What are the pros and cons?

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Reeceeey

Reeceeey

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hello Everyone,

I am a recently diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic and am yet to go on the DAFNE Course come the 11th of May. At the moment I'm in two minds as I'm doing injections but my doctors have said about the pump just in case I wanted to have the pump in the future and I just wanted to know what the pros and cons of a pump is?

I want to make sure I know exactly what I could be getting into if I chose to go on the pump in the future as at the moment the looks and stares I get off strangers is making me really uncomfortable to do my injections in public.

Any suggestions or help or advice is greatly appreciated 🙂
 
Hi, I'm type one have been for six yrs been on a pump for four and a half yrs. It's so much more flexible. U have to change it every three days so that's one needle in every three days instead of like 12+. Cons would be some times the canulars bend then u have to change it . It links to your bg monitor . I wouldn't go back to the pens.
 
Milsey moo said:
Hi, I'm type one have been for six yrs been on a pump for four and a half yrs. It's so much more flexible. U have to change it every three days so that's one needle in every three days instead of like 12+. Cons would be some times the canulars bend then u have to change it . It links to your bg monitor . I wouldn't go back to the pens.
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Thank you, I was only diagnosed last year October so it is all very new and scary and I'm just trying to find the common ground with my body if that makes sense? I'm okay with the pens at the moment it just very uncomfortable when I have to inject in public and you've got everyone staring at you :(
 
Hi @Reeceeey

I never particularly worried about injecting in public, but a pump might really be useful for you in those circumstances. As an example, I was always fine in a restaurant etc, but if I had to eat on the train I would feel quite uncomfortable as the person next to me was so close.

A pump is a small device that looks a bit like a phone/pager/iPod and so you can calculate and deliver a bolus really easily without having to get a needle out, airshot and all that faff. There are tubeless pumps and pumps with full remote controls which have a device that looks just like a PDA, but even handling a tubed pump itself wouldn't raise any eyebrows - unless the person happened to be another T1 pump user

Pros:
Flexible accurate basal insulin coverage
Precision of doses/micro corrections
Dose calculation
Fewer hypos
Extended boluses for tricky foods
Easier to be spontaneous - always have your insulin with you
Better overall BG management
There are lots more!

Cons:
I can't really think of many - or at least, none which counteract all the positives!
Getting used to being attached to something 24/7 (takes a few hours/days/weeks depending on person)
Theoretical greater risk of DKA as you have no long acting insulin (this would only happen if the pump failed)
 
Reeceeey said:
Thank you, I was only diagnosed last year October so it is all very new and scary and I'm just trying to find the common ground with my body if that makes sense? I'm okay with the pens at the moment it just very uncomfortable when I have to inject in public and you've got everyone staring at you :(
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Very rarely has anyone noticed me injecting, and only once did anyone comment - a woman at a healthy walks BBQ, who was intrigued about injection kit because she had to give herself injections to treat rheumatoid arthritis once every two weeks. So, either people are very unobservant, or my technique is very discrete or a combination of the two. Usually, I either turn away, if in an open area, or under table if sitting down. Personally, I wouldn't want a pump, and wouldn't get one under NICE guidelines, as my HbA1c is too good and I don't have serious hypos, nor fear of hypos.
 
If you are on a pump its a couple of pushes of buttons when you want that bag of crisps etc. If you have a blood test & you are say 11 .6 bg. Put that figure into pump & it sorts how much insulin to give you. I am in my 50yr of T1 & hopefully doing Scarfel pike this year & all I will do is put a temp Basal on that day. You can not do that on MDI. Get you name down for one. "Love my pump ! "
 
No Hobie? Wouldn't you simply reduce your Basal jab the previous evening/that morning and knock a bit off your boluses? I mean I agree pumping is better all round of course - and also easier to deal with stuff like Scafell Pike - but exercise is exceedingly possible on MDI ! - and I don't think any of us old hands should even be hinting to a relative Newbie that it wouldn't be!
 
Completely agree Trophywench. I still use MDI, after 20 years, including completing in and marshalling several mountain marathons, 40 miles Keswick to Barrow last year, lots of orienteering, over 60 parkruns, irregular cycling, swimming etc. Spent Friday on lambing duty, Saturday parkrun, Sunday being trained in coastal biology survey techniques, plus over 500 miles driving since leaving home on Thurs. Will be driving 100 miles home today after a work meeting. MDI can be very flexible :-
 
Whilst exercise was perfectly possible on MDI if it is planned, the pump enables me to be a lot more flexible and deal with unplanned activity, and enables me to make changes that I don't want to have apply all day.

Using the pump I am now able to set a temporary rate for 30 minutes for a walk into town or for an exercise class and I don't need to plan those around the timing of my injections which I had to do before.

Nothing lease to add to Mikes summary except to say that I love being on my pump and would never want to go back to injections.
 
There's no comparison, pumps are the gold standard! You can programme a basal pattern that is tailored to your exact needs, hour by hour throughout the day. You can set boluses to run over a length of time rather than all upfront, so it can better match the longer digestion of foods like pasta etc. Pumps try to mimic the action of a healthy pancreas.
 
Thank you everyone, it has really helped with all this information!

I'm going to bring it up in my next meeting with my DSN and she want she thinks but I'm going to the DAFNE course in May which will hopefully help me understand the whole carb counting thing,

Again thank you!!
 
Learn how to carb count and adjust doses for the food first. It works a lot better than guesstimating and it's an essential skill for pumping anyway - often a pre-requisite for getting one in some areas! You'll always need it anyway - whether pumping or on MDI.
 
trophywench said:
No Hobie? Wouldn't you simply reduce your Basal jab the previous evening/that morning and knock a bit off your boluses? I mean I agree pumping is better all round of course - and also easier to deal with stuff like Scafell Pike - but exercise is exceedingly possible on MDI ! - and I don't think any of us old hands should even be hinting to a relative Newbie that it wouldn't be!
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I AM TALKING about 10mins before. YOU CAN NOT DO THAT ON MDI TW ! What happens if its a windy day or bad weather ?
 
Copepod said:
Completely agree Trophywench. I still use MDI, after 20 years, including completing in and marshalling several mountain marathons, 40 miles Keswick to Barrow last year, lots of orienteering, over 60 parkruns, irregular cycling, swimming etc. Spent Friday on lambing duty, Saturday parkrun, Sunday being trained in coastal biology survey techniques, plus over 500 miles driving since leaving home on Thurs. Will be driving 100 miles home today after a work meeting. MDI can be very flexible :-
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How long do you think I was on MDI Copeod ? Around 40yrs. I used to leave the N,E. at 4in the morn drive by myself & be working in Oxford st at 9.30. Every 4/5 days for 2yrs.
 
HOBIE said:
! What happens if its a windy day or bad weather ?
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Then you adjust your boluses and corrections to deal with it, of course! Just because its easier on a pump doesn't mean it can't be done on MDI as Copepod shows.
 
HOBIE said:
Pumps are so so much more adaptable 😎
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I don't think anyone is denying that Hobie, the point is that things might not be as flexible on injections, but it doesn't mean they can't be done. I've run quite a few half marathons since diagnosis (and done hundreds of miles in training, plus other forms of exercise) and managed perfectly well. It's harder to be spontaneous, but I've adapted to things. I wouldn't qualify for a pump anyway.
 
Northerner said:
I don't think anyone is denying that Hobie, the point is that things might not be as flexible on injections, but it doesn't mean they can't be done. I've run quite a few half marathons since diagnosis (and done hundreds of miles in training, plus other forms of exercise) and managed perfectly well. It's harder to be spontaneous, but I've adapted to things. I wouldn't qualify for a pump anyway.
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Like Northerner, I wouldn't qualify for a pump, as I mentioned in post #6.
Orienteering tonight, when snowfall was a surprise and my route choice was appalling, so I ended up clambering hand and foot up a steep muddy slope. After a few sweets, found 3 geocaches on the way home.
I must mention a friend of mine who uses an insulin pump, and had to carry spare pens, cartridges etc on a mountain marathon in late October a few years ago, in case her pump stopped working, which it did, when it couldn't cope with driving rain. That's another reason I wouldn't want a pump, even if I did qualify for one.
I'm sure they work well for and suit some people, but I wouldn't want people newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes to think that pumps are the answer to everything.
 
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