pumpers remorse...

[willie4004]

Am I alone on this? I just started the MInimed 2 days ago and I know it will work out OK but did anyone has remorse after they started. I had such tight control on MDI and now I have to redo everything. I guess change takes time and I get impatient...

Another ? I dont mind sleeping with the pump or anything but I am having the darndest time figuring out what to do with it when I go number 2. You folks just clip it on the shirt?Somebody has to be smiling after reading that... :)

[gettingby]

I'll answer you on this. Being female, it's not that difficult but I do use the longer length sets. No problems. And thanks for making me smile tonight.

[RobiJo]

It will settle down, the first few days/weeks while you are getting things settled can be hard while you adjust.

Mine is almost always in my pocket and I have no issue with the pump for #2. If for some reason it pulls, I'll just clip it to my shirt around my neckline. I use the shortest tubing lenght, but I also don't send my pants at my ankles either as many guys do. If you wear a tie, you could clip it to that or just to the shirt in between buttons.

[mortis505]

When I was using the 23" tubing I dropped trow to my knees and didn't have any problems. Or I would clip it to my tee shirt collar. Now I'm on the 43" tubing and leave my pump clipped to my waist band.

I didn't have any remorse but it did take some time to get my basal and bolus rates tweaked out just right. Patience. It will all fall into place soon enough.

[Subby]

The only remorse I felt was, not getting onto pumping sooner. Then again, I always had a hard time getting MDI to work, despite constant hard effort, so my expectation was to put some work in. And yes, there is at the least a few weeks work involved getting the pump working satisfactorily, for most people I would guess, and I can see how it would be discouraging to "step backwards" if control was previously tight...

I'd say as things fall into place over the next few weeks, you may suddenly see some real benefits and feel less remorseful. Stick with it.

As for number twos, I know exactly what you mean! My solution was to have something to clip onto beside the toilet - in my case, I tied a strip of nice cloth to the toilet roll holder, it's a dangling "port" for my pump I just pull the pump out of my pocket and clip it to the cloth! Works a treat, for me.

[SGT Shoutmore]

What to do with your pump when you're "Dropping the kids off at the pool".

Any of these will work.

1. Keep clipped to the side, yoru britches need not be dropped all the way to ankles, about below the knees will work and makes pulling them up and re-tucking tubing easier.

2. Clip to shirt, easy as well.

3. Lay pump in lap. Can be a hassle, especially when the pump falls when doing "The Paperwork".

As with subby, my ONLY remorse is NOT pumping SOONER. I live a more "Normal" life in just the month I have been pumping than I have prior!

Use your thinkin' cap and get inventive! You've lived this long, you have to have developed a good sense of the imagination by now! Why not have some fun with it? You never know, you might come up with an invention to serve this "project" so well, you get rich off of it! ;)

[Gary_W]

I had no remorse, but it's a little different for me. My control was difficult in ways that I couldn't easily fix on MDI (I couldn't seem to fix them at all...). As such I was not feeling well, so going on a pump was a breath of fresh air.

Clipping onto any clothing you have is preferable to clipping to stationary objects IMO. It's too easy to walk off... Shirt pockets on gents shirts seem to be distinctly out of fashion over here these days. I enjoy wearing some of my older shirts so I can pop the pump in the breast pocket at toilet time, but other times it just gets clipped on the shirt.

[dottielove]

Willie2004, you are too funny!! Thanks for asking that important question. With a Cozmo (attached BG meter) I was testing at the airport restroom and the pump slipped in the pot. Great way to spend your first vacation day finding a drug store to buy meters/strips (too much trouble to file for reimbursement). Of COURSE I didn't pack a backup meter! My pump drives me crazy arranging and rearranging. I go for the "clamp it between your chin and chest", even though I use long tubing--even so had the pump rip off my infusion set. With all that complaining tho--I will never never NEVER go back. Dottie Love