Almost 12 years diabetic - 4 months on the pump, general thoughts (dislike)
Hello all, this is my first post on this site. I found it while browsing for others who don't necessarily think the insulin pump is the best invention since sliced bread. I'll share my feelings and maybe others can tell me if I haven't given it enough time, or maybe I'm doing something wrong.
I have been diabetic since 19, I'm 31 now. I resisted the pump for many, many years at many different doctors disapproval. Finally, I gave-in last October. I think I hate it. Yes, it does have its benefits, but I'd like to express some frustration. Mainly, I wanted to have a continuous glucose monitor. If I'm going to wear one of those around, I might as well just have the full-on pump for all the reasons they tell me are good. I was setup with the Medtronic Paradigm, with continuous glucose monitoring.
In the beginning, things seemed to work rather well. Changing sites and sensors took me a lot longer and hurt a lot more than the shots I was used-to taking. Not having to carry insulin pens with me was nice, and the CGM is great (when accurate). Then, come November the pump put me in the ICU. I changed infusion sites in the morning before work. By lunchtime I felt horrible and went home. My blood sugars were on a steady climb since breakfast and were pushing 300. I bolused additional insulin throughout the morning, but to no avail. After I started throwing up I called my doctor, who told me to get to the ER. An IV drip of insulin and 24 hours later, I was feeling just fine. It turns out the infusion tube kinked inside of me, so I was not getting insulin. However, the pump never indicated to me that it was having a delivery problem. The medtronic rep recommended I use a different type of infusion set, which I have been.
Fast forward to December and January. I start experiencing similar problems, but fix it with a manual bolus from an insulin pen before it puts me in the hospital. Then I install a new infusion site and go on. After having this happen a few times, it was suggested to try sites on my upper buttock, instead of the abdomen. I have done that 4x now, twice it has not worked (including now).
The first time I moved the site there, no problems, everything was great. 3 days later, I swtiched sides. One day in, and I started having some pain. 2 days in, there was swelling and a bump forming, as well as high blood sugars. I removed the infusion site - with some blood, pain, and signs of infection. I sited a new infusion on the other side of my body. That one worked fine.
Which brings us to yesterday. I inserted the infusion set and went through the day normally. I woke up this morning with some pain and signs of bleeding from the infusion site. "Great," I thought. By lunchtime today I was +300 on the CGM, and relying on an insulin pen until I can get home from work and change sites again.
It seems that the sites will bleed or bruise, and that reduces or eliminates the ability for them to absorb insulin. It's very frustrating that this device I am supposedly relying on is only working 2/3rds of the time, and I end up taking shots anyway.
Here is my laundry list of complaints about the pump:
Are these normal new frustrations? Most things I read before going on the pump seemed to be that people connected to it, magically their management was better, and they fell in love with using it. I don't know how this is possible, I am debating getting rid of it! 4-6 shots a day and 7 finger-pricks was way less involved than trying to manage this thing. Will it work today, or won't it? I better make sure I bring an insulin pen, just in case.
I will admit the upside of being able to skip/delay a meal instead of being on a very specific timed eating schedule. I'm not sure if this outweighs my negative feelings though.
I guess I'm just ranting and looking to see if I'm being irritable (remember, my BG is high) or if the pump is not the wondrous device I was lead to believe it would be.
I have been diabetic since 19, I'm 31 now. I resisted the pump for many, many years at many different doctors disapproval. Finally, I gave-in last October. I think I hate it. Yes, it does have its benefits, but I'd like to express some frustration. Mainly, I wanted to have a continuous glucose monitor. If I'm going to wear one of those around, I might as well just have the full-on pump for all the reasons they tell me are good. I was setup with the Medtronic Paradigm, with continuous glucose monitoring.
In the beginning, things seemed to work rather well. Changing sites and sensors took me a lot longer and hurt a lot more than the shots I was used-to taking. Not having to carry insulin pens with me was nice, and the CGM is great (when accurate). Then, come November the pump put me in the ICU. I changed infusion sites in the morning before work. By lunchtime I felt horrible and went home. My blood sugars were on a steady climb since breakfast and were pushing 300. I bolused additional insulin throughout the morning, but to no avail. After I started throwing up I called my doctor, who told me to get to the ER. An IV drip of insulin and 24 hours later, I was feeling just fine. It turns out the infusion tube kinked inside of me, so I was not getting insulin. However, the pump never indicated to me that it was having a delivery problem. The medtronic rep recommended I use a different type of infusion set, which I have been.
Fast forward to December and January. I start experiencing similar problems, but fix it with a manual bolus from an insulin pen before it puts me in the hospital. Then I install a new infusion site and go on. After having this happen a few times, it was suggested to try sites on my upper buttock, instead of the abdomen. I have done that 4x now, twice it has not worked (including now).
The first time I moved the site there, no problems, everything was great. 3 days later, I swtiched sides. One day in, and I started having some pain. 2 days in, there was swelling and a bump forming, as well as high blood sugars. I removed the infusion site - with some blood, pain, and signs of infection. I sited a new infusion on the other side of my body. That one worked fine.
Which brings us to yesterday. I inserted the infusion set and went through the day normally. I woke up this morning with some pain and signs of bleeding from the infusion site. "Great," I thought. By lunchtime today I was +300 on the CGM, and relying on an insulin pen until I can get home from work and change sites again.
It seems that the sites will bleed or bruise, and that reduces or eliminates the ability for them to absorb insulin. It's very frustrating that this device I am supposedly relying on is only working 2/3rds of the time, and I end up taking shots anyway.
Here is my laundry list of complaints about the pump:
- See the above story
- I was told it would eliminate many of the highs and lows I was seeing with shots - it may have reduced some their severity, but has probably increased their frequency, especially lows
- My A1C went from 6.7 before to 7.3 in the 3 months after starting the pump
- I hate the constant reminder of "hey, you have diabetes" every-time I see the thing.
- Having to unhook and be extra-vigilant when: showering, swimming, etc. - not to mention the scarring and sensors/infusion sets stuck to me.
- Getting tangled in the cord
- Changing basal rates because I am doing something active (exercise, work, etc)
- Just generally feeling like less of a normal person because this thing is always connected to me
Are these normal new frustrations? Most things I read before going on the pump seemed to be that people connected to it, magically their management was better, and they fell in love with using it. I don't know how this is possible, I am debating getting rid of it! 4-6 shots a day and 7 finger-pricks was way less involved than trying to manage this thing. Will it work today, or won't it? I better make sure I bring an insulin pen, just in case.
I will admit the upside of being able to skip/delay a meal instead of being on a very specific timed eating schedule. I'm not sure if this outweighs my negative feelings though.
I guess I'm just ranting and looking to see if I'm being irritable (remember, my BG is high) or if the pump is not the wondrous device I was lead to believe it would be.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Kristin on -
When I used to use the Silhouette, I also did the insertion by hand. In fact, I didn't even know there was an insertion device, but I much prefer manual insertion when I control the speed. (I was the world's slowest inserter with Silhouette!)
-
Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on -
I agree that a slow hand is useful with those. It may also be that they feel sort of cathartic after the CGMHarpoon?
-
Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on -
No, you weren't -- *I* was!!!! LOL!! I just found 2 Sil-Serters that I never used. We can call ourselves the Slowpoke Club! :-) I was also really slow with syringes. I once had a nurse give me a flu shot slowly, and I swear it hurt less.
Now I have inserters for the Quick-Set and the CGM, and the pain is quickly gone, so I do appreciate them, but I really don't think there are any happy answers.
-
Permalink Reply by Kristin on
-
Glad to be a part of the club! I astounded my pump rep and my CDE with slow insertion :)
-
Permalink Reply by Trudy on -
MPetrick, one thing I've found out the hard way: if something can go wrong, sooner or later it will. (Once I had an endo tell me not to worry about ketones, on the pump I would never have any. Hah!) Any number of things can go wrong to cause high blood sugar, and you can spend the whole day high while trying to figure it out. Better to treat yourself immediately with a pen or syringe and troubleshoot the problem afterward, when you feel like yourself again. Bad insulin in the reservoir, bad insulin in the vial, bad site, bad needle/canula, etc. etc. I hope you like the Sure-T, it's my favorite, but as you probably know, you must change it or move it in two days.
-
Permalink Reply by Richard P Cosgrove on -
What Kristin said is the way to go. Bolus with the pump see what happens and then if it doesn't come down in 1.5-2.0 hours then use the syringe and pull the set. That is what I was taught too. I am type 2 so it doesn't happen often but sometimes.
-
Permalink Reply by nel on
-
Glad to read, you are willing to experiment a little further ..Just share, what I was told about using a Medtronic Pump ( by a Canadian MM employee ) and Mio infusion sets ( different brand , correct ??) ...and have read this as well ...where is the question ? MM will not stand behind problems occurred due to not using their brand of pump supplies .But you mentioned, you were given MIO's by your MM guy ...maybe I got this wrong ??
I agree with you trying the Sure-T idea ...we have now in Canada both the 6 and 8 mm needle av. ...I use Sure-T's .
Did you test on your MM screen , what it states, if BG is over 14 ( x 18 ) ?? . I hope you will explain , why it is suggested NOT to use a needle .
I disconnect from the pump , bolus the correction , re-connect, use needle ( same amount as correction ) and this way have a record on the pump and know my IOB .( I believe the Veo /Revel are different and MM has taken care of this procedure ) ...Hang in and do what ever it takes to make "it " work for YOU ..
-
Permalink Reply by MPetrick on -
The Mio is an infusion set by MM: Link to site
So far the Sure-T has been working out alright. No issues and I haven't noticed it in there.
Sorry, I'm not sure what you are talking about with 14x18?
-
Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on
-
That's whatever the other BG measuring calibration is, there's MG/ DL in the US, I don't recall what the units are abroad/ in Canada but I know that 14 and 18 are both pretty high
-
-
Thanks for explaining about the Mio ...I will visit the link after supper
A Canadian gal talking: ...we use mmol ...just multiply by 18 equals your number ...did I make it clear ??
Sure-T's here we come :)
PS the chap , who got me be aware of these, is NOT a TuD member anymore...I miss the guy !
PS thanks also to acidrock23 for explaining a little while ago
-
Permalink Reply by Kristin on
-
I just found an old blog post that I wrote to convince myself that the effort of pumping was still worth it. You can read it here
-
Permalink Reply by MPetrick on
-
Well, I know the Sure-T is working, because I've been fighting off a lot of lows (except for an over-treated low last night, which had me wake up high this morning, I haven't been north of 150). The lows I'm hitting are a lot lower than typical lows for me (upper-50s). I need to get about a solid week of pumping with good infusion sites, so I can start to see if it's my basal or my carb:insulin ratio that is off. Currently, I'm leaning towards the latter. At my last endo appointment in January, they raised the carb:insulin ratio (more insulin), and my overnight basal - now it seems possibly neither of those changes should have happened, just needed better infusions.
Like I alluded to in an earlier post - it's really hard to get all the levels figured out when I was not having consistent insulin delivery. I hope I can have good luck with the next Sure-T infusion so I can keep up the trend.
Advertisement
REsources
Groups
From the Diabetes Hands Foundation blog...
Together, We Can Get Diabetes Co-Stars to 10,000 Views!
Above is a photo of Diabetes Hands Foundation’s own Manny Hernandez with the stars of the Diabetes Co-Stars Video, “Strength in Numbers.” In case you haven’t heard the news yet, there is a new video making it’s way through the …Continue Reading
Congratulations Diabetes Advocates Scholarship Recipients!
The Diabetes Hands Foundation and Diabetes Advocates Program is proud to announce and congratulate the members of DA who were granted scholarships to attend diabetes conferences in 2013! Thanks to a generous grant from Novo Nordisk, in 2013 we were …Continue Reading
TuDiabetes Team
DHF STAFF
 Manny Hernandez(Co-Founder, Editor, has LADA)
|
DHF VOLUNTEERS
Lead Administrator
 Bradford (has type 1) |
Administrators
 Lorraine (mother of type 1) |
 Marie B (has type 1) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
LIKE us on Facebook
Spread the word
This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here.
© 2013 A community of people touched by diabetes, run by the Diabetes Hands Foundation.
