Pros + Cons

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Hiya!

Just to join in - I love love love my pump! I've been on it for about a month now, & would seriously flesh wound at least anyone trying to take it off me hehe!...

I was initially very resistant to the idea of going on a pump - mainly due to the idea of the canula / tubing, due to some not brilliant experiences with drips in the past. I now soooo wish I had gone with the docs suggestions immediately.

My pros:
- Accuracy, real accuracy, in my control for the first time in over 30 years!!! 🙂 Being able to eat a snack like an apple & bolus for it without either over dosing or under dosing (1u would just do nowt for me!)
- Better with exercise - for example I take the kids to water babies (1/2 hr each with 1/2hr break between) and now can just check BG before, take the pump off, do the swim thing & then pop it back on, check & correct. On mdi I'd usually end up going hypo (background insulin un changeable) or running high...
- Beating that **** dawn phenomenon - I can now wake up with a sane BG level (wow!!!), and in theory, if the kids would allow, I could have a lie-in lol! 🙄
There are loads more, but I think they have already been covered! I do remember asking hubby if non diabetics felt this good all the time lol! 🙂

My Cons:
- I'm a bit of a chicken about putting the canula in... but now I make a joke of it with my toddler, we count to 3 together & go for it! :D Then the little rascal tells me to do it again - not likely hehe! I have had a few dodgy sitings already, but I think that's just me because I have a nasty mummy tummy, with a fair few stretch marks (2 lots of polyhydramnios, thanks kids!) I'm trying a slightly different area now, & despite clipping a blood vessel the last time, seems to be an improvement.
- If you don't like removing plasters, canula changes will be interesting lol!

Really, any other issues for me are not 'cons' as such, and those two are really a bit trivial in comparison to the benefits. I suspect in a month or two I won't even think about those aspects.... honest guv! What I have found is that it has taken a little while to get to the point where set changes are relatively automatic (just like any new skill I guess) and I'm still settling into what will work for me (need to change every 2nd day, as opposed to the 3 clear days they initially suggested doh!). It does require a lot of testing, and a dedication to make the effort to understand what the results mean to get the most out of the pump, but really truely, it's flipping brilliant!

Oh and one last problem - I still can't think of a name for it! Love it to bits though - it feels like a mechanical angel.
 
There's your name then isn't it 'Angel'. Sounds good to me.

Re the removing plaster bit, have you tried Lift Plus? You can get free samples from Opus and you can then get it on prescription, we love it.

Have you ever thought about freezing the area for the canula with an ice pop or ice cube for a few minutes. Might help a bit.

What about a different site? Your leg, your arm (seriously) you backside, all potential areas and all work just fine.

🙂
 
At the moment I just edge the plaster up all around the plastic bit, then give it a good tug! 😱 I'm trying to time set changes post shower where possible!

I'm really really nervy about the legs - there were always painful just for jabs (then since had an op for hyperlipo thingy - large raised areas due to years of injections of the old insulin - since then they've been really sensitive, even the cat walking across is painful!... the thought of leaving a canula in really freaks me a bit. When I was in hospital having the babies I refused to let them do the fragmin shots in my legs like they wanted, and instead asked them to go for my bum! 😱 They looked bemused, but hey ho...! I'm slowly pushing my comfort zone for canulas out & away from just my central abdomen though - I'll get there i guess. 🙂

I like Angel - it's got a good feel. Sorted! 🙂
 
One emotional aspect of pumping...

In danger of being awkward, I should just mention one 'transient' negative that I have been aware of from time to time...but I think it might just be a factor of having always, as far as I have been conscious of anything, been diabetic, 30 yrs plus! Before, when I was on injections, to some extent I could just jab, eat & if (IF!!!) all went ok, I could kind of forget I was diabetic between meals etc... never entirely, but a bit. (To be fair, this wasn't all that often! 😱) The pump has made me much more aware of my diabetes, and it does feel a bit more like a 'chronic' condition because it has made me much more aware of the fact that my life is dependent on this supply of insulin...

BUT, before anyone takes this too much to heart, I suspect this might just be what most people go through on diagnosis when they are old enough to understand? Maybe for me injections were 'normal' & this just feels a bit more serious somehow. :confused: It's early days to be venturing out of a 'comfort zone' (however inadequate!) of 30 yrs making I guess. Also, to do justice to the pump, emotionally overall I feel so, so much better, as unstable blood sugar levels have always made me feel really down & prone to irritability & low mood (at best!). As I have said before, I would NOT part willingly with it, and that's after just a month! 🙂

Just thought in the interests of fairness I should be honest that it has taken some emotional adjusting to, as well as getting to grips with the technical stuff. (Obviously in a thoughtful mood with all the rain today lol!!)
 
Twitchy said:
In danger of being awkward, I should just mention one 'transient' negative that I have been aware of from time to time...but I think it might just be a factor of having always, as far as I have been conscious of anything, been diabetic, 30 yrs plus! Before, when I was on injections, to some extent I could just jab, eat & if (IF!!!) all went ok, I could kind of forget I was diabetic between meals etc... never entirely, but a bit. (To be fair, this wasn't all that often! 😱) The pump has made me much more aware of my diabetes, and it does feel a bit more like a 'chronic' condition because it has made me much more aware of the fact that my life is dependent on this supply of insulin...

BUT, before anyone takes this too much to heart, I suspect this might just be what most people go through on diagnosis when they are old enough to understand? Maybe for me injections were 'normal' & this just feels a bit more serious somehow. :confused: It's early days to be venturing out of a 'comfort zone' (however inadequate!) of 30 yrs making I guess. Also, to do justice to the pump, emotionally overall I feel so, so much better, as unstable blood sugar levels have always made me feel really down & prone to irritability & low mood (at best!). As I have said before, I would NOT part willingly with it, and that's after just a month! 🙂

Just thought in the interests of fairness I should be honest that it has taken some emotional adjusting to, as well as getting to grips with the technical stuff. (Obviously in a thoughtful mood with all the rain today lol!!)
Click to expand...

I think you are totally right Twitchy. For us mums its different. Like you, we are totally aware of diabetes in our children on a continuous basis but even more so on a pump, not because it is worse but because of the pump and the ability to make levels so much tighter. This of course is the whole point of a pump to make levels tighter and therefore eliminating or trying to eliminate future problems.

We feel that if we, as the mums, give our kids a good start on the long diabetes road that when they hit their teens and rebel (well some of them), all will not be in vein and we have given them a good basis to start and when they finally 'grow up' and stop rebelling hopefully all will not have been lost as the primary years were good years and only a few may have been not so good.

I have heard so many stories about how instantly pumps change how you feel. From an onlooker I can tell you catergorically that my Jessica changed overnight. She was always happy but when she started pumping she was even happier and healthier. Very odd how a small piece of machinery can do that for you.

Keep going Twitchy, you are just doing great and a prime example of how pumps are fab ! 🙂
 
hey i have type 1 and im insulin resistant as well 🙂

pros:
- Don't have to do several injections a day
- My doses were reduced quite a bit as well
- You don't have as much stuff to carry around with you
- Better control

cons:
There isn't really many cons I don't think or you can stop them happening lol
- its easier to end up in DKA, but if you keep checking your blood you'll notice before it gets too bad
- its always on, but you do get used to it and there's loads of different types of cases for it
- when you take the needle off, you get black circles on the site lol, but you can get wipes and things to get it off
- you might start snacking more often because you can just press a few buttons and it'll stop your blood going up, but that might just be me haha!

I've had mine for two years now and I've had quite good control generally. I'm glad I got one to be honest :D x
 
Ive only been on my pump for a couple of weeks and so far , i can only see 100% pros , ive honestly not experienced any cons , so can only go with my experiences , if i was really pushed to name one con i would have to say all the changing about trying to find right doses , but for someone like me whose spent 30 years trying to find the right dose on injections ( mine is classed as brittle diabetes ) its not really a con at all🙂
 
twitchy i felt like that as well (made me more aware of me being a diabetic and it being "chronic") but ive been on it 2 years now and i can honestly say i dont now. The pharmacy spoke to me about my medicines today (he does a review) and after talking to me he said wow you know a lot about diabetes, and i said well yeah i have to. But it just flowed out of my mouth which i can think is a positive thing.
 
Thanks! That's encouraging to hear... I'm still 'making friends' with this wonderful thing, slowly learning to trust it whilst keeping a watchful eye open... Apart from a few dodgy canula sites & air bubbles I do have to say the positives have been overwhelmingly greater than the negatives thankfully! 🙂
 
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