What is an insulin pump?
The insulin pump is a medical device used for the administration of insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus, also known as continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy.*
In easy speak it is a piece of equipment roughly 3" x 2" x 3/4" that holds a 3 day supply of insulin. You can program it for your basal rate as well as bolus for food as needed. Insulin is dosed through a small catheter which is changed every three days.
Why do I want an insulin pump?
Insulin pumps allow you to more accurately control your blood sugar and fine tune your basal rates hour by hour. Leading to a better A1C and longer, healthier life.
Insulin pumps dose your basal with fast acting insulin all through out the day. If the basal rate you need changes through out the day, less at night, more during the day. Maybe even from one hour to the next. A pump can do that, injections can't.
With slow acting insulin it works best when first administered and follows a slowly declining arc, so it's stronger when first given, but by the end...not so much. When you dose yourself with slow acting insulin you are simply doing an average. That means sometimes you are getting too much for your actual needs and others not enough. The idea is in the end you balance out.
You CANNOT be precise.
With a pump you tell it your needs and every hour is doses exactly how much you need that hour.
I don't want to feel like I have a ball and chain!
Option one requires needles, insulin, tester, something to carry it all in.
Option two requires the pump you are already attached to and a tester. (even the tester can be replaced with an glucometer that you wear which reads results right to the pump.)
Pumps are a bit better I'd say, but add this....with injections you have 1-2 slow acting injections a day, plus a bolus shot every time you eat (3-5 times a day) so you could be using yourself like a pin cushion anywhere from 4 - 7 or more times a day or.... One site every three days. That's it. I think that makes the old ball and chain much lighter.
You almost got me, but I want more!
So here are a few more reasons.
Control: You can fine tune and be totally in control of your diabetes. You feel less in the dark when you know every hour you are getting the right amount of insulin for your basic needs.
Freedom: You want to eat 15 times a day> Go ahead. You want that little piece of candy that's carb count is too low for you to inject> Bet the pump can do it! With Lyam I used to have to plan the meal, count the carbs, watch him eat it, make sure he ate enough to be full then dose him. Gotta be as accurate as possible but still hit a carb count you can dose him with a needle. Now he eats a chicken nugget and says done? I can dose that. I know he will eat some, but might not eat all? I can dose him half up front and the balance afterwards. No extra shot and a pump can dose as low as .025 units of insulin. Try that with a needle.
Yo-yo-ing = lack of power + knowledge: You know it and it sucks. I'm high, I dose myself. I dump, I eat something. Crap I'm high again.... some days can feel like the rollercoaster from hell. It's hard to keep track of everything and know how much insulin you currently have on board, especially if you feel sick... unless you have a pump. It keeps track of your insulin on board and it reverse corrects if needed.
I test and I'm low. I drink a juice box. With injections I wait awhile, test myself and see where I sit and hope it was right.... with a pump I dose it. Reverse correction at it's best. The pump takes the carbs of the juice box, subtracts the amount needed to get me back up to normal and doses only the difference. So my blood sugar goes to normal, not high.
I test and I'm high. I run that through the pump. The pump takes the amount of insulin I have on board subtracts it from the needed correction and only doses me the difference. Again I go to normal, instead of causing myself to dump.
The best thing I've discovered about the pump.....I'm low, but a safe low 70 for example. I'm right on that edge. I wanna bump up, but I'm not in danger. I can run the 70 through the pump, take that number and reduce my basal for that hour by that amount. So instead of eating unwanted calories to correct I let my own natural body's needs do the correcting.
Pumps! Check 'em out:
Animas (connected tester can actually dose through this pump that includes an on board carb count book)
Medtronic (Arguably the best pump out there but the remote for it lacks. the connected tester does send BG to pump)
Omnipod (while a Jonas Brother made every teenage girl want it, this is a pump that not everyone can use.)
Sometimes Brilliant Thoughts:
Pumps can be the best tool you ever found for controlling your diabetes. It can give you the ability to fine tune your diabetes in a way you have never experienced. My son's A1C dropped a full point just by going on a pump. I changed nothing and in the beginning the basal rate inserted was the generic slow acting insulin number. As I fine tuned it he dropped another 2 points. His A1C started at 10 and now sits in the low 7's. (They prefer children to run a bit higher then adults)
Breaking it down:
Fined tuned basal rates, hourly.
Ability to dose yourself as low as .025 units**
Dose more often with no additional needles
One needle every three days vs at least 4 a day
More accurate corrections
The ability to reverse correct
Ability to bump your BG without eating
Tracker for insulin on board
Most come with a remote of some kind (especially handy with children)
Even a pump can't do everything though, so one thing I urge is to test yourself! The more you do the better you'll be. The pump actually has a timer and I use it to remind me of when I need to test Lyam. I test him every 2 - 3 hours and, on the rare times I go through a bad spell, his A1C not so kindly reminds me of what happens when I don't.
*Wikipedia
**Different pumps have different minimums
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