5 Month Animas Ping Review

6 months ago I was told that MDI was no longer for me and it was time for me to get a pump, Being a ONE touch for a decade I wanted the PING, however the doc wanted me to have the MM since it had a bigger cartridge 3CC vs 2CC, I won, I got the PING, I really do like it, being hard of hearing I have all my alerts on Vibrate thus why the battery usually only last 4 weeks, that is speaking of Lith, once I had to use an AK as I was traveling and it only lasted TWO days! So when I got the dongle I also signed up for the free skin, and the skin does protect the unit so I managed this far, I have broken 3 clips thus far, and I am thinking to get a leather case for the unit and get rid of the skin as it just drives me nuts! In six months I have only had the thing get caught up in a door handle and I lost my inset and ended up having blood everywhere! I have many times had it dangling cause I was changing clothes and I laid it on the side and got up and the thing just dangled. I thought for sure the inset would get pulled out, but never has. I sweat a LOT, Even though I do nothing to cause it, and I have an unusual amount of body hair, was worried that my insets would fall off (non sticking) and well I use the regular prep and I have a hard time peeling them off when it comes time to change! I do have the ezmanager and use it on a weekly basics and cause I do want my medical provider to have the information, instead of faxing weekly I just up to the diasend website and they can get whatever they want. I use my ezmanager for my own personal tracking. When I was MDI I was pushing over 140 units of insulin daily, well since I have gone on the pump it is down to almost 77 units a day. So you tell me what that says about diabetes management,

The myth that the pump will solve the issue and do EVERYTHING for you, not even remotely close… YOU the user have to tell it what your intake is and you have to be real about it, yeah you could just play with the numbers and fudge all you want, but if you want to have control and have good results, you NEED to work along side the pump.

Sorry to create a whole new thread on this but if it wasn’t for this pump I would have to use an average of 7 different injections in a day…

Hi Ernie, glad to hear that you like your Ping! I am now using it and am very satisfied and happy with it. I use the remote for testing, but usually go right to the pump for my boluses. I find that putting the carb amounts and insulin amounts into the remote is alot slower for me. I guess the numbers move too fast, or maybe it will take more time to get use to how the numbers move. I find that when I put my info directly into the meter, I come within a number or two of where I need to be. When using the romote I am always 20-30 off.

You are right that pumping is alot of dedication.

Hi Ernie -

Glad you are doing well on the pump. Guess I never heard the myths about the pump. Fact is, managing diabetes takes time and dedication whether you are MDI or on the pump - and no one, NO ONE can do it for you.

Regards the sweating - that can be an indicator of fast rising BG. If you try to stick to the lower end of the glycemic index (versus fast-acting carbs), you may find that improving.

Take care,
Cheri