The frustration of trying to get an Insulin pump

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1oldgal

1oldgal

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all, just thought I'd have a little rant about the frustrations of trying to get a pump. I have been struggling for a long time to get my blood sugars under control but my system had its own plans and good control was quite elusive. I tried lots of different things but, to no avail. I ended up giving myself multiple smaller doses of bolus insulin over a period of time before eating instead of just the one. I had some improved BG results but it was all very time consuming (and sometimes even a little bit scary!) To cut a long story short since 2021 I have spoken to 3 different consultants who all told me that I would benefit from having a pump and each time I agreed. I have made multiple calls each time to find out what the situation was but it has been difficult to get to talk to anyone especially during and even since covid. Earlier this year I did eventually get to speak to one of the pump nurses who has been so helpful and she started to chase up the progress. It now appears that none of the consultants had even put in an application! The nurse then informed me that the consultant who should deal with the situation is currently on a 3 month leave of absence and she was having difficulty getting in contact with his deputy. Eventually an application for a pump was made and the nurse contacted me to let me know that my application has been denied because I have managed to find a way of bringing my HbA1c down to 61mmol and therefore I do not meet their criteria!! I'm gutted but the nurse is very sweet and is working on getting an appeal in, so another waiting game, hopefully not as long as the first one. So Sorry for the long rant but I can't be the only one who has been in this situation over the last couple of years but if you are, I can only empathise and wish you good luck with your application o_O
 
When I decided to switch to pump my Hba1c was in late 50s & had good hypo awareness, to get decent control had to do more injections than 4x day & was also having injection site issues, so together with consultant & dsn we decided we'd push for a pump on mdi effecting my quality of life, that was 1 of the criteria at time & pleased to say application was successful.

Time it's taking your team to act is frustrating but persevere as it will be well worth it, in mean time read up on insulin pumps so that you have some background knowledge before you switch over.
 
1oldgal said:
Hi all, just thought I'd have a little rant about the frustrations of trying to get a pump. I have been struggling for a long time to get my blood sugars under control but my system had its own plans and good control was quite elusive. I tried lots of different things but, to no avail. I ended up giving myself multiple smaller doses of bolus insulin over a period of time before eating instead of just the one. I had some improved BG results but it was all very time consuming (and sometimes even a little bit scary!) To cut a long story short since 2021 I have spoken to 3 different consultants who all told me that I would benefit from having a pump and each time I agreed. I have made multiple calls each time to find out what the situation was but it has been difficult to get to talk to anyone especially during and even since covid. Earlier this year I did eventually get to speak to one of the pump nurses who has been so helpful and she started to chase up the progress. It now appears that none of the consultants had even put in an application! The nurse then informed me that the consultant who should deal with the situation is currently on a 3 month leave of absence and she was having difficulty getting in contact with his deputy. Eventually an application for a pump was made and the nurse contacted me to let me know that my application has been denied because I have managed to find a way of bringing my HbA1c down to 61mmol and therefore I do not meet their criteria!! I'm gutted but the nurse is very sweet and is working on getting an appeal in, so another waiting game, hopefully not as long as the first one. So Sorry for the long rant but I can't be the only one who has been in this situation over the last couple of years but if you are, I can only empathise and wish you good luck with your application o_O
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Annoying that you are denied a pump because you have gone to extraordinary lengths to manage blood sugars. It's like denying someone a computer because they've learnt to write fast! Lol.
 
Hi @1oldgal

This post was recently on the forum and has good information in it about the criteria for getting a pump and how to proceed if/when you're told you don't meet the criteria.

It is very frustrating to be told you're doing too well at managing despite multiple smaller boluses. I'd start collating information on what you're having to do to get in range results and build up a picture of your daily challenges on MDI.

Have you done a basal test recently? I would definitely advise doing that having seen what a difference it made to my bolus insulin working so much better. It is well worth checking how your basal insulin is working and will hopefully help with your bolus doses.

Are you using a Libre or other CGM at present?
 
Last edited:
agentmole said:
What’s the best way to do a Basel test?
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It is worth starting a new thread for this, as you won’t be the only one asking this.

For a basal test you need to solit the day into three and work on just one of those periods on any day. Then in that time of fasting it is is easiest to just eat nothing (if you put in protein it can confuse the issue as your body will use the protein if there are no carbs around). Monitor your BGs through that time. Then adjust basal if necessary but remember that you need to make adjustments about and hour ahead of any perceived problem time, to take account of the time lag I; getting the insulin delivered active.
 
1oldgal said:
Hi all, just thought I'd have a little rant about the frustrations of trying to get a pump. I have been struggling for a long time to get my blood sugars under control but my system had its own plans and good control was quite elusive. I tried lots of different things but, to no avail. I ended up giving myself multiple smaller doses of bolus insulin over a period of time before eating instead of just the one. I had some improved BG results but it was all very time consuming (and sometimes even a little bit scary!) To cut a long story short since 2021 I have spoken to 3 different consultants who all told me that I would benefit from having a pump and each time I agreed. I have made multiple calls each time to find out what the situation was but it has been difficult to get to talk to anyone especially during and even since covid. Earlier this year I did eventually get to speak to one of the pump nurses who has been so helpful and she started to chase up the progress. It now appears that none of the consultants had even put in an application! The nurse then informed me that the consultant who should deal with the situation is currently on a 3 month leave of absence and she was having difficulty getting in contact with his deputy. Eventually an application for a pump was made and the nurse contacted me to let me know that my application has been denied because I have managed to find a way of bringing my HbA1c down to 61mmol and therefore I do not meet their criteria!! I'm gutted but the nurse is very sweet and is working on getting an appeal in, so another waiting game, hopefully not as long as the first one. So Sorry for the long rant but I can't be the only one who has been in this situation over the last couple of years but if you are, I can only empathise and wish you good luck with your application o_O
Click to expand...
How frustrating for you, especially to be told that the reason is that you are doing so well. But micorbolusing is not sustainable, and seems to show that you are needing a pump in order to get a basal that matches your needs.

I was refused a pump the first time I asked. They gave me the reasons and I spent 6 months documenting evidence to counter their reasons, and was successful the next time that I asked. Keep at it.
 
nonethewiser said:
When I decided to switch to pump my Hba1c was in late 50s & had good hypo awareness, to get decent control had to do more injections than 4x day & was also having injection site issues, so together with consultant & dsn we decided we'd push for a pump on mdi effecting my quality of life, that was 1 of the criteria at time & pleased to say application was successful.

Time it's taking your team to act is frustrating but persevere as it will be well worth it, in mean time read up on insulin pumps so that you have some background knowledge before you switch over.
Click to expand...
I'm holding on to the hope that the appeal will go through so fingers crossed😳
 
Amity Island said:
Annoying that you are denied a pump because you have gone to extraordinary lengths to manage blood sugars. It's like denying someone a computer because they've learnt to write fast! Lol.
Click to expand...
Exactly but I'm living in hope that they an't deny me forever. :(
 
nonethewiser said:
When I decided to switch to pump my Hba1c was in late 50s & had good hypo awareness, to get decent control had to do more injections than 4x day & was also having injection site issues, so together with consultant & dsn we decided we'd push for a pump on mdi effecting my quality of life, that was 1 of the criteria at time & pleased to say application was successful.

Time it's taking your team to act is frustrating but persevere as it will be well worth it, in mean time read up on insulin pumps so that you have some background knowledge before you switch over.
Click to expand...
Thank you, I'm reading up on everything I can find at the moment to try to get a head start, fingers crossed. 😳
 
Flower said:
Hi @1oldgal

This post was recently on the forum and has good information in it about the criteria for getting a pump and how to proceed if/when you're told you don't meet the criteria.

It is very frustrating to be told you're doing too well at managing despite multiple smaller boluses. I'd start collating information on what you're having to do to get in range results and build up a picture of your daily challenges on MDI.

Have you done a basal test recently? I would definitely advise doing that having seen what a difference it made to my bolus insulin working so much better. It is well worth checking how your basal insulin is working and will hopefully help with your bolus doses.

Are you using a Libre or other CGM at present?
Click to expand...
Hi, thanks for your reply, I had been keeping a daily log of all the injections and carb compensation, but after 18 months of that getting me nowhere it got too tiresome and I gave up, but I agree I should start that back up again. I have also been on various pain killers lately that has thrown my sugars right out of kilter so changes to my basal insulin has helped a lot with that. Luckily I have a libre2 and what a brilliant piece of kit helping me to keep a close eye on my sugars. thank you for the link I will definitely check that out. 🙂
 
SB2015 said:
How frustrating for you, especially to be told that the reason is that you are doing so well. But micorbolusing is not sustainable, and seems to show that you are needing a pump in order to get a basal that matches your needs.

I was refused a pump the first time I asked. They gave me the reasons and I spent 6 months documenting evidence to counter their reasons, and was successful the next time that I asked. Keep at it.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your support I appreciate it. I'm now in the process of gathering yet more evidence to prove I need a pump so it's all fingers crossed at the moment 🙂
 
1oldgal said:
Thank you for your support I appreciate it. I'm now in the process of gathering yet more evidence to prove I need a pump so it's all fingers crossed at the moment 🙂
Click to expand...
I guess you will have electronic notes of all micro boluses. I kept a log and put notes next to each event, then I was able to collate these in different ways in response to the reasons they had given me for ‘no’. (I wonder whether I got it as I baffled them with the detail!!!!).

I also found my log useful to me as it highlighted (nerd alert - yes mine was on paper and full of highlighter colour coding!!!!) just how effective the pump was going to be for me and what specific difficulties I wanted to address. I then worked through these same issues once I got my pump.
 
SB2015 said:
I guess you will have electronic notes of all micro boluses. I kept a log and put notes next to each event, then I was able to collate these in different ways in response to the reasons they had given me for ‘no’. (I wonder whether I got it as I baffled them with the detail!!!!).

I also found my log useful to me as it highlighted (nerd alert - yes mine was on paper and full of highlighter colour coding!!!!) just how effective the pump was going to be for me and what specific difficulties I wanted to address. I then worked through these same issues once I got my pump.
Click to expand...
Thank you for that, and colour coding is such a good idea I'm going to give it a try, I was using stars and underlining but that doesn't stand out. I also like the idea of baffling them into submission lol.
thanks
 
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