So i was told by the pump rep i need to talk to and possibly see a diabetes educator about my pump here ill post what i sent her and her answer…
hi tonya i was just curious do you think i will be able to do the pump on my own without any help?? im pretty sure its quite similar to medtronics and would save me alot of waiting time and ill be on vacation in 2 days so that would be the best time to go ahead and get started on it all i really need to figure out is my basal which i have friends who are pumpers and they told me they decided to do it on their own because they were able to predict it alot better then the doctors it just took them a little trial and error… thanks
and her reply
That is a very good question and what I can tell you is that we do not advise any patient to hook themselves up to the pump without the proper education. I am copying my clinical manager on this email. It is best to communicate with her directly on this.
my question is i seem to be educated because i had a pump before and though they are different they are alot similar too so why would it be a problem??
When I went from MM to Animas, ten or more years ago, I took the training from Animas.
When I went to the next model of Animas, they also met me for training.
Cozmo provided something really interesting, like hours and hours of in depth training.
My CDE and I used it for all sorts of adjustments.
Back to Animas, new model Ping, they told me to just do it myself.
If you are new to Animas as you are, that may be the reason.
Though what most people do is set the thing up and then let them know you already did it…off the record.
yea well im gonna be on vacation starting saturday and i dont wanna spend the whole thing sitting there staring at my pump in a box i wanna put it on so if they cant get me in this week im just gonna do it myself its like a 1 to 2 hour sitdown i mean they could spare that much time
actually, another thought…animas asked me if I wanted to meet with their pump trainer, and I declined since I was already going through my CDE…can animas set you up with a trainer so you don’t have to wait?
I’m probably the extreme in being independent and doing things on my own, but I did appreciate the two sessions I had with the Animas Trainer. (I turned down the follow-up service). But…this was my first pump, first infusion sets, etc so there was a pretty steep learning curve. But it being your second pump I would think you would do fine if you use the Animas Manual to program the pump and learn the ins and outs of how the Ping works. I also don’t understand why you wouldn’t use your basals you used on the other pump? Has there been a long amount of time in between that something might have changed? If so, I think most trainers advise starting somewhere around 50%-70% of your MDI basals and work up from there by trial and error.
My Animas Trainer advised me to start at about 12.60 basal per day compared to my 16 units on Levemir. I ended up backing it down to 10.63 broken down into 6 different “time zones”.
I really don’t see why you would need training. When I got my pump last summer, it was my fist pump. I got it out of the box and set everything up. I met with a trainer, but for me, all I really needed was help putting the infusion set in right.
That being said, I have heard people say they needed to adjust basal rates after switching pumps for whatever reason, but you really won’t know that until after you fire up the Ping so a trainer is not going to help much there.
Around here, two reps cover one and probably a half of a state.
They dont have time to deal with much of anything.
I always preferred my CDE because I didnt have to wait…
I think it depends where you live.
Good point. There is a difference in the way basals deliver between MM and Animas (at least there used to be). Good idea to watch for that, otherwise just learning the special features is no big deal.
I went from MM to Animas. I was told the cost would not be paid by my insurance company if I declined training.
So…I hooked myself up and two weeks later, when I could get in, I saw my educator. I know her well enough that she was more entertained than angry about my self hookup. It ended up taking 40 minutes to do training because I’d already set up my rates and everything myself.
If I were you I’d find out if declining training could cause a problem with your insurance…you don’t want that!
I think it is what you are comfortable with but I have been pumping going on 18 years and have never declined training. It’s a legal thing and they can and will put any errs on your part if you were not officially trained.
I won’t give you advice, but for myself, i would just hook my pump up myself. I’m a new pumper, and I found the training to be mostly helpful in showing me how to insert the infusion set (saline), and getting some tips about it. The trainer was greate, but I started insulin on my own.
If I’d already been a pumper, then the only thing new would be the pump interface, and that’s probably the easiest part of pumping. I was on 12u lantus once at night, so I started my initial basal at 80% of (12u/24hr) = .4u/hr, and that worked out fine for a night time baseline from which i adjusted for dawn phenomenon later.
I think i’ve seen in other forums that you have a Dexcom. My Dexcom really helped me dial in my nighttime basal.
