thanks guys!
🙂
Any info on which you think is best and why would be appreciated. I was given a brochure for accu check, but was told i will be able to choose my own, when the time comes. dont know how long it will take.
I gree the animas looks cool etc, very tempting and im sure a great pump, waterproof sounds great, but to be honest sure i would disconnect for showering etc, but would be great if i wanted to swim!
the medtronic doesnt look as cool but sounds good and i really like the idea that you can get a wireless cgm for it. do you know if that would be provided on nhs? I know you still have to finger prick before making any adjustments, but love the ideaa of knowing approx readings, if going hi or low as my bs swing rapidly in both directions! eg, today was 13.1 2 and half hours after eating, within another hour i was 6.2 but was not doing anything energetic!
any info at all much appreciated at this stage.
Hi Tracey
Obviously I can only say this from a child using these pumps. A very good friend of mine, her child is on the latest Animas. I have another big group of friends on the Medtronic Paradigm 522/722 Realtime pump (ie the CGMS attached). I also did training in a school the other week for another friend whose son is going on an Animas in a few weeks time so I had a look and worked my way around the menus which are not that different from the Medtronic ones, so have some knowledge about that.
There are slight differences.
On the Animas the basal rate increments can be tiny. ie if your insulin requirement is minute you can set the basal levels to something silly like 0.025 per hour. I wouldn't imagine this would bother you as you are an adult so wouldn't need tiny amounts like this.
There are lots of colours for the Animas but only about 5 for the Medtronic but you can get skins, Jessica has a particularly psychadelic skin on her pump at the moment, she had a jelly bean one the other month.
The screen is big. Personally from looking at the screen I still find the Medtronic easier to see and clearer to use. The best way for me to describe it, the Medtronic is clearer than the Animas which I find messy. However you like what you are used to so be aware that I am used to the medtronic and it is a very clear easy screen to use.
Both have backlights.
The Animas is waterproof. If you are a swimmer and do that a lot this is the pump for you. You will not want to take it off a lot. But if you only swim every so often or on holiday then its fine to take it off. You should only take it off for an hour at a time and some people need to bolus the missed basal. My daughter never has but no-one else has had a problem with it.
I did find out one thing with the Animas I do not like at all and had to phone my friend who knows about Animas to confirm I was correct because I didn't like it. On the pumps is a wizard, like on a computer. You use the wizard to calculate and give a bolus ie food bolus or correction bolus.
On the Medtronic it is called the Bolus wizard on the Animas it is called the Ezcarb. I went through the Animas ezcarb to see if it was the same principle as the Medtronic and found at the very end point it was different.
On both pumps you put in the finger reading, then you put in the carbs you have eaten. You press ok or act (depending on pump). With the Medtronic you get each stage on a 'new' screen so it is large and you cannot be confused. With the Animas it is all on the same screen and you work down the list - I believe you could potentially get confused as you are looking at lots of info. At the very end on the Medtronic the pump will have worked out insulin needed (taken into account IOB insulin on board and will show you the amount of IOB) and end up with a screen with a flashing number ie 1.3 (units of insulin). If you agree this press act and it confirms and you press act and it delivers. If for whatever reason you want to override it, this is the screen to do that but it does flash what it wants to give you.
With the Animas in the same size letters as everything else there is a number it wants to give ie 1.3, on the next to bottom line. Below that is large 0.00 If you agree the 1.3 then you have to phsyically input 1.3 and press ok. There is the potential to get this wrong ie you just press ok and nothing is given at all.
This is the bit that worried me. Now bear in mind I am talking about an 8 year old working this with TA's at school supervising and making sure he gets it right but who can guarantee they get it right etc etc.
Ok now we move on to the CGMS
WOW WOW WOW, I cannot live without the sensors and if my daughter does not have them on overnight then she sleeps in with me. When I say sensors, this is the bit that goes in the skin. The canula is the part where the tubing is connected to the pump for insulin. The sensor is inserted somewhere else on the body and has a small radio transmitter attached to it.
The PCT have to fund the pump consumables ie the canulas, reservoirs etc if a consulant says a person needs a pump. No arguing, they have to agree. However sensors are a different issue. Yes they are funded by the NHS. They have come down in cost dramatically over the last couple of years. My daughter is funded full time for sensors. What lots of consultants do is ask for funding for sensors for two a month to begin with. This is generally okayed. Once you have then proved the sensors work well for you, go for more.
Sensors are not magic and they hurt going in. I won't lie. The cannula for the pump does not hurt by the way. The sensor is a bit thicker but it only hurts for seconds.
They work differently for different people (again I am only talking children here by the way). I have one friend who knows that the sensor reading is exactly 17 minutes behind a finger prick most of the time. So that means for him, less finger tests but hypos are caught before they happen as are hypers. His HbA1c is 5.6% which is astonishing. Normally is you get one that low it is due to too many hypos but for this lad it's not. There is a lot of hard work by the parents to get it at this figure.
My daughter's HbA1c came down from the 9.0's to 7.6 within months, it is hard work. However she is back up to 8.3 at the moment as we had a hiccup last year and are only slowly getting back on track now. I'm hoping the next one will be 8.0 or under.
For my daughter the sensor works uniquely. There is a pattern but I cannot rely on the sensor reading at all and always have to do finger pricks. However where it comes into its own for my daughter and me is nighttime. From midnight to morning the sensor is pretty much on a level with the finger pricks so I don't have to do finger pricks in my sleepy state, I just look at the sensor data on the pump screen and can gauge what is going on from that. That is a real bonus for me.
I'm sure I have loads more I can tell you but information overload springs to mind.
Ask any questions you want and I hope I have helped.
Personally I would say Medtronic every time but we are used to it and find it very very easy to use. However the biggest pull is the sensors without a doubt. They are absolutely fantastic and worth it.
However talk to my friend with the Animas and she will praise that to the hilt as well so I hope I have been fair with both.
😛
