[Zapatka]

I am getting my first pump, the minimed 522, in a few weeks!!!!! Who here is on this pump, and do you like it!?!?

I am very excited, and I would like to know what you think.

thanks

[spike]

Originally Posted by Zapatka

I am getting my first pump, the minimed 522, in a few weeks!!!!! Who here is on this pump, and do you like it!?!?

I am very excited, and I would like to know what you think.

thanks

My 515 is essentially the 522 without the CGMS option. It's great. My wife has the 522 and loves hers too, but she isn't going to get the CGMS. I'm waiting to see how the Navigator pans out, once it's FDA approved.

[nshack]

I have it without the Real time glucose monitoring. I like it a lot. I think it's a great pump so far. Hanging around here will help you figure out all the things that will make life easier with pumps in general.

[notme]

I have the MM 517 which is essentially the same pump as yours without the CGMS. I couldn't love it more. Happy Pumping.

[spike]

Originally Posted by notme

I have the MM 517

New model?

[notme]

hehehehe ok ok 715. You caught me Spike.

[Zapatka]

Cool. My pump rep. says CGMS isn't necessary now-- He told me he would be able to set it up so that when I go to college, I can only wear it at night. I still have 2 years for that.

He also said Minimed just recieved a grant from the JDRF to start working on the Artifical Pancreas, which should be released in 3-4 years.

[JediSkipdogg]

Zapatka, first of all, wonderful photography on your website. I had a college roommate that did photography and he shot alot of stuff exactly like you. He'd find random stuff (like your ball on the sidewalk) and just make art out of it.

I don't know how they told you you can only wear it at night. CGMS is a 24 hour system. You don't take it off anytime, once you insert the sensor, it's in you for 72 hours unless you remove it. Turning it off during the day would be stupid.

As for the artificial pancreas, there's alot of debate on that. JDRF is stuck on creating one. The problem is there's no way current insulin treatments will work. It takes 5 hours for current insulin to be fully used by the body. So when the CGMS detects you are running 150, how it's know how much insulin to give? If one is on an upward motion in BG, it will take at least 5 hours before that insulin brings that 150 back down. That delay is currently too long and there seems to be little research into ways to successfully get insulin in the body straight into the liver or the bloodstream which makes reaction times alot faster. I just don't believe Minimed when they say it will be 4-5 years before one is out since 6 years ago they said they'd have a CGMS out in a year, and it took 6 years for one to be consumer usable and it will be another 1-2 years before insurance companies see a benefit from it. Remember, current treatment methods can make a person live into their 70s and 80s. We even have one member on here that has had diabetes for 60 years with no complications. 60 years ago testing a BG was impossible, so current methods are millions times greater. So what's the benefit of testing every 5 minutes? None if you use him as an example.

Just wanted to throw that in.

[Zapatka]

Maybe in a year or two, they will have smaller CGMS. Reusable? How amazing would that be?

As for the JDRF, I'm only 8 months into this game, so I dont know how slow they are

Unlike you, being diabetic for 23 years, you've seen the major improvements in the medical field.

9 months ago, I didnt even know insulin pumps existed.

[JediSkipdogg]

You Padawan (Zapatka), you speak the truth. They may have in a few years a reusabled CGMS. The problem is trying to make a piece of plastic that bends and can kink in your body able to be pulled out, stuck back with a needle, and reinserted causing no pain or kinking. That's why current plastic canulas for insulin pumps aren't reusable.

The JDRF...it's a great foundation. I love many of the items they do for helping children out, the problem is they really have no control over anything. They research and research but you haven't heard of the JDRF Insulin Pump yet have you? No, it's cause they give the ideas to other companies to produce. The other problem is for 20 years they have been talking about an artificial pancreas and the problem is still getting it to work feasable with the body. Fat slows down the absortion of insulin drastically. That's why when people on shots say they hit a vein they can be in some danger. If they inject the insulin into a vein and then eat, their BG will drop extremely fast and maybe even dangerously fast that the food won't have enough time to react and it will cause them a low.

I have seen ALOT in the field. Not as much as some others out there. I also have hope for some sort of cure/radical treatment, but I think ANY method to have a BG auto-correct itself will require some sort of surgery. Both to get accurate up to the second blood readings (current CGMS is delay 8 minutes and only reads every 5 minutes, so you could have a 10-15 minute delay in readings) and to get insulin into the body as fast as possible. Now, they do have in Europe an implantable insulin pump that reacts alot faster than our pumps through fatty tissue do. However, and you are too new to experience this, pumps fail. Do you want to make an ER visit and be off work for 2-3 days because your pump that is implanted in you failed? In my times, I have gone through 3 pump failures in 4 years of pumping. All minor ones, one being a crack partially my fault, but still, a failure. So that's where the current problems lie.

Ok, I'm done ranting. Do I see a cure/superb treatment in my lifetime? Heck yes, being 24 years old, I have plenty of time to see something. I just don't see anything coming in our current methods, I think the hope now lies in killing what causes diabetes in the first place (for a type 1) and then finding a way to replace the insulin producing islet cells without any immunosuppressant drugs.

[Tim_Roy]

CGMS is not really at all useful for determining your need for insulin right now.

It's not timely enough (interstitial fluid rather than blood or plasma is used) and it's not accurate enough. It's best used for spotting trends in your control and for spotting unexpected highs and lows (particularly while you're sleeping).

I used a CGMS for a week or so, I checked my bloods through finger sticking the entire time. It was a very useful experience, but without the finger sticks I might likely have gotten myself into all sorts of trouble.