Looks like I will be having a pump

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Bessiemay

Bessiemay

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
i haven't been around much lately as my husband has a nasty illness and will be starting treatment next week. In the meantime the DSN gave me a week with a CGM to try and find out what is going on with my random levels. Apart from anything else it seems I have been going hypo during the night without knowing. I had a pump assessment yesterday and will be trying a saline pump just to see if I can bear it and if so the doc said he will request funding. I realise it may be a while but I find I have changed my thinking from 'I couldn't possibly deal with all that complicated stuff' to this could be the way to get my BS sorted. Have been reading posts on this board and I am looking forward to it. Many thanks for the information given to others.
 
Great news Bessiemay, getting to try it out as it were should help to make the decision 🙂
 
Good luck Bessiemay, I hope the trial works out well for you 🙂 Good luck to your hubby too, I hope his treatment is successful and that he is back to full health very soon 🙂
 
Bessiemay said:
i haven't been around much lately as my husband has a nasty illness and will be starting treatment next week. In the meantime the DSN gave me a week with a CGM to try and find out what is going on with my random levels. Apart from anything else it seems I have been going hypo during the night without knowing. I had a pump assessment yesterday and will be trying a saline pump just to see if I can bear it and if so the doc said he will request funding. I realise it may be a while but I find I have changed my thinking from 'I couldn't possibly deal with all that complicated stuff' to this could be the way to get my BS sorted. Have been reading posts on this board and I am looking forward to it. Many thanks for the information given to others.
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Good luck, you will be fine. The pump is self explanatory though as instructions appear on the screen.
Buy yourself the book pumping insulin by John Walsh (amazon)
I hope your husband is soon on the way to recovery as well.
 
Bessiemay said:
i haven't been around much lately as my husband has a nasty illness and will be starting treatment next week. In the meantime the DSN gave me a week with a CGM to try and find out what is going on with my random levels. Apart from anything else it seems I have been going hypo during the night without knowing. I had a pump assessment yesterday and will be trying a saline pump just to see if I can bear it and if so the doc said he will request funding. I realise it may be a while but I find I have changed my thinking from 'I couldn't possibly deal with all that complicated stuff' to this could be the way to get my BS sorted. Have been reading posts on this board and I am looking forward to it. Many thanks for the information given to others.
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Once you get used to it "Wild Horses" would not get it off me :D. Hope hubby on the mend & please tell him we were asking after him. Good luck 🙂
 
I hope your saline trial goes well Bessiemay and you feel a pump is something you would be happy to use 🙂 I hope your husband starts to improve soon with his treatment. Good luck 🙂
 
They always sound are lot more difficult than they actually are - we merrily talk about such things as TBRs and multiwave boluses all the time - but they are just 'extra features' you get with them - and jolly useful things to have as add-ons - once you've got used to all the ordinary stuff. Which is basically not that much different to MDI, it's just the delivery of the insulin that's different - and if nothing else at all, it saves you having to affix a needle and deciding where to stick it 5 times a day!

The first times any of us used these extra features - it was not without trepidation, I can tell you. But it works ! LOL

And the pump itself is not half as awkward as you think it might be.

Hope it all goes well !
 
Thank you all for your replies and also for your good wishes for my OH. I will certainly buy the book you recommend Sue. It's the enthusiasm that most people on here have for their pumps that encourages me.
 
Hope all goes well with your trial. Sounds a good idea to check you can tolerate the pump box and tubing before relying on it for insulin administration.
 
I hope that you get on well with the pump. I was anti pump but TrophyWench persuaded me to apply for one and it is the best thing that I have ever done🙂 I hope that your husband's treatment works really well x
 
Bessiemay said:
Thank you all for your replies and also for your good wishes for my OH. I will certainly buy the book you recommend Sue. It's the enthusiasm that most people on here have for their pumps that encourages me.
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To start with in can be a bit fraught 😱 TW was tempted to hurl her pump off of the top of a multi storey at one point. Once the teething problems are sorted things are def better and no quite so much work. Just don't expect miracles to star with lol.
 
I've now got my trial pump for a couple of weeks to see if I like it ( I do ) I'm pleased it's only saline in it or I probably wouldn't be here by now! I have been told that there will be 6 pumps to choose from so I will give this one a few days before I say yes and get all the names. I remember the insight and omnipod which I've read about on here with good reviews so that's a start. She did say that the ones with cgms wouldn't have the CGM part funded. Is that normal or just that I don't fit the criteria. It's good to see all the posts from enthusiastic pumpers.
 
Bessiemay said:
I've now got my trial pump for a couple of weeks to see if I like it ( I do ) I'm pleased it's only saline in it or I probably wouldn't be here by now! I have been told that there will be 6 pumps to choose from so I will give this one a few days before I say yes and get all the names. I remember the insight and omnipod which I've read about on here with good reviews so that's a start. She did say that the ones with cgms wouldn't have the CGM part funded. Is that normal or just that I don't fit the criteria. It's good to see all the posts from enthusiastic pumpers.
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Hi Bessiemay,
glad you are happy playing with the trial pump 🙂
Pumps on offer are the
Omnipod
Animas Vibe (CGM)
Medtronic (CGM)
Roche insight This only uses a certain cannula and only takes novarapid
DanaR
Can't think of no 6 sorry.

CGM is very difficult to get funded so no it's nothing to do with you personally.
If you want a CGM though the cheapest option is to go for the Animas Vibe as many people can get the sensors to last weeks rather than the 6 -8 days from Medtronic.
Hope that helps a bit 🙂
 
Thanks Sue I will have a look to see if there are reviews. I like the sound of the insight because of reviews.
 
Sue _ I remember it well - and it hasn't ever surprised me to read that various people who I regard as fairly normal, intelligent people 'like me' - have nearly ALL gone through the same thing that I did.

Perhaps I sounded a bit extra forlorn about it at the time Sue? - at that time 4+ years ago it was only a couple of years really since I'd recovered from having a complete mental breakdown - which I now lay firmly at the door of a number of things at the time, the straw that actually broke this camel's back being the terrible affect that statins had on my brain - so when I found this here pump thing didn't appear to be complying with the diabetes intuition I'd gained over the previous 3+ decades - I really felt the wind , which I'd only just managed to regain again - had been taken out of my sails - and I DID feel like chucking it in the bin.

BUT when I actually sat down and had a talk to myself using logic - instead of emotion - and asked myself if I REALLY wanted to be beaten by a few bits of plastic and some electronics - of course the answer was a very definite NO !! Which was the point when I said to you, Sue - Thanks - but No thanks - this is something I NEED to work through on my OWN. Essential for my own sanity - any benefit to my diabetes was almost secondary really - just an added bonus - should it actually benefit at all !

Well it did benefit. And it still does !! I'm now on under 9u a day of basal - instead of 18 or 20u. My A1c continues to hover at high 6s, sometimes like 7.1 - today's result was 52 - and I can't say I've been trying that hard, frankly, due to various 'just life' reasons my eye has been quite off the diabetes ball. I'm happy with that, it seems to suit me. Hypos are rare, and frustratingly usually because I'm late eating in the evening and just forget to allow for it - but we're only talking middle 3s anyway - not dangerous ones.

It's just mind over matter sometimes, Bessie - but it IS logical - every bit of it - so you WILL get there - but only if YOU want to !
 
Gosh Jenny ( my name is Jenny too, I can never think of user names until after I've done it.) That is an inspirational story and I am so pleased to hear that you beat it and your levels, to me, sound great. Thank you for sharing. I realise it won't be without effort and I really feel I have no alternative so I am looking forward to starting for real.
 
Great news and all the best for hubby's treatment and health.

Just to add I never had a meltdown period with pumpie but then I have flatliner basal rates (same amount each hour) so my basals were easy to sort which makes other settings and twiddling around much more straightforward. Also to add I'm on Animas Vibe (like Sue) & love it 🙂 it has its irritations but none of them are perfect ;-) all have their little idiosyncrasies. In case it's a factor for you, the Vibe doesn't have a remote control/meter thingy, you have to access it directly.

Good luck with everything, you won't regret it!
 
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I'd miss the handset so much if I had a pump without one.

You know the 640G, does it 'pick up' your BG from your meter - or do you have to use your meter and then tell the pump the answer? - see I love having it all in one place, and hitting the 'Deliver' button without getting El Pumpo out of wherever it's residing that day!
 
ingrid said:
Great news and all the best for hubby's treatment and health.

Just to add I never had a meltdown period with pumpie but then I have flatliner basal rates (same amount each hour) so my basals were easy to sort which makes other settings and twiddling around much more straightforward. Also to add I'm on Animas Vibe (like Sue) & love it 🙂 it has its irritations but none of them are perfect ;-) all have their little idiosyncrasies. In case it's a factor for you, the Vibe doesn't have a remote control/meter thingy, you have to access it directly.

Good luck with everything, you won't regret it!
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Not having a remote is a God send as one less thing to go wrong :D
 
Ingrid thank you for your good wishes for my hubby. He is going on ok. Pleased to hear you adapted to your pump so well. I expect trouble because it's so erratic now on MDI but who knows.

I quite like the idea of a remote control but I will definitely need a bigger handbag. I noticed there's a sale at Kipling Kookykat
 
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