Thinking about going on the pump - 'Roche' pump?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Lucy Main

Lucy Main

New Member
I was talking to my diabetes nurse & dietitian today and we all agreed that going on the pump would be a good option for me. I am 21 and have had type 1 diabetes since the age of 4 and I have never really recovered from a particularly difficult and poorly controlled time with my in my teens and I am feeling more fed-up than ever before.

I have been considering the pump for a while now, but am feeling brave enough now to seriously consider it. I have heard that the pump really helps people who tend to run high (like me) and also are often worried about going low (going low in public or whilst driving is probably my greatest fear.)

My nurse said that the pump they usually prescribe for people is the Roche (I think?) pump. I don't know much about even being on the pump, let alone the different brands etc and so ANY advice and experience from anyone would be greatly appreciated!
 
One of the reasons I got my pump so easily - was the fact that I also had a dread of hypos at the wheel - no doubt immensely influenced by the fact that I had two and wrecked two cars and made quite a mess of one stretch of Armco in the middle of the M42 ..... God knows how but my Guardian Angel obviously worked really hard those two days - no injury to anyone and not even a dent or scratch on any other vehicle. Phew.

They do make stuff a bit easier once you've learned how to use it. We may think we know pretty much already - but TBH - I was 22 when I was diagnosed and suddenly 30 years later - it was a bit like how I felt when I was first diagnosed. So the first fortnight was great - the next 2 weeks were OK - and then for about a week I hated the poxy thing and if my DSN had arrived at the front door to repossess it - I'd gladly have handed it over. But she didn't. And I sat down and gave myself a talking to, saying I'd never been beaten by anything diabetes related yet - and I was buggered if I'd let a bit of plastic and a few electronic doodahs get the better of me now. After all - it's got to be just LOGIC - hasn't it? Well - turned out, it was! LOL

That was in 2009 and the Roche Combo. In 2014, I had a Roche Insight to replace it. The woman who spent 40 odd years with A1cs between the low and high 7's - now has an A1c of 47. In the month up to last Weds I recorded 5 hypos, the lowest of which was 3.6. And I know the reason for every single one and none of them surprised me actually when I analysed them - random things like forgetting to tone a Bolus down or turn my Basal down a bit - when I'd eg done a lot of extra trekking round Tescos behind a trolley that afternoon and stuff like that.

What do you know about pumping generally? Do you understand that instead of injecting your basal once or twice a day, your pump actually drips it in every 3 minutes or so - much more like a real pancreas LOL You use 'fast acting' insulin for this, and the same for the boluses and corrections - I used Novorapid on MDI and I'm still using it. But you can use Humalog just as easily or Apidra and one of our members - Sue - uses animal insulin in hers cos that suits her body better than synthetic stuff the rest of us use.

Oh and other than the Insight which is restricted to Novorapid pre-filled cartridges ONLY - you have to fill the insulin reservoirs of all makes with insulin yourself, from a normal vial of your brand. You change the cannula every 2 or 3 days and the tubing (between the cannula and the pump) every 6 days. Inserting the cannula is no more difficult or traumatic than a pen jab is, and there's even an inserter for the 90 degree ones to make it easier.

Someone - I forget who it was now - used to use the tag line that they'd only ever give up their pump, when somebody actually prised it out of their cold, stiff hands - ie when they were already dead! That does actually describe how the vast majority of us feel about them once we've got used to the differences. I can't really add any more to that!
 
Absolutely agree with Jenny. I've had mine over 4 years now and would never, ever go back to MDI.

The machines are getting better all the time too.
 
Hi Lucy

Welcome to the forum.

I wrote this not long after starting on an insulin pump which summed up how I found those early months: "Face off - Pump vs MDI" http://www.everydayupsanddowns.co.uk/2012/05/face-off-mdi-vs-pump.html

Here's another from Diabetes Week a couple of years ago: "The 'I can' of Insulin Pumps": http://www.everydayupsanddowns.co.uk/2014/06/the-i-can-of-insulin-pumps-diabetes.html

Good luck with your decision! Keep asking questions here. There are lots of people with many years of pump use under their belts and the only 'silly' question is the one you don't ask 🙂
 
Hi Lucy, welcome to the forum 🙂 I'm not a pump user myself, so can't add to what the others have said, but you might like to have a browse of the INPUT website, should tell you all you need to know about what's available etc.

Good luck! Let us know what happens! 🙂
 
I absolutely agree with Jenny. I've just got my second pump, after 4 years with a Roche Combo - a Roche Insight.
 
I would get my name on a pump ! You will feel freeish again :D All my life since the of 3 I have had to eat to the insulin I was on, Times have got much much better on a pump. If I do not want to eat I do not 😎. Welcome & get one ASAP good luck
 
You can do that on MDI sometimes though - if you can adjust it to suit you rather than adjust yourself to suit it.
 
HOBIE said:
I would get my name on a pump ! You will feel freeish again :D All my life since the of 3 I have had to eat to the insulin I was on, Times have got much much better on a pump. If I do not want to eat I do not 😎. Welcome & get one ASAP good luck
Click to expand...
Give it a go ! Lucy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top