I have been on the minimed insulin pump for almost 2 years now. I am still constantly worried about it malfunctioning, delivering too much insulin, something going wrong during site change, etc etc. How long have you been on an insulin pump? How many times have you had a complication? Any highs or lows requiring hospitalization? How much do you trust your pump?
Hi, Lil Mama! I have been on my Ping for 2 1/2 years now. Maybe in the very beginning I found the whole idea a bit scary, but I actually have never given a thought to it delivering too much insulin. I pretty much trust my pump completely. To me the variable in the equation isn't the pump itself it's the infusion sets. I've never had a high or low requiring hospitalization. The one really serious low I had was before I was on the pump, early in my use of insulin and it was because I was an idiot who thought she knew what she was doing! I went unconscious but then my liver must have kicked in and I was able to treat it myself. I did have one odd experience where I just kept going lower and lower long beyond the supposed duration of my insulin. I bottomed at 28 but was able to treat easily. But again, I think that was a set/absorption issue, not the pump per se.
It doesn't sound like fun to be worried about your pump and not able to trust it like that. Hopefully one of the outcomes of this thread would be to reassure you a bit? Good for you for hanging in there for 2 years; I'm not sure I would have if I had that little trust of the device. Perhaps we should ask you the question: In those two years have you ever had a complication requiring hospitalization (or any severe incident you could attribute to the pump itself)?
I've been on a minimed pump for 10 years now. I've never had an over-delivery. In fact, the only time I had a problem with the pump was when the low battery alarm came on, I was busy, and I forgot to change it. The pump eventually started beeping like crazy and at that point, just replacing the battery didn't do the trick. So there I was, pulled off into the breakdown lane of a highway and calling Medtronic on my cell phone. They walked me through it, and I was up and running in about 10 minutes. By the way - ALWAYS carry an extra battery with you.
Yes, I've had some highs, but they've always been my fault (binge eating disorder - even the pump can't keep up with a binge.) Before the pump I had some serious lows, but I've never gone below 40 on the pump, and even that is VERY rare. My lows are usually more in the high 50's to 60's range, and I can easily treat those.
I'd say the best way to eliminate worry is to test, test, and test some more. I typically test 7-8 times a day, but if I'm exercising more than usual, or I'm on vacation and doing more walking than normal, I test about 10-12 times a day. The wonderful thing about the pump is that you can correct pretty easily. If you go too low, you can shut off your basal for a bit to help you get back to normal; if you go too high, you can give a correction bolus.
IMHO, there is absolutely nothing in this world that is perfect, but most pumps are pretty darned good, and I cannot imagine getting such great A1c's without my pump. But, also, I'm really not much of a worrier, plus I never produce ketones, so I do have more leeway than some of you when it comes to highs.
Ruth
Ive been on the omnipod for almost 2 yrs now and it has earned my trust 100%. Ive had very few pod errors over 2 yrs, and never any issues with site change/absorption/etc. Ive only been in the low 40s a couple times due to my own errors and was able to sense it and treat it quickly,and never any issues with going high.
With all the rigorous testing and safety requirements these pumps need to pass, i figure we probably have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than our pumps going haywire and od'ing us on insulin. I actually am at ease much more now w/ the pump than when i had to give myself insulin with the quick pens, those things are inaccurate and i was always worried about over/under dosing.
I've been on a pump for 6 1/2 years now, first the Cozmo and now the Ping. During my first six months as a pumper I got my Cozmo wet (which is supposed to be waterproof) and it had a crack in it and immediately started alarming and locked me out from doing anything. Not only that, but there were no backup pumps in my city (even though there were supposed to be) so a new one had to be couriered out. And not only THAT, but then the courier lost the pump they were shipping!!!! So I went for 3 1/2 days with no pump. Since then, I've had two other pump replacements (both due to cracks) and both arrived within hours of me calling the pump company.
That experience really traumatized me at first because I was scared of a pump failure and having to go days waiting for a new one. I also never tried getting my Cozmo wet again and basically treated it like it wasn't waterproof. (Since getting my Ping I swim with it regularly now.)
I do have a lot of problems with infusion sets, and so I do often have a sense of not trusting them. When I get an unexpected high, I'm never sure if it's jut my body needing more insulin or if it's a site problem. I have problems with allergies to the infusion sets and resulting inflammation that I think causes very variable absorption sometimes. I'm in the process of switching to metal sets to see if they help (but I'm resisting, because the metal sets have shorter tubing and aren't as flatly packaged, both of which I don't like).
So, all in all, I trust the pump itself completely. I have only ever once had my Comzo do something weird and ended up with a blood sugar of 24.6 (443 mg/dl); I had programmed my pump to deliver 10.9 units but it only delivered 0.9 and it wasn't due to a cancelled bolus or anything else, it seemed to be a glitch in the software. Otherwise, pumps have always offered me better control than injections, and most of my trust issues reside with the infusion sets and not the pump itself.
I've been pumping about 5 years - most of that time with a Cozmo - and other than a couple bad months this Spring when I started pumping with a Medtronic and had some reservoir issues, I've had very few problems. I've hit some 200s because of pump problems but nothing has put me in the hospital or an emergency room. I trust my pump but verify.
I have a high degree of confidence in my pump. My current pump is a Ping. I've used mostly Medtronic (Mini-Med) but also Omnipod during my 26 years of pumping. (I had many occlusion/site problems with the O'pod and only used that system for five months.) I've rarely had problems and never one of elctronic/mechanical over-delivery. I have had an undetected leak at the cartridge luer lock connection that led to hyperglycemia. I've also had numerous site problems, including bent cannulas, but I don't consider those "pump failures." They've been pretty damn reliable for my well over 200,000 hours of use.
I'm still using them and will continue to do so. I expect to be using pumps through the artifical pancreas tech phase coming soon.
I totally trust my pump. I had one misfire. It was, unfortunately, after I'd ordered a huge breakfast at a diner, hash browns or whatever, and was shooting 10.something units and it kept crapping out at like 1.2U so I just kept rebolusing until I had something like the original calculated bolus loaded in. I also had a "Button Error" after one of the hottest long runs I've been on. 14 miles, which is sort of "moderate" but it was like 87 when we started @ 6:30 AM and super humid and I was a sweaty mess. The pump was dead, I was like 1/2 hour from home and it was certainly unnerving but worked out ok and, in the end, a run up to 250 or 280 or something like that was about the worst. I had another time, I thought I had marginally enough insulin for a day trip from SD to LA but something went nutso, my BG sailed up and correcting it cleaned out my reservoir so I skipped dinner and was sort of bummed at the way that turned out. That was just cutting it too close.
Other than those adventures, it's worked fine. Perhaps interestingly, I seem to have fixed the "Button Error" by putting the pump in the freezer overnight, although I sent it back to Medtronic anyway.
Jen, you can get the Contact Detach with 43 inch tubing!
That would be great - I'm picking up a box at the pharmacy today and I asked for the longest tubing available. When I tried the set a few years ago it was only available in the short and medium tubing lengths, which I found really annoying!
I'm hoping the metal sets will help my control. I went to bed at 11:00 PM last night at 7.8 (140 mg/dl) and did a small half-unit correction, and woke up at 2:00 AM feeling horrible and with a blood sugar of 16.8 (302 mg/dl). I did a correction and it came down, at 4:00 AM I was 12.8 (229 mg/dl) and this morning at 7:30 I was 6.3 (113 mg/dl), and I didn't do a set change or anything, just a single correction. I hadn't eaten anything in the few hours before bed, so I have no idea what caused it. Stuff like that is what drives me crazy about my diabetes!
Good luck with the metal sets, Jen. I tried them awhile ago and after I got over the initial confusion I found them easier to insert than I'd expected. Unfortunately, you may remember, I started having some problems recently that I thought might be caused by them, so I've temporarily gone back to plastic, but I liked them enough to give it another try soon.
When I tried them a few years ago I didn't like the short tubing, but I also found that about 50% of them got really irritated and sore and ended up leaking, so I stopped using them after about two months. Back then, though, plastic sets worked better for me than they do now - they sometimes got itchy, but not as quickly and not every single site. This time around I'm going to try using Tegaderm under the adhesive, since I think both the adhesive and Teflon is bothering me. So, we'll see how this try goes!
Jen - I have some Contact Detach metal infusion sets with the long 42 inch tubing. They’re compatible with your Ping.
Hi Jen, I have had some of the same experiences with sites, I cannot use alcohol to prep them and the IV preps are worse. I have to clean with antibacterial soap and water first. Have you tried that?
I didn't even think that it could be the alcohol. I will have to look into that.
That is great to hear, that's one thing that definitely annoyed me in the past, since I like to wear sets on my arms sometimes.
I can understand your fears about pumping. I have been pumping about 14 years and understand that at any time anything can happen as you described. I remember that when I started pumping all I could think about was not having to take shots every day and as time went on I learned to appreciate my pump. I appreciate the accuracy for dosing that pumping gives me and the freedom it also gives me. If I had any fears they are no longer with me because I realize that within our lives there will always be some uncertainty about things in our lives. Eventually your fears and uncertainty will disappear and you will see the benefits of pumping.
I've used a pump for over 20 years and have been very grateful for it. But like any device, you need to monitor it by checking your blood sugar many times a day (6-10). That's the only way you know if everything is OK. Having a CGM is also a big help.
I trust my pump to preform as I tell it to or schedule it to. The FDA has laborious safety and validation tests that MUST be passed before medical devices are available in the USA. This is why we are still waiting on the new medtronic pump that has been available in European countries for around two years.
That being said, diabetes is not a perfect science and problems can arise. The big problem is that problems develop faster when pumping (and not on a slow basal insulin). I think whatever treatment that you use, you need to constanly be checking and adjusting for optimal control.
I have been pumping for 3 year and come across a few issues. The most frequent one is sight failure likely due to scar tissue and 25 years of injections. I have probably 7 site failure a year. I have returned 2 pumps for "fatal" errors in three years. One was a motor error and the other was a button error (button got stuck). Both times I was able to get my pump functioning correctly, but medtronic reps advised me to deconnect until a replacement pump arrived (my last replacement pump arrived at my home in about 17 hours!). I have never had a hospitalization or a low due to pump malfuctions.
I also returned minmed resivours in the recall. This spring I had a faulty resivor but did not think much of it. insulin had gotten below the rubber plunger in the resivor which led to lower doses and highs I could not explain or contain. I ended up noticing my resivour smelled of insulin-y and found the problem. The lesson I learned is that I should call medtronic to report the issue so other pumpers may not have to go through the same problems. 
What great feedback. I have always said I'll never go back to shots as I am so insulin sensitive that I NEVER ever take an entire unit at once. I too had a button get stuck and error in the middle of the night around 1am, I took a shot of Humalog every four hours and my new pump was at my door by 10am! 9 HOURS!!! I had some issues with my blood sugar crashing violently after site changes when I was on the plastic cannula and switched to the sure t and have not had any further problems.