[assimilated]

Hello,

This is my first time on this site, & believe it or not, my first time in a chat room of any kind. I have been diabetic since 1990. I have been wearing a pump for five years (Distetronic D-Tron), & it's time for a change.

I have visited with the sales reps from all three companies listed above, & have yet to make a decision. A lot of the functions are similar. However, Medtronic may be closest to coming out with constant blood glucose monitoring that transmits to the pump. Cozmo has a nice feature where a Freestyle monitor is actually attached to the pump & results transmitted. I like Animus because they're a Lifescan product & I'm a One Touch user.

How do I decide? Any opinions out there? Caveats? Thanks for your time in advance.

Fondly,

Cath (aka assimilated).

[JediSkipdogg]

You have asked the million dollar question that only you can decide. All 3 pumps are great and all 3 have pros and cons. Hopefully Dewey can post her list on here that she has compiled with the pros and cons of each pump company. In the end, I don't think you can go wrong on any of the major companies right now.

[spike]

Originally Posted by assimilated

Hello,

This is my first time on this site, & believe it or not, my first time in a chat room of any kind. I have been diabetic since 1990. I have been wearing a pump for five years (Distetronic D-Tron), & it's time for a change.

I have visited with the sales reps from all three companies listed above, & have yet to make a decision. A lot of the functions are similar. However, Medtronic may be closest to coming out with constant blood glucose monitoring that transmits to the pump. Cozmo has a nice feature where a Freestyle monitor is actually attached to the pump & results transmitted. I like Animus because they're a Lifescan product & I'm a One Touch user.

How do I decide? Any opinions out there? Caveats? Thanks for your time in advance.

Fondly,

Cath (aka assimilated).

Call the mfgrs and request product literature, DVD's, owner's manuals, and sample sets. All 3 pumps will do the job, so I think that "hands on", looking at the programming, etc is the only way to judge which one is best, in addition to looking at the specs for each one. some do smaller basals than others. Others have more flexibility in their settings with regard to the time of day. some pumps allow settings to change in 4 hour increments and others allow you to set those same parameters in 30 minute increments.

[assimilated]

I've already touched all the pumps & read all the literature. I guess I'm looking for someone to log on & say, "No, don't use the blank!", or "I've tried all 3, & the best is blank".

I think Jedi is on the right track...I may be asking for an answer only I can give. I think I'll be happy with either pump, but I don't want to be slapping my forehead in despair in a few weeks because I ought to have known something else.

I appreciate the feedback. So far, my first chat experience is a positive one.

Cath (assimilated).

[spike]

Originally Posted by assimilated

I've already touched all the pumps & read all the literature. I guess I'm looking for someone to log on & say, "No, don't use the blank!", or "I've tried all 3, & the best is blank".

I think Jedi is on the right track...I may be asking for an answer only I can give. I think I'll be happy with either pump, but I don't want to be slapping my forehead in despair in a few weeks because I ought to have known something else.

I appreciate the feedback. So far, my first chat experience is a positive one.

Cath (assimilated).

I hesitate to recommend my pump, because someone who uses a different pump will take exception. All the pumps will keep your blood sugar in better control than MDI. A pump is great if you have DP. or if your schedule is not carved in granite. If you like to exercise on a few moments notice. If you like eating pizza...

[psilocybin]

ill just guide u through one thing....minimed you have to use there infusion sets, cozmo and animas u can use generic... u have to figure the rest out. i made my decision based on certain personal preferances

[uscrapm]

Hi:

Just last month I switched from a D-Tron Plus to the Animas 1250. I was on the DT for 5 years like you and really was nervous about switching. After reviewing all three pumps I felt that the Animas & Cozmore offered the best reviews on customer service and flexibility of infusion sets. What won me over was the size of the Animas. I must say now that I have used it for a couple of weeks I have NO regrets, the Animas is excellent. My control has been even better than with the D-Tron, lower to the point that I now believe old faithful was malfunctioning. I hope this helps with your decision.

[spike]

Originally Posted by psilocybin

ill just guide u through one thing....minimed you have to use there infusion sets, cozmo and animas u can use generic... u have to figure the rest out. i made my decision based on certain personal preferances

That's not entirely true. Other mfgrs make sets for Paradigm pumps. I just got some from Simple Choice...

[spike]

Originally Posted by uscrapm

Hi:

Just last month I switched from a D-Tron Plus to the Animas 1250. I was on the DT for 5 years like you and really was nervous about switching. After reviewing all three pumps I felt that the Animas & Cozmore offered the best reviews on customer service and flexibility of infusion sets. What won me over was the size of the Animas. I must say now that I have used it for a couple of weeks I have NO regrets, the Animas is excellent. My control has been even better than with the D-Tron, lower to the point that I now believe old faithful was malfunctioning. I hope this helps with your decision.

Now that MM has come up with the fantastic Sure-T sets, that removes one of the negatives against MM. Besides which, as I just wrote in another response, other MFGRS make sets for Paradigm pumps.

[psilocybin]

well look at the cozmo/animas choices compared to MM

[condensr]

I recently started using an Animas 1250 and I love it. The only drawback I have found so far (which may or may not be important to you) is that if you enter carb or BG information in to the pump, it does not save it in its history. The Paradigm and Cosmo pumps do.

Regarding CGMS, be aware that Minimeds implementation of CGMS as approved by the FDA does not allow you to make changes to your dosing etc based on the cgms values. You are supposed to back up any CGMS reading with a fingerstick. Also, currently, I haven't heard of any insurance plan that will cover CGMS supplies (which are expensive). There will be standalone CGMS systems coming from Mimined, Abbott, and a company called Dexcom here in the near future though. (hopefully..)

[spike]

Originally Posted by psilocybin

well look at the cozmo/animas choices compared to MM

LOL! I only want ONE infusion set that works. If an infusion set works, I don't go shopping for others.

[ToddyC]

Cath,
I've been going through a similar process of trying to decide which pump to get. I talked to a medical supplier, and she told me that all 3 are good (I was looking at the same ones you were looking at)-- I really think it comes down to a few things, one of the main ones being personal preference.

However, I think another good thing to do is to talk to your doctor and see if you can get any info from them about what they are comfortable working with. For me, this was somewhat of an issue, as I haven't been on a pump before. Since my doc is the one that is going to help me get going with the pump, I definitely wanted to try to find out what they were familiar with. My doc said she couldn't recommend a particular pump to me, as they weren't allowed to do that -- however, I asked some questions and it became pretty obvious to me which pump my doc was most familiar with and most comfortable with.

I'm NOT saying to use your doctor as the deciding factor, as it will be your pump and you are the one living with it every day. However, my doc's input (even though I had to read between the lines for the input) did help.

[Cyborg]

If I had to make my pump decision over from scratch, I think I would like to do a trial run with each of the pumps, pumping saline. It sounds like a hassle, but it would have given me the intimate detailed ins and outs for each pump before making a final decision.

[Dewey]

Originally Posted by Cyborg

If I had to make my pump decision over from scratch, I think I would like to do a trial run with each of the pumps, pumping saline. It sounds like a hassle, but it would have given me the intimate detailed ins and outs for each pump before making a final decision.

I truly believe that's a wise idea. It would give us hands-on experience with each pump & company, & allow for better decision-making. It's far more difficult to make a choice when only equipped with pamphlets, spec sheets & the like. It is ultimately up to the end-user which pump will suit them best, and this is not as easily done by reading literature on a product.

Originally Posted by JediSkipdogg

You have asked the million dollar question that only you can decide. All 3 pumps are great and all 3 have pros and cons. Hopefully Dewey can post her list on here that she has compiled with the pros and cons of each pump company. In the end, I don't think you can go wrong on any of the major companies right now.

Thanks for the plug, Jedi. As mentioned, here's the post I usually give to those interested in pump therapy. I highlighted the pros/cons of only the recent pumps I've used (Animas IR-1250, MM Paradigm & Deltec Cozmore), so if others have experience with the others (i.e. Nipro or Omnipod), that would be helpful. Here's the post:

Picking a pump