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Newbie..

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adambest

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Parent of person with diabetes
Hi all, great to see a forum dedicated to the fight against diabetes. My 12 year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 this week. I'll be reading through the forums. I'd like to find out more about continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and insulin pumps which automatically administer insulin after automatically reading the glucose monitor, in particular anyone who actually physically uses one of these and has first hand experience.

Thanks!
 
Welcome to the forum adambest.
 
Hi Adambest and welcome to the forum. I have an insulin pump and have used a cgm in the past. I used a dexcom which I used with an app on my phone which alarmed when my blood sugars reached parameters I set among other things. It didn't link to my pump though. This technology is out there and is being trialled also in Cambridge. I am hopeful that in the not too distant future a closed loop system (or artificial pancreas) will be readily available for Type 1s, although I wonder if they will be on the NHS - looking at the current libre situation.
 
stephknits said:
Hi Adambest and welcome to the forum. I have an insulin pump and have used a cgm in the past. I used a dexcom which I used with an app on my phone which alarmed when my blood sugars reached parameters I set among other things. It didn't link to my pump though. This technology is out there and is being trialled also in Cambridge. I am hopeful that in the not too distant future a closed loop system (or artificial pancreas) will be readily available for Type 1s, although I wonder if they will be on the NHS - looking at the current libre situation.
Click to expand...

Thanks stephknits (and Ralph-YK) for the warm welcome. Steph... that's interesting that you use the Dexcom insulin pump. It's the same pump that our local hospital will hopefully be moving my son onto within the next few months, once he has mastered the art of carb-counting, which they seem to want him to do before moving him onto the pump. I will look into this pump a bit more. I've never heard the term 'artificial pancreas' before, but I think that's a great way of thinking about how the CGM and pump can work together to effectively do what the pancreas does (or used to do pre T1 diagnosis). I believe that UCLH in London are the leaders in pumps and CGMs so probably a good place to start... and yes I've been keeping an eye on the Libre product as well which is apparently going to be available for all next year. Thanks for your response. Really appreciate this. Can I just ask - are those your historic HbA1c readings? They look pretty decent so the pump must be doing a good job..
 
adambest said:
Hi all, great to see a forum dedicated to the fight against diabetes. My 12 year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 this week. I'll be reading through the forums. I'd like to find out more about continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and insulin pumps which automatically administer insulin after automatically reading the glucose monitor, in particular anyone who actually physically uses one of these and has first hand experience.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hi Adam, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm sorry to hear about your son's diagnosis, how did it come about? If you want to know more about pumps and CGM technology I would highly recommend looking at the INPUT website:

https://www.inputdiabetes.org.uk/

I'd also recommend getting hold of a copy of the excellent Type 1 Diabetes in Children Adolescents and Young People by Ragnar Hanas, which covers all aspects of living with Type 1 and is a very useful reference guide 🙂

What isnulin is he on currently? There is quite a learning curve to begin with, so take things at a pace you can manage and do ask if there is anything we can help with - it's important that none of you become overwhelmed by everything as much of what you learn will come from experience, knowing how he reacts to different foods, getting his doses settled and learning how he manages with different activity levels and so on. Please let us know how you get on 🙂
 
Yes, my Hba1c s to date - although I haven't posted the last 2 which have both been 6.5.

I didn't make my post very clear, sorry! The dexcom I used is a CGM. As far as I'm aware, dexcom don't do pumps. I have an omnipod pump, which is a patch pump - so called because it is tubeless.

I believe the Medtronic pumps work the the dexcom. To be honest, all the pump companies are either launching or are close to launching a pump that is CGM compatible. That's not to say they are closed loop systems yet, but they may alarm, or suspend insulin in the night if you are going low.

For me the cost of a CGM is prohibitive, but I am looking forward to a future where prices go down and hopefully the NHS can support.

If you have any questions regarding pumps, ask away. There are quite a few of us on here, using a variety of pumps. I certainly wouldn't go back - my pump gives me better control and a greater sense of freedom.
 
Northerner - that Input website is a great source of info on pumps and cgm tech like you say. Thanks for that. I've just been reading through it. Oh, my son is on Novarapid and Lantus.
Steph - thanks for clarifying re pumps versus cgm. After a bit more reading, I think I also now understand this 'closed loop' system that you referred to earlier.

It's clear to me now that CGM is the way to go for my 12 year old son. I don't want him to be finger pricking any more than he has to and if this can work in conjunction with a pump then even better. So it's now trying to determine the most suitable one for him. The Freestyle Libra looks like the most low profile of the lot (when I look at the pictures here at least - https://www.inputdiabetes.org.uk/cgm/cgm-flash-user-reviews/) but there doesn't seem to be a clear winner. They all seem to do the job pretty good. Cost is going to be a factor and from what I've read, the Freestyle is (or will be) free? Then it's choosing the pump next... I'll be back with some more questions once I've researched a bit more but thanks all for the input so far. Really appreciate this.
 
Thanks Karnak. This is a really useful link. I've been thrown into the Diabetes landscape after being someone who just used to watch from the sidelines but it's great that there is so much support here. Thank you!
 
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