pump info

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BEEFY

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I can see that there are numerous threads relating to pumps on this site and don't really know which thread to use so thought I start another. As people have been really helpful to us on this site I just wondered if I could ask for some more advice? 3 year old daughter diagnosed in june with type 1 and after our first clinic the Doctor suggested a pump to us (seems we are quite lucky to get this offer in such a short time). Today we have hooked up our daughter to an older medronic pump using a test solution with a view to, if suitable, obtaining a type medronic 554 in the near future, she has been ok with it but struggled with the backpack pouch they gave us to use.
Any body got any experience of using this pump?, what are they like? I'm told that the pumps work for the majority is this the case? any tips or hints, I'm still not sure as I can't get my head round seeing her hooked up 24/7 to a machine. After much heartache and fighting (see previous threads) she settled down and our Diabetes team tell us we have had good control for someone newly diagnosed and being so young.
 
Hi beefy i cant offer any advice as i have no experience/dealing with pumps , but i wish you and your daughter all the best with the pump usage in the future , as you say a handful on here have started on pumps and/or have children on them they should be able to give you a much better detailed answer x
 
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Well done Beefy. It must still be a really hard time you are going through. I am pleased to hear that it sounds as if you have a pro-active healthcare team on your side to get the pump instigated so quickly.

There are a few parents of pumpers and pumpers-to-be as well on this site and I think you have met some of them in your previous threads. I dont doubt there are much better people to help you than me! But thought I would post anyway.....I am a new pumper as well, I use the Medtronic Veo. There are aspects of your post that naturally I cant comment on (on the parenting side, but I wish you all the best) but I can say that I find medtronic to be very good, both in the device itself and customer service so far. My initial wonderings was why have you not been offered the Veo? The veo is the newest machine, available in both the reservior sizes and has a few extra features when used with sensors that would possibly be more beneficial to you as a parent. The Veo has been available since June 2009 so is out there and certainly might be worth an enquiry. I wont go into it all but do visit the medtronic website for details.

Dont worry if your daughter doesnt like the initial holder to put the pump in. There are lots of products as I have found myself now on the market made for ipods and phones etc that work perfectly well and look fine. I really hope one day we will be like the US, take a look at this excellent website...http://www.pumpwearinc.com/

I really admire how well you are doing, despite how hard this all must be. Hope you and your little girl are doing alright. Keep us posted.

x
 
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Hiya

Well I wish I had had your team when my daughter was born. We were under Gt Ormond St and a local hospital and 9 years ago we were told by GOSH that my 6 month old baby needed a pump but we needed to have local hospital backing and they refused to. We even met with the medtronic rep who was great.

Anyway we have been pumping for nearly 3 years now since age of 6 and it is life changing.

Just to reassure you I have contacts in the USA whose babies pump and toddlers pump and it is all just fine. The best harnesses are from the USA unless you are a dab hand with a sewing machine. There is the pump inc one you have been told about but I love and use http://www.angelbearpumpstuff.com/ it is a grandma that makes them all and she is great.

I have friends in the UK with children your child's age who are pumping now. The way to get in contact with them is through my email group. If you take a look at www.childrenwithdiabetesuk.org, the site was written by parents for parents. On the home page you can join the email group. You will get loads of emails so please don't be put off. Everyone is lovely and you will get huge amounts of info and help about pumping and young children.

I say go for it, it is cutting out even more of the heartache you could have experienced through years of injections. How I wish this had happened for us all those years ago.

Any questions just ask. We have the Medtronic Paradigm 522. I think you are talking about the Veo, the latest one out.
 
Just checked out the website you recomended to Beefy, Adreinne, its really lovely!
 
Hi Beefy i found some information about the pros and cons of different pumps from the website adrienne mentioned.

MM

Pros:
-CGMS capability
-bolus wizard
-slow delivery so you can cancel a bolus
-300 unit cartridge
-adjust temp basal in percents
-customer service is amazing!
-"link" meter
-Carelink and Paradigm Pal systems
-size and shape
-Waterproof
-Bolus wizard
-24 hour help line
-Replacement pump will be shipped overnight if yours breaks

Cons:
-I don't usually hear the alarms at night
-basal of .025 would be nice
-bolus of .05 would be nice
-ability to set Active Insulin in 1/2 hour increments
-If you don't finish priming while changing your site, it just sits on that screen and you don’t get any insulin till you realize what has happened
-slow delivery

Animas

Pros:
-remote blousing
-Replacement pump will be shipped overnight if yours breaks
-waterproof
-ezbolus button
-you can choose to bolus slowly or normally
- compatible with any luer lock site
-smallest basal increment (.25/hr)
-detailed history
-customizable food database and “ringtones”
-bolus of .05
-lots of color choices

Cons:
-meter is slow as tar
-can only do 1 combo bolus at a time
-200 u cartridge MAX
-not available in Canada
-the software to plug into the computer sucks

OmniPod

Pros:
- Tubeless
-The wireless PDM (you check your BG and bolus from it).
-The easy Pod changes/insertions. Just fill the Pod, put it on, and push 'Next'...it does the work for you. I have been pumping for just over a month, and do my Pod changes in less than 10 minutes already.
-Great service...they are quick to send replacement PDMs and new Pods if things fail

Cons:
-You can’t tell if you have bubbles
-no vibrate feature
-pods are big
-not available in most countries
-no IOB for food insulin-only corrections

The Deltec Cozmo is no longer available.


Hope this helps x
 
Hiya

The MM I am presuming is the medtronic. There is a new one out now called the Veo (not sure on the number of this, could be the 554) but it has the smaller increments now of 0.025 and I'm not sure it is waterproof.

Personally I say the Medtronic is best but that is what we have. The main bonus on this is the ability to have a cgms which is not massive in size but you get even better control using the cgms than without but you may not get the funding to begin with for the cgms bit.
 
Hi Beefy..

Good luck to you and your daughter with the pump.....:D..Please keep us posted how you get on

Heidi
xx🙂
 
Thanks to everyone for your advice and wishes. I've had a quick look at the web sites mentioned and got some ideas re the pouches and harnesses. Looks like a visit and a bit of sweet talking to my dressmaker auntie might prove fruitful!!!!
Second day on the practice pump has gone extremely well today, simply put the pump in her trouser pocket and she was off, she seemed quite proud of the wire and was keen to show it off to her Gran. Yesterday she was frightened when the alarms went off but today she just told us the pump was speaking to her which was great. We have had some instruction off the nurse re how everything works but it was rushed and don't fully understand everything at the moment however we will receive full training if we decide to go with one. Things are looking that way at the moment.
Not sure if the 554 is the veo or not? I'll ask when we next see our Nurse
Lat you know if we go with it soon

once again THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT
 
Beefy, magic to hear how quickly she is adapting to the pump! Wonderful!🙂 I know it's not a 'real' one yet, but such progress is very heartening to hear of!
 
Beefy thats great to hear she seems to be coming on so well Im pleased the second day went good
 
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Northerner said:
Beefy, magic to hear how quickly she is adapting to the pump! Wonderful!🙂 I know it's not a 'real' one yet, but such progress is very heartening to hear of!
Click to expand...

Can I just second this as Northerner has put it so well :D🙂
 
Just A Quick Update. Trial Went Well. Dsn Is Looking At Getting Us A Accu Chek Combo...anybody Got One Or Thoughts On Them?
 
hi beefy glad the trail went well for you ,I've just had a look at that accu chek combo it looks really good , if you type it into google they is a little piccie and explanation of what its all about and apparently it is only approved in the U.K at the moment
 
Hi Beefy,
It really depends on what you want from the pump. If you want to use a cgm then this pump doesnt offer it. However, it does have a remote control that you can use to deliver insulin - so if your little girl was busy playing etc you could just give her a bolus without stopping play etc. But if you are thinking about monitoring her throughout the night for example - then the medtronic is the only one that uses a cgm. Some hospitals will fund sensors to use the cgm - some wont - but you can fund them yourselves if that is the road you want to go down. Perhaps you can ask your hospital for a demo off medtronic and others? We preferred the medtronic so we went to a private hospital in london for the demo - this was free - so perhaps you could do something similar?🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Hi Beefy,
It really depends on what you want from the pump. If you want to use a cgm then this pump doesnt offer it. However, it does have a remote control that you can use to deliver insulin - so if your little girl was busy playing etc you could just give her a bolus without stopping play etc. But if you are thinking about monitoring her throughout the night for example - then the medtronic is the only one that uses a cgm. Some hospitals will fund sensors to use the cgm - some wont - but you can fund them yourselves if that is the road you want to go down. Perhaps you can ask your hospital for a demo off medtronic and others? We preferred the medtronic so we went to a private hospital in london for the demo - this was free - so perhaps you could do something similar?🙂Bev
Click to expand...
thanks Bev, not fully clear as to the cgm as still learning, what does this do, would you see it as it necessary. The dsn initially trialled us a medtronic but thought the remote function would be more useful to us basically for the reasons you suggested.
 
Hi Beefy,
The cgm is a continuous glucose monitor. This measures the blood every 3 minutes ( i think) and reports back to the pump what the bg level is. This figure will show up on the pump and also tell you what the level is so you can react quickly to a hypo or a hyper. For the pump to 'read' the bg level, a sensor has to be worn and there is a transmitter that sends the info to the pump. The sensors is about the size of a 50p and the transmitter is smaller.
This is invaluable for the night time as you would get a readout of what is actually happening and can change basals accordingly. This is only my opinion and i am not saying that any other pump is inferior - its just personal preference and for a parent if you can get help with night time levels and be alarmed if going either high or low - this has to be a bonus. I think the best thing to do is get as much info as you can and then go to as many demo's as you can!🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Hi Beefy,
The cgm is a continuous glucose monitor. This measures the blood every 3 minutes ( i think) and reports back to the pump what the bg level is. This figure will show up on the pump and also tell you what the level is so you can react quickly to a hypo or a hyper. For the pump to 'read' the bg level, a sensor has to be worn and there is a transmitter that sends the info to the pump. The sensors is about the size of a 50p and the transmitter is smaller.
This is invaluable for the night time as you would get a readout of what is actually happening and can change basals accordingly. This is only my opinion and i am not saying that any other pump is inferior - its just personal preference and for a parent if you can get help with night time levels and be alarmed if going either high or low - this has to be a bonus. I think the best thing to do is get as much info as you can and then go to as many demo's as you can!🙂Bev
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Thanks once again for your help Bev....it's clearer now and will speak to DSN
 
Hi Beefy,

No experience with pumps I'm afraid, but I do read these posts with interest.
Just wanted to say I hope your little girl gets on well with hers, as it sounds she is coping well thus far.

DP
 
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