Thinking about getting a pump

[nickiscool]

I was diagnosed with T1 this past saturday and even though I'm still having the whole ideea of diabetes really sink in I'm already thinking about getting a pump. I'm 18 I dont play any sports at all, don't really mind giving myself shots but I'd rather not. I'm a GM at a restraunt so even at work I don't do any hard work just walk around do paper and every once in a while work in the kitchen. I'm a workaholic and we're one of the busy restraunts here in Tallahassee so I don't really have a lot of time to give myself insulin and it's rather annoying to take the time. When I'm in the kitchen I really have to stretch to reach things so I don't know if the tube from the pump will be harmed from my stretching. I guess what I'm asking is with what I just told yall all I do you think the pump could be right for me? I haven't talked to my rep or doctor about a pump yet. Or do yall think with me being such a new diabetic should I give myself time for the idea of diabetes to really sink into my life?

[notme]

It depends nicki. Certainly you can use the pump and the tubing will give you no problems at all. There is also a pump that uses no tubing, but has a "pod" that you can wear that has the insulin inside. I don't use that type as I find the pod a bit big for my liking.

If you want to use a pump, I see no reason anyone needs to wait. Pumping insulin is just another delivery method.

Basically, the same thing occurs either way. With a pump you only use one type of short acting insulin that will be given in tiny increments throughout the day and that will act as your basal. You will just push some buttons to bolus.

You need to know how to give shots (which you obviously do) in case of emergency high blood sugars or a problem with the pump (rare, but it happens).

Talk to your doctor and talk to a diabetes educator. Read a lot of the posts here and I am sure you will figure out if the pump is right for you.

Welcome! :wavey:

[JediSkipdogg]

I'd let diabetes sink in first. Get use to giving yourself shots and learning what different foods and insulin does to you. Then once you have that down, in about a year, then you can think about a pump.

[nickiscool]

Thanks guys. I was thinking that I should wait maybe, don't really know. It's confusing.

[marchez]

First off, you can give a pump a 90 day trial with no implications. Medtronic is a great company to partner with for this. Pumping is by far the gold standard. Your delivery is 85% more accurate than injecting and you can deliver small amounts of insulin easily to really balance your BGs at any time. Ultimately you need to decide for your self, but the whole idea of 'sinking in' is, I think, a bit useless for you. You are already thinking ahead and that is the best situation you can be in; ahead of the disease. Most people get stuck in guilt and depression. You are like me and are able to take action which I believe is an advantage of diabetes.

Check out the pump and try injecting but based on your proactive behavior, I bet you'll end up with a pump.

Best of luck and keep moving forward with a positive impact your situation.

[UpNorth]

If you know a bit about diabetes feel confident enough with needles and really want to try a pump. Go for it I'd say. You can always go back to injections if you don't like the pump or if it's too difficult now. One thing to keep in mind though is that everything is so much faster with a pump since you only have rapid acting insulin in it. If there's a problem with the pump you can end up very high very fast because you don't have a slow acting basal insulin in your body, but you can also adjust doses very fast, and give a bolus very fast.
Also keep in mind, that a pump doesn't mean you won't have to inject yourself every now and then. If you go very high sometime due to delivery issues or miscalculating a dose, it's often a lot more effective to inject a correction dose with a syringe or pen than giving the dose through the pump. (at least it's like that for me)

Btw, i've been T1 for 4 years now in a few days, and started pumping about 4 months or so after my diagnose. i'm switching between pump and MDI depending on if i want to pump or not. Now i've been on my pump for about 6 months without break:eek: But before that i was back on MDI for quite some time.