I was diagnosed in 1999 with type 1 and was put on the pump a little over 10 years ago. Well today (and really today is the first day!)I went on the pen.
Now I'm a little afraid of going back on shots from being on a pump so long. But after becoming lazy with it, I decided that shots might be the best route for me to go.
I just wanted to hear from ya'll a little bit of advice/do's&dont's of the pen. I'm excited to start on it so I can get myself out of this diabetes burnout.
Hi Michelle. I'm sure you know that you need both a basal (such as Lantus or Levemir) and a fast-acting insulin. I went off a pump to MDI also, and found that my control with the pump was somewhat better, but that I could use the knowledge the pump taught me to do OK on MDI. (I use just slightly more total insulin on MDI.) Good luck!
Yeah I'm not the only! I was on a pump for 12 years and 2 months ago I went back on shots. Here are the things that have been a bit of a struggle for me. Remembering to take the 2nd half of my Lantus 12 hours later. I put the bottles in a special order because one time I was like did I take it or not. The pen doesn't do half units. So if you have an Insulin to carb ratio on 1-15 and your meal is 20 carbs what do you do? The last problem I've incurred was the pump would calculate the insulin on board. I got an app the helps when I use it. The pump was convenient when I was out and didn't really have time to stop to take a shot. Im getting used to taking shots in front of people a little. Sounds like Im not happy being of the pump, but I'm super happy!!! I love not being connected to something 24/7. I've worn dresses all summer with out worrying where I was going to stuff the pump and was it going to show ect. I've lounged at the pool with out my cord hanging out. And no one at the mall has asked me why I'm still wearing a pager and tried to sell me a cell phone. The pump just had a few tricks I miss, but NOT the bulge, not the is it in or not, not the no delivery after too much exercise and the canula bent. Good luck with your new adventure, and if you have any tips you want to share with your experience Id love to hear them. Kim
Choked laughter... there is no serious difference between the pump and injections. Identical stuff, calculations, same chainsaw juggling acts... the difference is truly smoke and mirrors. Micro-dosing while "pleasant" causes severe direct, side-effects if/when they fail. Trust me you wont miss those one tiny bit.
You will likely find a surprising relief not needing any machine being ATTACHED. You can live quite easily, very happily without any technology on you. A movie... dinner... only thing you "need" is that pen, if you want it. And play the catch up game on the back end... if, only if you miscalculated the coverage. I was stunned how severe a burden it reveled itself to be. A couple days after mine got thrown away... life was pretty (@*#&@#&@ blissful.
You are so right. After getting used to not going to grab for my pump, it has been a total relief not having it on me. I feel a lot more in control of what I do, and not to mention, I have a better feeling of how my sugars are going. I have a much easier time now feeling when my sugars are going high. I don't know if it is because the new long lasting insulin or what.
Another question would be, how often do ya'll inject the long lasting. At this point in time I do it once a night with Lantus, but I know that some other people feel its better to do two a day. Any insight to this?
My son is doing the opposite. He is switching to a pump after using the NovoPen for about 8 months (he's been diagnosed a year) but I can share some of the issues we've had with the pen which might help you. The biggest problem I have found is not being able to give less than 1 unit accurately. He has the NovoJunior Pen and although it has 0.5 unit increments, I try to give him enough carbs so that he'll need at least 1.5 unit at meal times, preferably 2.0. In fact, I give my son a little box of cranberries or raisins (cho = ~22g) with dinner just so I can increase his insulin dose to 2 or 3 units as his current ratio is 1:30 - very hard to do with a pen!!!
If he ever needs an adjustment of only 1 unit, I usually pull out a syringe and stick that into the orange septum at the top of the pen vial as I can actually see the amount of insulin he is getting. I know this isn't the right way to use the pen but it will work if you're desperate - you just have to be careful of air bubbles if you do this.
