Insulin Pumps and how do you get one?

lovinguncle

Hi All,

Read this thread and some informative info here thanks to all.
My little nephew (5 years old) has got a date for assessment up in Crumlin
in relation to getting a pump which is great.

I was wondering what is involved in this assessment and is there anything
that can be done in the meantime to help him to be successful with this
assessment.

Thanks in advance,
Dave.

robinph

Not sure what they would be looking for with a 5yo. But once the parents show interest in the pump and a willingness to learn about it I guess all should be good.

For me it actually seemed to be more that the consultant was checking they agreed with the nurses opinion that I was a suitable candidate. Once the nurse is putting someone forward for a pump I think they are pretty much signed up to the idea. Gives you a chance to speak with someone else about it and see if any other questions pop into your head from the patients perspective.

Of course most questions will only pop into your head on the way home afterwards.

graflynn

robinph wrote: »

once the parents show interest in the pump and a willingness to learn about it I guess all should be good.

and they parents should probably show that they are willing to put the effort into learning about carb counting and testing blood sugars at least 6 times a day (I only add this because some parents don't know this).

It would probably be helpful too if the parents knew as much as they could about how the pump works and some specifics about how much easier it would be to control their son's blood sugars with it.

I wish them every sucess:)

lovinguncle

Thanks for the replys..

eilo1

Hey insulin pumpers,

I am thinking of trying out this 10k race in a few weeks, http://hellandback-ie.si-sv2413.com/Hell-and-Back-FAQ.html

Has anyone tried anything similar while wearing the pump, Im a bit worried about the water.

Would it be better to just take shots on the day?

Thanks guys!

robinph

My kind of topic.

What pump is it that you're on?

I'm on the Animas 2020 and it's rated waterproof. I've not given it an actual dunking under water yet whilst wearing it, but it has got extremely wet and muddy during some off-road races. Although when I started on the pump was already passed the worst of the cross country season, that starts again in a couple of weeks and I'll carry on wearing it for that.

The biggest issue is going to be ensuring that it remains attached to you through the conditions, I'd just clip mine to my waist band for regular road races, but I would suggest some kind of pouch to put it in for the kind of race you're looking at just to keep it from falling off.

I don't think switching to injections would be needed, if it's that severe that you are going to take it off then I think just disconnecting for the duration would be the best bet. Just make sure you put the cover over the canula end of the cabling so that it doesn't get covered in grit which would stop you reconnecting afterwards.


I'm the one on the left in the white top with blue stripe, we got covered in a LOT of mud that day due to running through sloppy mud up to about knee deep for a hundred meters or so on each lap, in addition to the rest of the mud about.

eilo1

Thanks Robin,

I have the medtronic paragim pump. Its water resistant but not recommened for swimming or washing.

I normally clip it onto the side of my sports bra so its a bit higer up and covered by my top. Im playing in a rugby match on Sunday so im gona try it out on that and see how I get on!

Id be really annoyed if I got it soaked and ruined!:o

robinph

I guess it's a bit more "protected" from getting knocked out of place in that position as well. The bumping and pushing even at the start of road races makes me nervous at the moment of mine getting unclipped from my shorts.

Minimed wrote:

MiniMed Paradigm insulin pumps are water resistant and can be splashed or temporarily dunked in water. Patients should disconnect from their insulin pump prior to participating in water activities.

I think you'll be OK for what you are doing. It's just they are not rated as waterproof enough for long term submersion, but you're not going to be doing that anyway.

For some daft reason the Animas one is rated to be waterproof to 3 meters for 24 hours, but quite what anyone would ever be doing floating around at 3 meters under water for that long I have no idea?

Coletteh

A great pouch especially for running is a Spibelt. Check spibelt.com. It's an American company but my son bought one on eBay. It's great for your pump and would be really safe for running.

robinph

Have an SPI Belt myself which I got from the US, usually just using it to carry gels in in most races. They do now sell them on Wiggle.co.uk as well and if your getting other stuff from there they also have a 20% off deal this weekend if you're spending over fifty quid. Code 20OFF_EVERY:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/?s=spi+belt

eilo1

Update,

I had my first rugby match yesterday (we won yeahhhh ). Now the pump was fine apart from getting a bit sweaty.

However I didnt fall on it. I did crash to the ground on my front, back and left side, so the pump was fine. I am worried though that if I get flattened on my right side then it might get broken.

I wonder if there is some sort of shock absorbing pouch I could buy, does anybody know of anything to help protect it.

I might email medtronic and see what they reccomoned for contact sports.

robinph

Yay for winning.

Mine got a bit scratched when I took a tumble along the road at the start of a race a couple of months ago. It was on the other side from what I fell on so didn't come off too badly damaged, but I do now have it in a rubberised cover that the Animas rep gave me for free. I am actually more concerned about me getting damaged from falling on it now so tend to wear it over slightly squishier parts of my body around the waist band now so that if I do take a fall it's not hitting right off bone.
https://estore.animascorp.com/ProductDetail.aspx?groupid=184&topcategoryid=5&subcategoryid=18

I'd expect Minimed to just say something along the lines of take it off for the duration of contact sports, just to cover themselves.


I won stuff this weekend as well, got a "silver" medal in the UK Masters 10km Championships. I got beaten by a bunch of even older masters than myself in scarily fast times, but we got the team placing between us.

Coletteh

To Eilo1. I have seen photos of an American football player with his pump clipped to his belt at the middle of his back. Might be a place to try. (no pun intended). Also as I mentioned before the Spibelt is great for any sport or just daily use.

robinph

The last week really didn't go to plan at all. I was meant to be running Amsterdam Marathon yesterday, but last week after running a cross country race I got back home on the Sunday evening, went to bed and basically didn't get back up again until the Tuesday afternoon due to being totally knackered. A trip to the GP and they just said that I was the picture of health, :rolleyes:, just had got a bit unlucky with picking up a virus of some kind. They just prescribed plenty of rest essentially.

Not exactly what I was looking for, but the pump did actually make things a bit simpler with then trying to keep my sugar levels in a bit better control during the week by playing with upping the basal levels. A combination of illness and lack of normal levels of exercise I guess, but I was getting a grip on what adjustments worked for me after a bit.

Was still feeling a bit dodgy at the weekend, but figured I'd go to Amsterdam anyway to watch the race. Was very annoying being stood on the side lines and feeling generally OK watching my mates race in perfect conditions. Just the riding a bike around the course to watch them was enough to knacker me out that afternoon though so was clearly the right thing for me not to run. I did manage to get enough energy back to go for some pints of course.

Managed to use the pump to avoid going through the millimeter scanner at the airport as well on the way back and they just directed me around it. Really not keen on those things so glad of the excuse to dodge it. :cool:

Now going to try and see if I can find another marathon in a month or so to have a go at as I really want to experiment with the pump a bit more before London next year, somewhere exotic hopefully.

robinph

Changed my set over this morning, but clearly wasn't paying attention to the battery level status. So I just started playing Fur Elise in the office which caused some strange looks. Quite why it's that tune they have for the warning signal, and it sounds like an early '90's phone ring tone quality of sound?

Anyway, now have to hope that my battery lasts for the next three days until the next set change...or I have to mess about with changing it over before then? Not sure what it might do to the settings and if the pump resets itself with the plunger for the insulin on board. Battery changes are so rare I can't remember what it does.

eilo1

Why do you have to wait for the the next set change? With the minimed you can change the battery any time and it doesnt affect the settings.

CramCycle

Woohoo, trial pump being installed on the 9th December

James now have no consultant apparently so I could be waiting for another 6 months or so

I could risk my life and try swapping out the saline solution for novorapid :eek:

robinph

eilo1 wrote: »

Why do you have to wait for the the next set change? With the minimed you can change the battery any time and it doesnt affect the settings.

I just like trying to make all the changes at the same time. I couldn't remember if the plunger resets itself or not with the battery change though.

Think I'm just over thinking the re-boot scenarios and getting carried away with myself. Been on this thing for 9 months, probably only 2 battery changes, and I'm still a n00b at this pumping lark.

robinph

CramCycle wrote: »

Woohoo, trial pump being installed on the 9th December

James now have no consultant apparently so I could be waiting for another 6 months or so

I could risk my life and try swapping out the saline solution for novorapid :eek:

That is awesome.

When I was on the trial pump for a few days, they just had me pumping saline and messing about with different canulas for that time, then straight back in and they set us up with the insulin.

Which pump are you getting?

eilo1

robinph wrote: »

I just like trying to make all the changes at the same time. I couldn't remember if the plunger resets itself or not with the battery change though.

Think I'm just over thinking the re-boot scenarios and getting carried away with myself. Been on this thing for 9 months, probably only 2 battery changes, and I'm still a n00b at this pumping lark.

I see, well if you want to change it and avoid those annoying warning tunes for the next few days. I would recommend you unclick yourself and if the plunger does reset just fill the tubing, there should be an option for this on your reset menu. Then click back on and fill the canula. Its still some hassle but at least you wont have to change the set.
And people wont think you have a naff 99's mobile phone! :pac:

graflynn

robinph wrote: »

I just like trying to make all the changes at the same time. I couldn't remember if the plunger resets itself or not with the battery change though.

Think I'm just over thinking the re-boot scenarios and getting carried away with myself. Been on this thing for 9 months, probably only 2 battery changes, and I'm still a n00b at this pumping lark.

I have the Animas pump and when the battery runs out I just disconnect, pull out the cartridge, change battery, push a few buttons to confirm date, time, etc, then I do a full rewind, insert cartridge (the same one I removed) and reload and ready to go.

If I remember correctly you have the animas pump too. And once the alarm goes off you only have 1 hour of battery left!

CramCycle

robinph wrote: »

When I was on the trial pump for a few days, they just had me pumping saline and messing about with different canulas for that time, then straight back in and they set us up with the insulin.

That would be nice but its unlikely as tey aren't fitting any at the minute unless it had been arranged before the consultants left.

Which pump are you getting?

Won't find out till the 9th of December, presumably whichever one is the HSE standard at the time.

robinph

Now I've got my skiing trip for January booked I realise that I may have been better off going for the pump that came with a remote control. I'm usually wearing the pump easily accessible on a belt loop and can then just set a bolus going when ever needed, think I'll be needing to keep it warm under a few layers of clothes though, and to ensure I don't get it tangled up in the lifts. Can see a lot of faffing about needing to be done when I stop at the top of a mountain to get my drink of gluhwien , hot chocolate, OK then I'll be good and stick to the coffee.

CramCycle

CramCycle wrote: »

Won't find out till the 9th of December, presumably whichever one is the HSE standard at the time.

Apparently I will be getting no pump for the minute

Bifforod

Hi All, my daughter 12, a diabetic of 8 years, and on the medtronic pump for 2 years has had a serious issue with the medtronic quick set over the past 2 weeks. the cannula has kinked regularly and driven her ketotic. She has changed the site from the front stomach to the sides but it has continued to re-occur. We changed the quick set batch but it agained re-occured. She is not overweight and we cannot put the failure down to site pressure or impropper attachment. Regular testing will pick up the failure but due to her age she may not check often enough.
Has anyone come accross this issue as frequent as us?
tks for intrest
Bifforod

eilo1

Bifforod wrote: »

Hi All, my daughter 12, a diabetic of 8 years, and on the medtronic pump for 2 years has had a serious issue with the medtronic quick set over the past 2 weeks. the cannula has kinked regularly and driven her ketotic. She has changed the site from the front stomach to the sides but it has continued to re-occur. We changed the quick set batch but it agained re-occured. She is not overweight and we cannot put the failure down to site pressure or impropper attachment. Regular testing will pick up the failure but due to her age she may not check often enough.
Has anyone come accross this issue as frequent as us?
tks for intrest
Bifforod

I am in the exact same boat bifforod!!
It has happened to me twice in the past and I just put it down to my error although I ended up in ICU the first time.

But over the last month it has happened to me 4 times. One day it happened twice. So it took nearly 6 hours to get my sugars down. I dont feel like I can trust the pump at all.

I am also getting these very random high sugars out of nowhere. Its very strange I came home from work the other day and I was 31!! There was no way I had eaten enough carb to make me that high and I had bolused (I checked on the pump). The set had been in situe for over a day on that occasion so there was no chance of a kink although I did change the set regardless.

robinph

CramCycle wrote: »

Apparently I will be getting no pump for the minute

That sucks.

robinph

The only problem I've had so far with my Inset II's was purely down to my n00bness and doing it wrong. I'm sure I've seen mention on other diabetes pages before about people having trouble with the Quicksets, but all I can quickly find online right now seems to be about a recall that Meditronic did a couple of years ago on them.

Do Meditronic use their own type of connector, or can you try switching to a different type of set to see if they work better for you? I think it's called a "luer lock" that is on my Animas pump and is supposedly a standard type so should work with other brands of sets as well.

eilo1

robinph wrote: »

The only problem I've had so far with my Inset II's was purely down to my n00bness and doing it wrong. I'm sure I've seen mention on other diabetes pages before about people having trouble with the Quicksets, but all I can quickly find online right now seems to be about a recall that Meditronic did a couple of years ago on them.

Do Meditronic use their own type of connector, or can you try switching to a different type of set to see if they work better for you? I think it's called a "luer lock" that is on my Animas pump and is supposedly a standard type so should work with other brands of sets as well.

My nurse told me that the various companies were being forced to make a generic insertion set so you didn't have to only use their ones. I'm going to talk to them about it after Christmas. I took a picture of the way the canula kinked its mind bogalling how it happens with no warning from the pump!!

Bifforod

Sorry to hear your having the same issues Eilo. I def think its a product issue and will investigate Robinph's advice.
Rob have you experianced this problem at all with your product