Newbie

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

Joanne5

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All

I have just joined this group as I want to talk to others who now about having diabetes and who can share their experiences and knowledge with me.
I am 38 years old, been diagnosed type1 for 3 years with no good control, Have been accepted for a pump, - just waiting for the call. have so many questions and am starting to worry about having it. Any advice would be helpful. Have had to choose which pump i want and have gone with the accuchek spirit combo. hope its the right one! Does anyone else use this pump and how do they find it.
Hope everyone is ok and thanks in advance
 
Joanne5 said:
Hi All

I have just joined this group as I want to talk to others who now about having diabetes and who can share their experiences and knowledge with me.
I am 38 years old, been diagnosed type1 for 3 years with no good control, Have been accepted for a pump, - just waiting for the call. have so many questions and am starting to worry about having it. Any advice would be helpful. Have had to choose which pump i want and have gone with the accuchek spirit combo. hope its the right one! Does anyone else use this pump and how do they find it.
Hope everyone is ok and thanks in advance
Click to expand...

Hi Joanne,

I have the combo, I have been pumping for 7 months (previously MDI for 14 years) my control has improved and it gives you much more flexibility. You just have to work out your insulin/carb ratios and......your basal rates (hard work!!) It will be like being diagnosed again, but well worth it! 🙂
 
Hi Joanne

Yes, me too! Phil and I got ours within about a month of each other, I had mine in May.

My control is better too but let's be honest - it's no easy feat keeping it there especially getting it adjusted right to begin with. You just get used to it again though, same as MDI. And of course, you can't do it without knowing exactly what your carb ratio and correction rates are. But you needed that for MDI anyway. It's something you have to decide you are going to do and you do have to devote some of your attention to it, otherwise it has the potential to give you no better control than MDI.

And then the same as MDI as soon as you think 'sorted' the weather will change and you'll need to tweak all the settings again! Such is life for a diabetic LOL
 
trophywench said:
Hi Joanne

Yes, me too! Phil and I got ours within about a month of each other, I had mine in May.

My control is better too but let's be honest - it's no easy feat keeping it there especially getting it adjusted right to begin with. You just get used to it again though, same as MDI. And of course, you can't do it without knowing exactly what your carb ratio and correction rates are. But you needed that for MDI anyway. It's something you have to decide you are going to do and you do have to devote some of your attention to it, otherwise it has the potential to give you no better control than MDI.

And then the same as MDI as soon as you think 'sorted' the weather will change and you'll need to tweak all the settings again! Such is life for a diabetic LOL
Click to expand...


.......but.....MDI could not give me a consistent background basal dose, my pump can! :D
 
Thanks Phil & tropywench. your comments are very encouraging🙂
I feel at the moment that diabetes is controlling me and I hate this, I want to be in control - if that makes sense. From what ive read about going on the pump i understand it will be hard work especially at the beginning but i am determined to master it. How did you find setting it up, with working, testing, getting use to having pump attatched etc. I work shifts, sometimes working alone and hope this doesnt cause added pressure to setup.
 
Joanne5 said:
Thanks Phil & tropywench. your comments are very encouraging🙂
I feel at the moment that diabetes is controlling me and I hate this, I want to be in control - if that makes sense. From what ive read about going on the pump i understand it will be hard work especially at the beginning but i am determined to master it. How did you find setting it up, with working, testing, getting use to having pump attatched etc. I work shifts, sometimes working alone and hope this doesnt cause added pressure to setup.
Click to expand...


If you are concerned about being 'wired up' try asking your DSN to be fitted with a CGM for a few days, just like the CGM, you will forget you are wearing a pump after a very short period of time! Pumps are hard work at the beginning especially and possibly at other times as well...they are not a cure and not a magical device, pumping is hard work, you have to do lots of finger pricking and fasting tests to get your basal rates right. Working shifts might prove tricky but you will learn to adapt with Temporary basal rates and all sorts of other features that you will get used to using. 🙂
 
Hi Joanne

Firstly welcome to the forum..

I've been using the Combo since my up-grade from the accu-chek spirit pump last year...

Old trick to get a feeling about what it's like to wear a pump, is to use your mobile phone, get a piece of string or ribbon 60cm long (the most popular length of tubing for pumpers) then tape one end onto your phone and the other end to your stomach.. Wear it for a couple hours, a day, overnight to get the feel.

As to pumping and shifts no problems at all... On the combo you have the ability to program in 5 different basal profiles, so all you do is have your rota day off programmed in as your 1st profile, then morning, afternoon, nights (if you do them) shifts as separate profiles then flip between which ever you need...

Work out your off day first, then sort out your shift profiles once you've got your main sorted... What I did with mine was set temp rates see how these worked if they worked fine I used the information (temp will also show you how much insulin is actually being delivered over an hour as well as the percentage) then programmed it in..

I would also suggest that you invest in a book called 'Pumping Insulin' by John Walsh (the pumpers bible)

What sort of work and how hard it is to set up the pump and get it all sorted, really depends on several factors... If you already know what is causing problems with control, and you'll well practised at carb counting then it's not too bad, When I started pumping apart from the extra BG's required it wasn't any harder than my MDI management. And of cause how you deal with new technology.
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the forums Joanne5 🙂
 
Hi Joanne , i have been on the combo for 17 months 🙂 i have been diabetic for 31 years and always had HBa1cs in double figures since going on pump they are in 6s :D
 
I can't comment on the Pump - but would like to welcome you to the forum.
 
Yes Joanne

The brilliant thing for you on shifts with a pump instead of MDI, is the ease that you will be able to swap between different basal requirements for different shifts, which you could never do with MDI. You never have any long-acting insulin hanging round - so you never have to factor it in.

Hope your DSN is supportive - mine is fantastic and I love her to bits!
 
Pumps are brilliant for shift work - I'm not sure how I would have coped for long on MDI when I did shift work. For example, when I did 7am - 3pm shifts I needed little to no basal, but on the 1 - 9pm shifts I needed almost my 'normal' amount.

I promise you'll forget you're wearing it after a couple of days. It becomes second nature very quickly!
 
Hi Joanne,
Welcome......I've had my pump for almost a year. Since on a different pump, will defer combo advice to others.

As far as pumping goes - before I decided to leap, I wasn't sure if anxiety would strike.......that never happened and I took to pumping. In initial 2 weeks, there were lots of finger pokes 10X/day for a few days. I was lucky - straight out of the gate, my "team" had set basal near perfect. There's only a slight difference in rates year-over-year. I'm fortunate to have cgm, so my endo and I use it to tweak basals.

As trophywench suggests - weather does play a role. With hotter than usual summer (Detroit), I noticed significant reduction in bolus needs. Sure enough, my usage increased when fall returned.

Hope to see you around the forum.
 
Hi All - Hope you are all ok.
Thanks everyone for your advice and kind words, feel a bit more at ease about having pump ..( Im glad I joined this site 🙂 ) will certainly be trying out the phone to see how it feels and buying the book this weekend.

How do you find wearing the pump at night - Where do you put it, have visions of getting up in night and forgetting its attatched and it dangling and coming out.

Does anyone have problems with the canula's and how do you find inserting them whats better teflon or steel.

I believe the combo is a bit more technical to use than some others, hope i can get my head round it. How do you find it
Sorry for the all questions
 
Joanne5 said:
Hi All - Hope you are all ok.
Thanks everyone for your advice and kind words, feel a bit more at ease about having pump ..( Im glad I joined this site 🙂 ) will certainly be trying out the phone to see how it feels and buying the book this weekend.

How do you find wearing the pump at night - Where do you put it, have visions of getting up in night and forgetting its attatched and it dangling and coming out.

Does anyone have problems with the canula's and how do you find inserting them whats better teflon or steel.

I believe the combo is a bit more technical to use than some others, hope i can get my head round it. How do you find it
Sorry for the all questions
Click to expand...

I just leave the pump connected and lying loose in the bed with me, I use 50cm transfer sets, so quite long, I have never pulled 1 out yet. You get used to it, pretty quickly. Cannulas have been my biggest frustration, Teflon didn't suit me, so I use 8mm steel (90 degree). I am sure you will get your head around the combo, it's very straightforward and not scary at all! 🙂
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top