I have a rep I know with Spirit Pump and if you want I can get him to email you–They are really looking for accounts and are very much into discounts. Let me know and if you want to give me your email. I will contact him…I can certainly understand your situation. Lora
Do any of your patients loose weight while on the pump compared to their previous injections. Affordability an issue since we do not have any insurance for any equipment or supplies in Canada.
When you use a pump, you count the amount of grams of carbohydrates you eat and “cover” with insulin. It does not matter if you use an injection and “cover” your carbs or a pump–the bottom line is HOW MANY carbs you eat-it is like anything else=-the main way to eat and keep from gaining weight is to eat 45-60 grams of carbs for a man PER MEAL and no more then that, unless you are highly active-like a roofer, construction etc…
Injection or pump----it is the carbohydrates that make the difference…To lose weight --a man can eat around 45 grams per meal and he WILL lose weight----Don’t forget some physical activity always…The pump cost about $6000 here in the US and you use about $100+ of supplies per month…Lora
Dear Lora. if I ate 45-60 grams of carbs per meal my BG would be in the 300’s or I would have to take 500 units a day if I did this I would end up weighting 500 lb. I have become so insulin resistant that more like 10 grams per meal is tolerable but will still spike the BG. My insulin to carb ratio is 1 unit per 2 grams. Trying to loose weight not easy on insulin. even less when you are insulin resistant and need a lot of insulin.
I will eat a small bowl of fruit salad if I go to the gym for 2 hours. and then the BG will still be high when I finish. any thoughts on what to do? Metformin makes me go comatose after 3 weeks on 500 mg 3 times per day. Loosing weight is the thing to do but how? We should have spring here in our corner of Siberia in a month or two so it will be possible to bicycle a lot.
I used to be very careful about avoiding saturated fats but a few months ago I was eating a lot of cheese but a very low carb diet and my lipids profile was as good as on the unsaturated fat diet with more carbs. Makes you wonder if all we have heard all these years is true. There is no doubt that a high BG makes the lipids profile really bad regardless of the fats you eat. so a low carb diet is better for diabetics than a low fat one. It is true that saturated fats cause insulin resistance but so do monounsaturated ones too.
You can’t just eat protein.
Increasing the insulin dosage per day will make me gain weight which will lead to immediate death. the only thing possible is more exercise. Hoping for spring winter here has been vicious since the middle of December hard to even walk on the streets. Will go next week to enjoy the rain on Vancouver island at this point this beats snow.
Wish you were in Wisconsin. Because they sort of left me high and dry. I have a Medtronic Minimed Paradigm 722 w/o CGM. They never taught me about the different waves of boluses. I had a bunch of questions and doubts and they told me to forget about them because I wouldn’t be using it. Now the DR was very surprised that I didn’t know about that and wants me to get properly trained because I’m starting to lose control again.
Oh well, you get what you can!
Besides loving the heck out of my pump, I just can’t afford the DME. I was mislead when I got my pump and spent most of a year without proper coverage. Now the in-network provider for Anthem Blue Preferred wants moola up front each month and I would have to submit it to Anthem to get partial reimbursement. Your co-workers would be well-advised to lay it all out fully and TRUTHFULLY if they want to keep business coming their way. As a result of this, I don’t think I will go with Medtronic when it comes time to replace it.
Lora, you are a Nurse/Pump Trainer? What Hospital do you work in? I have a couple questions and No I am not being sassy.
I have noticed that many Pumpers on this site and other Diabetes sites have A1c’s in the 7’s, 8’s, 9’s and 10’s. Why do you think that is? I know some are new to the pump and still bringing their numbers down but definitely not all of them are new to it. I was just surprised and curious. A1c’s of 9’s and 10’s are particularly worrisome. Hopefully most Pumpers are in the 4’s, 5’s and 6’s.
If a Diabetic on a pump can eat when and WHAT they want(I have a feeling that they wouldn’t be eating extra veggies), doesn’t that mean that they would have to take more Insulin to cover the carbs? Insulin which supposedly makes many People gain more weight possibly becoming Insulin Resistant and addicted to food, if they are not already? Thus having to take more Insulin because of IR?? I know if I ate when and WHAT I wanted, I’d be putting on unwanted weight and taking a lot more Insulin and possibly becoming IR later which I don’t want. Not to forget, foods probably causing higher cholesterol, blood pressure, etc. Also many Diabetics on these sites have commented that they can’t/don’t exercise much, for different reasons. Looking forward to your answers. Oh and are you a Diabetic?
Yes, Lora…I mean Dave. I know all that. I’ve been on Diabetes sites for many years. I am observant and disciplined with my Diabetes most of the time. I already do most of the things you mentioned. Also I have what I call a “delayed DP”(although my Endo says it’s still just DP). My sugars are normally in goal when I awaken but about 40 minutes later they start rising fast. Which is okay since I just take my shots after I test.
I wanted to hear Lora’s answers. This: “You can eat when and WHAT you want and stay in control”… is a dangerous thing to say to a PWD including Pumpers. From what I’ve seen on Diabetes sites and offline, most Diabetics are over-weight and most(not all) already have eating disorders. So when many hear a phrase like that, they think, “Oh, I can eat anything I want, I’ll take less Insulin because I’m on a pump and my sugars will be in range”. WRONG! The Pump Educator that I spoke to at the Hospital recently didn’t give me that idea at all.
Hey, it could be that I misunderstood what Lora meant by that phrase. I’ve heard it tons of times from Pumpers through the years also. We all know moderate amounts and healthy types of food keeps us alive but too much especially high carb(what many People crave most) can cause complications and death. Sorry, if I sound dramatic.
I think that statement is true. I don’t think she said it would always be easy. Eating a large piece of chocolate cake at 2 AM is entirely possible on a pump, and much easier to do than if you were on MDI. But “easier” is a relative term. It is still going to be difficult to manage the inevitable spike without going too high, or overshooting and ending up with hypoglycemia.
It just comes down to math. If you know your insulin to carb ratio and you can accurately figure out the amount of carbs in that piece of cake, you can stay in range.
Personally, I don’t think any cake is worth such hassle.
Anthony,
I’m not Lora, obviously, but I am one who lost weight after starting on a pump. I was on injections for 26 years, and from about high school onwards, I gained extra weight chasing away the constant lows I had. (I was on the dreaded NPH!) Once I started pumping and carb counting, the weight came off. I had been worried that I would gain while on the pump, because I’d heard some people do, but for me it was the opposite.
Lora, I have been scared of the pump for about 10 years now. I wake up to sugar readings in the 200’s and I feel tired all the time. Through the day my sugars are wishy washy up and down. I take 180 units of Lantus a day and I take glyburide plus I take novolog on a sliding scale and I take byetta 10 mcg. My Dr. said he thinks it is time for a pump so I go to see an endo next month. I will probably go with the ping. If my insurance pays for it. They cost 7,000 which is crazy. But I have a toddler and I want to be able to be around for him.
I know what you mean. I am insulin resistant. I was thin till I was put on so much insulin. I went from 130 to 171 lbs. I use to mountain bike, but since I had my youngest son I go hiking in the mountains instead and swimming. I am very active in the spring and summer but this insulin just keeps me from losing the weight.
That is good news. You would expect that matching the insulin better to the needs would be better for weight loss. Do you do very low carb?
The NPH was real s==t I ended up injecting it every 4 hours in small amounts to kind of mimic a pump. Actually I could do better injecting small amounts of fast every 2 hours. The lantus and levemir are much better.
I can sympathise. I find it impossible to loose more than 2 lb the body really starts fighting any more loss. Much more exercise just makes you much more hungry. Tried meridia a weight loss pill at 10 mg per day does not seem to work much. Will ask doctor for 15 mg per day see if more will. I think I gained 50 lb since starting the insulin. Of course as you get older you are less active. Any thoughts as to what we can do?
I wouldn’t say I did low carb…I just had never really properly counted carbs before. So the first few months of pumping, I weighed and measured everything. I also did not need to snack as much due to not having all the extra nph floating around in my system.
