I first took a pump break. It was around a year ago and I was so afraid to inject the basal at first. I tested every hour or two during the night. But then I settled on a small dose that seems to work. It’s half my morning basal dose. I could probably take a unit more but I’d rather not.

Because of a period of absorption issues with my cannula sites, my TIR was actually better on injections. It was strange to be injecting so often though after using a pump! At the moment I’m trying to pump but to do some boluses by pen.

 

[trophywench]

A lot of my tummy absorbed poorly before I started pumping. More areas on it have since joined. I started to use my bum, but there's some useless areas on both cheeks now - and I haven't been able to use my outer thighs since before I started pumping - early noughties. It gets trickier by the year.

 

[Rob Oldfield]

July 4th 2011 for me when my first Medtronic Veo turned up so I'm counting that as 11-15 years. Interesting going back over old emails of the day..... habitually waking with levels in the 20s due to MDI's inability to cope with dawn phenomenon. Ah, the good old days!

 

[Inka]

A lot of my tummy absorbed poorly before I started pumping. More areas on it have since joined. I started to use my bum, but there's some useless areas on both cheeks now - and I haven't been able to use my outer thighs since before I started pumping - early noughties. It gets trickier by the year.

It’s a pity they can’t invent an insulin that didn’t mess with our skin and absorption. That would be much more useful than all the so-fast-you-can-inject-it-two-weeks-after-your-breakfast insulins.

I never read any research about this - insulin types, needles, quantity of insulin v. quantity of injections, etc, etc.

 

[trophywench]

Think it's far more to do with constant damage subcutaneously. than it is with the insulin, but of course I have nothing to base that on except the feeling that using yourself as a pincushion 50 years, having a laparascopic sterilisation followed some time later by a total hysterectomy when they also found a deal of endometriosis as well as the massive fibroids they already knew about and why I decided to dispense with it all, opting to also get rid of the ovaries (one of which was already dead from being strangled by the fibroids, plus my mom had ovarian cancer when she was 74 and the only symptom she had was bleeding from the usual place - except thankfully she realised that was all wrong at her age, so that decided me.

Got to be internal scarring surely and yes I know there are not all that many 'battle scars' visible externally - but who knows how many are on the inside? - I don't.

 

[nonethewiser]

24 years for me, I started on a Disetronic pump in 1998, this was my second Disetronic in 2003. Disetronic were bought out by Roche in 2003 I think. It was such a reliable pump and lasted 4/5 years without any issue.

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I’ve had serious issues with cannulas over the last few years & most of my stomach is a no go zone for cannulas as they don’t absorb and react badly enough to push the cannula out from my skin. I have one area down my right hand side that absorbs still & it’s hard not to overuse it.

I had to insert the 1990’s/early 2000’s cannula by hand without an inserter and the needles were bigger compared to today. A lot of my damage was from longer length syringe needles in 70’s/80’s before needles were on prescription, I used to reuse them to get good value from each box I bought 😳

Those old needles did do some damage Flower have to admit, plus as you say reusing then didn't help matters, thank goodness times have changed.

 

[trophywench]

We all did it Bruce, bearing in mind some started off with 12mm hedgestakes which had to be boiled up, I was given 3, with no info whatsoever about getting them sharpened so blunt hedgestakes at that. Even once the NHS supplied disposables you only got max 1 packet of 10 per month.

 

[RichardS]

12 and a half years for me. My abdomen is a virtual no go area now which is why I switched to a patch pump earlier this year and now use arms, upper abdomen and chest (all seem to work well).

I am lucky enough to be funded for the Dexcom G6 CGS which is what I could not live without now. I think I could go back to using a pen/injections though if it comes to it but the CGS no way.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

12 and a half years for me. My abdomen is a virtual no go area now which is why I switched to a patch pump earlier this year and now use arms, upper abdomen and chest (all seem to work well).

I am lucky enough to be funded for the Dexcom G6 CGS which is what I could not live without now. I think I could go back to using a pen/injections though if it comes to it but the CGS no way.

Hello and welcome to the forum.
On what grounds did you get funding for the Dexcom G6? I'm curious as some have no issues getting the funding yet others who qualify can not get the funding.

 

[RichardS]

Night-time hypos was the reason why I got funded for the Dexcom. I had successfully used Libre 1 for 5 months before my skin started reacting to the adhesive to the point where I got the reaction the moment it was attached. I really liked the Libre before the reaction and going back to the finger pricks for the next 2 years before the Dexcom was a real retrograde step. I also react to the Medtrum adhesive but due to the lesser time a pump is attached for - and also using a Hyperfix-like tape as under-patch - I am persevering for now.

 

[helli]

I was funded for a pump due to highs and lows associated with exercise. I have mentioned before that I am very active and always have been. I found cardio would cause my levels to plummet and resistance training (including my climbing) would cause my levels to rocket. It never stopped me but it limited my exercise. When I climbed, I would have to stop before my friends because my levels were too high. When I went for a cycle ride, my water bottle was full of fruit squash in an attempt to keep my levels up.
Since getting my first pump 6 years ago, I have been suspending my basal when doing cardio and increasing it when doing resistance training. I can now cycle further and climb for longer whilst keeping my levels reasonably in range - I wouldn't say they are perfect but much much better than they used to be.