The key advantage of a pump, IMO, is the ability to to customise the basal rate. If you have a flat basal rate, you don't really need a pump. Lantus will do the job. But if the basal requirement is highly variable over the 24 hour cycle, you can't easily do what the pump does with shots. NPH and/or Regular can be added into the mix, but it is far from ideal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alice  .... One question I have for pump users that I've always forgotten to ask...since you are trickling droplets of 3-4 hour insulin...is there a slight delay in changing basal amounts anyway? Or, is it such a constant trickle that it becomes a stable number....... |
There is lag effect of about an hour - the time it takes for rapid acting insulin to peak. So if the basal requirement increases from , say, 0.4 units an hour to 0.7 units an hour between 4am and 5am, the pump would be programed to increase the basal rate at 3am.
