Hey everyone. I've been type 1 for nearly 10 years now. I've recently been looking into insulin pumps and thought the best people to talk to would be other diabetics for advice. If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it! Thank you x
Good morning Kayleigh and welcome to the forum.
I am just one year ahead of you having been diagnosed 11 years ago. After 3 years on Injections I switched to a pump because I wanted more flexibility. It involves quite a bit of work at the start but the advantages far outweigh that. The main advantages that I find are:
More accurate dosing of Bolus and basal insulin
I am able to change my basal insulin by 0.01, and my my Bolus by 0.1 units. This gives me much more accurate dosing rather than having to round up to the nearest half unit as I did with pens. This was very useful for me as I am still on small doses.
Fewer ‘injections’ but more deliveries and no one notices
I put one cannula in each day, or some last 1 1/2 days, rather than doing about 8 Injections a day
On my pump (Accuchek Chek Combo) I can deliver the insulin remotely y Bluetooth, so I do everything via my testkit using the Bolus calculator. As the pump is tucked away it is all very discreet.
Changing basal rates for different activity levels
I can adjust my basal rate, turning it down for increased activity: if I am out walking or doing an exercise class II turn it down, If I am being driven on a long journey I turn it up quite a bit. Through trial and improvement I have found what works for me
Fewer hypos overnight
I am able to programme my basal rate hour by hour to match what I need, and I found I needed less insulin around 3:00/ 4:00 am. On Injections, although I used a slip Levemir I couldn’t overcome this. On the pump I now wake with good levels most of the time, rather than a bounce back from a hypo, or from eating at bedtime to head off a hypo
More flexible for unplanned activity.
I no longer need to know at the previous meal, or in the morning, what I will be doing for the day. I can make adjustments for unplanned activities which will take effect within the hour
Practicalities
I am unaware of the cannula most of the time, and if people ask about it I have to hunt around to find where it is, so it doesn’t bother me having something attached to me. I use a long tubing so I can hook the pump onto my bra and it doesn’t pull on the cannula. I don’t like having the pump attached on a strap at night so I just put it in the bed, and the long tubing means that it just stays put and I can turn over without a problem. Also it rarely gets in the way and we soon got used it being with us in bed, and it is robust so copes with being squashed sometimes.
It took some time at the start to get the basal doses correct for me, and I regularly check these with fasting tests (made a lot easier with the Libre, but that is another story). The only disadvantage that I can think off is the amount of stuff I have to carry when I go away. But with a drop of 10% on my HbA1c when I switched to the pump it is well worth it.
I hope that helps, but I am sure that there are things that I have forgotten as they are just ‘normal’ life now, so any questions that you think of just ask. Nothing is considered silly on here.
