I have 2 childern t1 diabetic… Neither of them want to pump… My son who is 7 diagnosed at 18mths told me that he would “rather take 100 needles a day then pump”… we did go to the class and he got to try on a pump even actually had the infusion set in… as soon as he went to pee, he pulled it out and since then never will even attempt it again… My daughter I think would attempt it but really does nto want to be bothered with it …
My son is 12, and was dx’d a year ago and will have NO part of any pump with tubing. We did try the Omni Pod saline trial after all kinds of pump education in January - but it failed miserably after less than 24 hours and for now he wants no part of pumping. He may end up trying the Pod again once the smaller version comes out - but not sure. I’ll support whatever he wants but have to be honest and say the thought of no background insulin/Lantus is scary should a pump/Pod fail…
ME TOO !! I thought it was me being me LOL… I mean we use pens so it makes it alot easier for school and travel… but I get weary with the constant flow… I mean I totally understand how it works but with my son for instance his dosages can change so rapidly where like a correction of .5 unit make bring him down 200 points one day and the next only 50. so I like seeing what Im giving him … I know what I put in there and can count the hours till the check … Im so old school I guess BUT if they wanted the pump I would totally put that aside for them and support them totally also …
My doughter Deniz is 12 years old.She is diagnosed 18 months ago.And she doesn’t want pump either.I don’t insist for now.She said ok for omnipod.But it isn’t imported here.(We live in Turkey) A closed friend will try on pump nowadays.I hope she wants after that.
We asked my niece (at 8 years) to give the pump an honest try, and then if she did not like it, we would put it in a drawer. We asked she give it a chance and try for three months. She did not want to go back to shots after three months, but was ambivalent for almost two months. The pump may take a bit of adjustment. However, if my niece did not want to pump after the trial period, it would be her decision. It is her body, her disease. I hope your children will give the pump a good trial run, though, because it makes their lives a lot easier.
I’m happy to hear there are some people who feel the same way I do. There are such negative feelings against parents who don’t immediately want to hook their child up to a pump. I even heard one man on this site imply that anyone who doesn’t is neglecting their child. With any other condition it would be considered an improvement not to have to be tethered to a machine 24/7. I don’t understand why type 1 is viewed differently.
I also would let my 5 year old daughter (dx’ed at age 2) give the pump a try if she showed an interest. But even after meeting other type 1 diabetic children with pumps she still doesn’t want to have anything to do with them. Which is fine … her last A1C was 7.2 so there’s no reason to take her off of her Lantus/Humalog regimen. And her endo agrees.
It is strange when you sense the feeling that others feel their children are so much better off for pumping. It’s kind of like the stay at home mom vs/ working mom debate. Both sides have points, both sides have positives and neither side is wrong. That is for sure!!
My son also met a ton of kids his age at sleepaway diabetes camp last summer (and is about to go again) who were pumping. Far from making him want to pump - he doesn’t understand how they’re comfortable with tubing coming off their body at all times - and though he was disappointed the Omni Pod wasn’t for him at the time - he is fine with MDI.
We also met a young lady about 20 years old in his endo office who had pumped for a few years, then switched back to MDI as she just preferred having the background insulin as well as being “device free.” To each his own, and if someone has the audacity to imply a parent whose child is on MDI is neglecting their child, then that person is unstable to begin with and deserves no consideration.
My son is now 19 years old and headed off to Hawaii for college. He NEVER wanted to pump but about 2 1/2 years ago I convinced him to try…None the less, well 6,500.00 later HE HATED it. He doesn’t like anything connected to him. He feels very encumbered by it. Even the Omni Pod. He is very deciplined and does his shots and sugars like he should…so how can I complain. His A1c’s run in the high 6’s to low 7’s . Everyone is different.
Dentista - I have enquired with them about this, it seems there is to be an European distributor from this summer, this is the email I got from them, might be of some use for you. Not sure when/if they will be importing into the Middle East - heres hoping.
"Thank you for visiting MyOmniPod.com and for your interest in OmniPod.
We are pleased to announce that we have signed an international distribution agreement for the OmniPod System with Ypsomed AG. Ypsomed, a leading independent diabetes specialist and technology provider in Europe, will be distributing the OmniPod Insulin Management System as an extension to their mylife™ product portfolio. Ypsomed will have the exclusive right to distribute the OmniPod System in Europe beginning in 2010.
If you haven’t already, please visit our website to join PodWatch, our email update service, to get all the latest OmniPod information. In addition, visit www.Ypsomed.com for additional information on this exciting partnership."
My daughter is six, dx in March, she really would like to have a pump. I asked her endo and he said he would like her to be at least 7and a half before doing this. The Omni Pod isn’t available here and I am worried she won’t like all the tubing, in fact I am sure she won’t. But even though she is quite young I have to allow her to have a say in her treatment.
Hi Suzie’s mom:) I’m Hale,Deniz’s mother.Thank you for your interest in my problem.It’s not easy for me to understand and express my feelings in English.For years I don’t use English so I’ve forgotten what I learned.Sorry for that.It’s not the only reason for me not to choose OmniPod that it isn’t imported,but also social security institution doesn’t take on board it.But I’ll contact with them.Thank you again:)
With so many decisions out of the control of a young person with diabetes - what and when they can eat, having to take insulin many times a day (however it is delivered), all the testing - it’s no wonder that some kids staunchly refuse to try the pump. Here’s where they can take some control back and say, “No thanks!” As parents we want so badly to improve the lives and A1Cs of our children and give them the best that technology (or marketers) can provide that we are sometimes stymied by our kids’ refusal to go along. Happily, MDI and pumping are both great options and using one over the other does not mean failure. Given time your kids might opt for the pump and that will be great but for now having the control over that decision is likely very important to them both.
It took my endo two years to talk me into it. He started when I was 18 and I gave in when I was 20. Everyone needs space to make that decision - even kids. Diabetes is hard enough and once you get into a groove with MDI, it seems like someone is wanting you to change everything you know. I can promise you that 9 times out of 10, pumping makes diabetes SO much easier. But it’s hard to ask kids to make a leap of faith like that. I recommend gentle coaxing…and letting them meet people who pump. For me, once I met a girl a couple years my senior who pumped who could show me why it rocked, I was sold. Much easier than hearing it from a parent or a doctor.
My daughter is 4 (dx’d at almost 3) and says to me “Mommy, I never want a pump” after doing a sensor study (HATES having anything attached to her) and I feel I have to respect her decision. So much IS out of her control that I want to give her control over whatever I can. Am I satisfied with her a1c? No. Is it hard to keep a 4 year old’s bg in range at any given time? YES for so many reasons. But I figure that she will have to deal with this for a very long time, it’s best if she starts making up her own mind early. I do gently point out the situations in which a pump would provide benefits to her occasionally and she’s clear about what the good points are. I may get her around kids her age who are pumping and liking it as well but that’s all I’m prepared to do. She’ll do it when she’s ready if she’s ever ready. Funny I was just thinking about this very issue today and wondering if I was remiss by not forcing her to pump/use a cgm. This post helped me tremendously to clarify how I feel.
It is sad to see that some parents of non pumping parents are feeling pressured by parents of kids who do pump. My son does pump. He started about three years post diagnosis at age 14, following an entire year of watching his A1c increase with every quarterly visit to the endo, despite carefulling following his testing and dosing regime. For him, the long acting insulin that he was prescribed for MDI, just didn’t work very well.
His endo started encouraging him to move on to pumping at age 12 which he initially he declined. He too expressed that he was not interested in being attached to a machine and all the tubing that went with it. He couldn’t picture himself wearing and sleeping with such a device. He eventually decided that he would give it a try as he could clearly see that he was losing ground on MDI and he was frustrated by the requirement of additional shots any time that he wanted a second helping of something to eat. I am grateful that he made the decision to move on to pumping as I am just not sure how we’d have made it through the past few years without. David grew so quickly post pump that he has stretch marks up and down his sides.
Omnipod was not an option, so tubing was the only way that he could go, which caused a lot of site failures early on as he would try to hide the tubing by tightening the belt of his pants to the point that the tubing would kink. These days he is comfortable leaving the tubing loose. Pumping was something that he needed to try as he knew that he needed to do something to regain control of his A1c. Many children or teens do really well on MDI, so if its working… you know what they say. What I would be really concerned about is forcing pumping on a child who is not at all receptive. If kids are going to become the manager of their own diabetes at some point, they need to be comfortable with all that managing their own D entails.
Everyday we are hearing about new technology and research not just researchers working towards cures, but others working on new insulins. The most recent I read about is research that is underway to create a once a month shot. If a once a month shot becomes a reliable option for Type 1 diabetics you will see a whole lot of pumpers abandon their pumps.
Cheryl
My son is 16 and just recently went on Omnipod. He did not mind MDI at home but hated carrying a insulin pen around so that he could eat. It’s too hot here in Texas to leave anything in his car. I wish that they made a smaller single dose pen. The insulin waste would not be any more than the waste in a pod pump that has to be changed every 3 days.
The other problems we had with MDI were that a 2 u correction would make him low but a 1 u correction was too little and he was always high (140 - 170) to avoid a low (70) with symptoms in front of his friends. We needed a pen with at least quarter units. The pump makes corrections to the 100th unit and if we calculate carbs and measure correctly, he will be within two to five points of his target. We also had a lot of trouble with high fat teenage food. We really use the "extend " feature. We no longer have that rise 3 -5 hours after pizza. We are still working on changing the diet to healthier fare. It is hard when everyone else is eating it.
The other plus to a pump is to be able to turn down basal for exercise using “temp basal”, We had so many lows just from shooting baskets in the driveway or riding a bike. We were more organized on his ice hockey games to not correct or bolus less so that he would be higher when he started but we now like the Negative 50% Temp Basal staring one hour before the game to get a slight rise and then leaving the temp basal for about 3 hours so he will not get too low afterwards.
We have his basals split into three times of day when he needs more or less insulin and that seems to keep his background insulin better than the rise and fall of the Levemir. But, because he is so reliant on the pump for his only insulin (which still scares me) it will not solve his “carrying supplies problem”. He will now have to carry an extra Pod, extra batteries, insulin, wipes and test strips and the Pod Controller/Tester or have a supply at places he frequents (school, etc).
My son was totally against even considering the tube pumps but he likes the Omnipod. It’s up front costs were less although the supplies are more and we had 45 days to make a decision and return it. I am anxious to see if it has improved his # after we get through this initial training phase.
My son was diagnosed abot 8 months ago. We tried starting the Omnipod a month ago but after a few rocky starts with saline, he decided he wanted to stick with shots for awhile. He is 14 and starting high school in a few weeks. I would have preferred the Omnipod but had to let him make the decision. He is good about giving shots and testing his blood sugar but I really think the pod would be more convenient for frequent snacking and corrections. We decided to keep the PDM and pods that we were shipped. They don’t expire for two years and I am hoping he’ll try it again before then. If not, the PDM can be used as a bolus/correction calclulator even without an active pod. My son is very thin and had a hard time finding good sites for the pod. I am hoping he will put on some weight with puberty and this may solve some of the problem. He also didn’t like the beeping and being attached to something… it’s a tough time to be diagnosed… right at the teen years…
Your son’s decision may be best with high school bringing about so many changes already. We have been working most of the summer to get my 16 year old up on the Omnipod. It is a lot more intensive than I had imagined. I knew that we were scheduled for 4 appointments at Day 1, Day 3 (first pod change), 2 weeks and 1 month but I had no idea about all of the testing and fasting to get this pump setup properly.
As part of this, we have done six fasting tests where we tested BG every two hours for 6 hours after fasting for 5 hours and eating very low fat. Six tests doesn’t sound like much but we had to pick days where there was no exercise, no “teenage events” to interupt, no family parties with good food, etc. Several of these tests were overnight and at different times of the day. And every time he played hockey this summer, I had to check on him throughout the night as a precaution since we don’t know yet how the exercise will effect him on the fast acting insulin around the clock. This left all of us very grouchy from the lack of food and sleep and totally off schedule. But by doing this, we now know that his basal insulin doses as set in the Omnipod keep his BG within 10 points of 100 at every time of the day. We can divide his day into 7 parts but have only needed 3 with a peak at 3 - 6am.
It has been very informative and I wondered why this was not done with his basal insulin, Levemir, to determine it’s effectiveness over the full 24 hours and if it had peaks. I now think that if he ever has to return to MDI that we would do this testing. We started on the pump by converting his Levemir basal doses over to the pump equivalent and they were way too low.
Now we only have to get control of all of that food because he is perfect when he doesn’t eat!
Wow! Had no idea it was so complicated. I think my son may eventually change his mind but it is a lot to take in… his doctor is fine with the shots as long as he keeps it under control (so far, so good). We’re starting to notice more highs and lows with puberty. He’s grown 3-4 inches since being diagnosed 8 months ago. Needless to say, this years has been really… interesting… so many emotional ups and downs. I am so looking forward to a year from now when, hopefully, we are over the worst and he is better acclimated to everything.
My son who is now 12, was diagnosed at age 7. We talked him into trying the pump for 6 months, and if he didn’t like it he could go back. He hated it, mostly because of the insertion. Some days, it would take him 2 hours to get up the nerve to insert it. He also had it pulled out once by a kid who didn’t know what it was, yanked out once when he dropped the pump, and yanked it out once jumping on a trampoline. We did not make it 6 months. We let him quit after the 2nd month. That was at age 9, and he will not go back. We keep trying to talk him into it, because we had better control using it, but until he is ready we won’t force him. Diabetes has forced him to do a lot of things he doesn’t like doing (shots, finger pricks, limiting snack times) that I want to let him control how he takes his insulin.