Originally Posted by SCRN1
What kind do you have and how do you like it?
What are the advantages & disadvantages?
My endo is trying to convince me of getting one. I'm not sure I'm ready. I am still trying to get used to the idea of having the disease and taking insulin for the rest of my life and right now, I just don't want to have some device connected to my body as a constant reminder. I know they say you can get better control of your BG with them and lots of people love them. I'd just like to hear what people who have them have to say about them.
Thanks in advance.
Personally, I LOVE mine, haha!!
Let me see if I can get all your questions...
I'm type 1, by the way (I know several type 2's that use them too, so I always specify...
) - I have a Minimed Paradigm 7xx - love it...
(Minimed currently makes a Paradigm 522 and a 722 - the only difference b/t the two is the reservoir size - the 5 holds 180 units, and the 7 holds 300 - I have the 7 because when I initially bought it 7 years ago, I was really using a LOT of insulin - 80-90 units/day - and I'm tiny - 5'1" - so that's a LOT - but now, I'm not nearly as insulin resistant as I used to be - now I'm at 40-50 units/day - so definite improvement...)
Advantages: There are so, so many - I can eat pretty much what I want (within reason, of course!
), the flexibility is amazing, good control, always having insulin on you (can't tell you how many times I'd forgotten insulin at home when on shots...oops!...had to get someone to bring it to me - with a pump, I just make sure I have at least 50 units loaded before I leave home, and I'm set for the entire day!), hmmm, what else...very user-friendly (you don't have to be a genius to operate 'em), less stuff to carry around (all I keep on me is basically something to treat a low, a meter - mine is little, and an insulin pen should something go wrong with the pump - granted, if something DOES go wrong, which is not often at ALL - it's usually not the pump, it's usually the infusion set going bad - which can happen if you leave the set in too long, or if the cannula gets blocked - again, doesn't happen often...I may seriously have had 2 sets get blocked in the last 7 years I've been on a pump...) Oh, yes, and being able to adjust doses on the fly is AWESOME - totally can't do that with shots - helps me SO MUCH in 12-hr clinicals, because if I'm running low one day, I can just dial it into the pump to give a smidge less, and I'm set - if I were on Lantus, I'd have to snack all day, which isn't necessarily convienient, hehe...if you're insulin sensitive, pumps can deliver MUCH smaller doses (small as in 0.05 unit) so that is definitely a plus... short acting insulin only, so more reliable (though I find Lantus to be pretty reliable, but I had SO many issues with Lente/NPH/Ultralente...Humalog is my friend, haha!!)
Disadvantages: to be truly honest, I'll put it this way - if I went back on shots, I'd be truly and completely lost...it won't happen...
Now, disadvantages to the Paradigm specifically, there's only one that I can think of - the infusion sets have a connector on them that makes it so you can only use sets that come from Minimed...which means that if you can't work with the ones that Minimed offers, you might be out of luck (supposedly - there is a way to get around this by purchasing a different type of reservoir - PM me if you want me to explain further)
The main thing is to get a pump that works for you - there are several, so do your research - some endos prefer to get one brand over another - forget that - get whatever brand works for YOU!! And get whatever infusion set that works for you, too, that is key - a lot of the time, when you get a lot of blocked cannulas, that may mean that you need to go set shopping, 'cause it might not be the right one for you. And make sure you have a supportive endo/CDE who will take the time to work with you, it's not a task that you want to take on by yourself!
As for being connected to something all the time - I felt the same way initially - but I forgot the thing existed after about 2 weeks of wearing it, now it's like a teddy bear, haha!!! Now, I feel weird whenever it's MISSING, haha!! Which is good, because the "missing" feeling has saved me from leaving the house and forgetting my insulin pump in the bathroom when I took it off to take a shower, haha - the weird feeling walking out of the door: "My waist feels so lonely, something's missing...oh, my gosh, MY PUMP!!!" Haha!!
But, yeah, I give mine two thumbs up, for sure!! Won't go back!
Feel free to PM me if you want to chat!!
~A
Would you like to comment?
