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Friday, October 25, 2013

Why pumping insulin makes my life easier

So I know a lot or most people out there with Type 1 Diabetes are still taking multiple daily injections (mdi) which is great if it works for you, but it doesn't work for me and I will tell you why.

  • Insulin sensitivity.  I have it, and a lot of it.  I get up and go outside to take car pictures or decide on the spur of the moment to clean my house like a maniac (yes I am known to do that, just ask my husband) and no matter what my blood sugar drops.  If I have time to plan this sort of thing ahead of time and set a temp basal on my pump (temporarily decrease the amount of insulin I get from the pump, basal is background insulin or what long acting insulin would do (lantus, levemir)) my blood sugar isn't as volatile.   Taking mdi shots does not coincide with my life.  Me and long acting insulin do not agree because I am a very active person and never sit still for more than a few minutes.  
  • Taking shots in general.  My skin or something just doesnt like it.  I look like a druggie, every time and every place I took a shot I would get a giant bruise and I dont bruise easily, ever.  I once, ok several times, have whacked either my leg, arm or head on something, because I am oh so graceful, and never get a bruise.  I mean it will hurt so bad I have to sit down or I will pass out or puke and nothing, not one mark.  The other day I tripped up my front steps and smacked my shin on our wood front steps, yep almost puked and not one mark from it.  
  • Figuring out what dose of insulin to take.  Yeah I wont lie, I had no carb ratios, correction factors, sensitivity factors, none of it, my worthless previous Endo was a JOKE.  I didnt even know that stuff existed and even if I did there was no way in heck I would be able to figure out or memorize the things my pump has already set in it.  It is so much faster and easier and more accurate to use a pump.  For me.
  • Charting/logging/graphing.  Yeah never did that either.  Now I dont have to, my pump has it in its memory.  LOVE that feature.
  • Remembering how much insulin you took or how many carbs you ate the meal before.  Yeah this doesn't happen on shots either, or at least for me it didn't.  I can look in my pump history and whalaa there it is!
  • THE one bad thing about pumping is that ignorant people assume that your Diabetes MUST BE BAD because you are on a pump.  This is the number one thing that drives me insane. 
  • Female hormonal swings and blood sugar control do not play well together.  Being on a pump makes this issue easier to deal with because I can just change profile settings on my t:slim pump so during certain times of the month I can get more or less insulin with just a quick profile change.  
  • I dont have to get out any needles or insulin containers so less people stare at me.  I do not miss the stares from people.  I always took my insulin sitting where ever I was eating, because I never felt it was necessary for me to take it somewhere else because of other peoples issues.  So I got a lot of stares.  People stare if you do anything weird or abnormal so I was sort of use to it, but now that I am on the pump I don't get that at all anymore.  I had to take shots one day when my last MM pump failed and people stared, I hated it and it brought back all my old memories of the staring.  It made me feel sick to my stomach, so I am glad I don't deal with that anymore.   If you are reading this and not Diabetic yourself, next time you see someone taking insulin, please don't stare at them. 
  • Pumping insulin has made me a better Diabetic.  I am more vigilant about my disease and my pump even tells me if I missed a meal time bolus (bolus is to cover carbs, like fast acting insulin for shots (humalog, novolog) so then I think, duh take your insulin!
  • Pumping is 100% fast acting insulin, you no longer take any long acting insulin at all.  This is the number one reason that when an infusion set fails, it sucks, your blood sugar shoots up very quickly.  So for me wearing an infusion set that cannot fail without your knowledge is important, I wear 45 degree sets so I can see the cannula going into my skin.  90 degree sets can fail and not be in your skin and you dont know it until your bg is sky high because you cannot see the cannula going into your skin.

So that mostly sums up why pumping is better for me vs injections. My t:slim pump is amazing and I love it, the ease of use is phenomenal and unbeaten by any other pump maker out there, in my opinion.  This is just my personal experience, as you all know, everyone's Diabetes is completely different than someone else's.  No two Diabetics are the same which is why the nature of this disease can be so complicated and difficult.


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