Love my Pump

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I think all that bolusing would make me really anxious. But it must be okay if so many people have them!
 
The thing is that the pump mimics the action of a healthy pancreas much more closely than injections can. The basal insulin trickles in continuously (instead of a big surge of basal from an injection). You can programme different basal rates for every hour of the day, whereas with Lantus/levemir, once it's in you're stuck with it, and few people have basal needs that are flat across the day. The basal can be adjusted by 1/40 of a unit of insulin, unlike injections where you have to adjust by 1/2 or a whole unit!

With the bolusing, you can calculate an accurate bolus to the nearest 1/20 of a unit (0.05), instead of having to round up or down to the nearest half or whole unit on injections. The pump keeps a memory record of all boluses given, so you can't accidentally overdose.

There is a steep learning curve, but well worth it. 🙂
 
So, they've pretty much invented a prosthetic pancreas.

How often do you have to change your son's cannula?

By the way, thanks Redkite. You're a mine of information. Worthy of a heroine of the month, I reckon. Your son's very lucky.
 
Bloden said:
So, they've pretty much invented a prosthetic pancreas.

How often do you have to change your son's cannula?

By the way, thanks Redkite. You're a mine of information. Worthy of a heroine of the month, I reckon. Your son's very lucky.
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Oh thankyou, I am blushing now! But since most of my information was learnt from others (e.g.cwd forum, this forum, etc.) I can't take all the credit!

He changes his cannula every 2 days. Most people change it every 3, but he gets absorption problems at the cannula site if it's left in for a third day.

I wish it was a prosthetic pancreas. It's a marvellous tool, but it still requires user input, ie. tired old brain having to think! 😉
 
Bloden said:
So, they've pretty much invented a prosthetic pancreas.

How often do you have to change your son's cannula?

By the way, thanks Redkite. You're a mine of information. Worthy of a heroine of the month, I reckon. Your son's very lucky.
Click to expand...

Cannulas have been my biggest problem, started with teflon, tried different types of angled sets and lengths, moved on to steel, experimented with different needle lengths, now use 10mm....found to be best for me but still have to change at least every 36 hours. Metal should not be left in for longer than 3 days. I would not move back to MDI though, the delivery of basal insulin keeps my levels pretty good which was very difficult with MDI. My spikes are now less common and dawn phenomen is a thing of the past, it took me a while to work out my basal requirement but over a 24 hour period it looks like this:

00.00-03.00 - 1u/hr
03.00-04.00 - 1.5u/hr
04.00-06.00 - 2.5u/hr
06.00-08.00 - 3u/hr
08.00-12.00 - 2u/hr
12.00-14.00 - 1u/hr
14.00-23.00 - 2u/hr
23.00-24.00 - 1u/hr

Total Basal 44.5 units (similar to my Lantus when I was on MDI but the delivery is much better)

This does vary a little due to seasonal changes, the odd tweek here and there! 🙂
 
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