I agree with you on this. I would not choose this trade either. Each of us with diabetes face a unique puzzle of circumstance influenced by age, gender, diabetes type, personal genetics, personality type and nutrition preferences.
I do believe, however, that a workable and healthy solution exists for each of us. The main impediment to finding that solution is our attitude and ability to persevere. It took me 28 years, all but 3 years on a pump, to finally and fully commit to figuring out my personal puzzle. That was nine years ago.
My solution includes low-carb eating, daily exercise, daily attention to my glucose statistics (CGM), an automated insulin dosing system (DIY Loop), mindfulness exercises, attention to sleep hygiene, a continuing quest for new treatment methods, and curiosity combined with tenacity when it comes to diabetes treatment. It is a full array of individual tactics that combine into a powerful set that keep my glucose much closer to normal than I thought possible.
Treating diabetes well is hard. Most of us fall short but for those who remain steadfast in seeking better health and refuse to give up in their quest for normal glycemia, it is possible to do better. Your biggest single ally in this project is you! It’s only when we give up on ourselves does the outcome diminish and become more certain.
My situation is different since I am 80+ years old. I was very happy with my “dumb” Animas Ping where I was getting A1cs in the low 6 percentile without much attention nor bother. The only thing that was occasionally problematic were the night time lows. But I did get them somewhat under control by reducing basals substantially at night and controlling what I ate at the end of the day. I live on a farm and my “exercise” consists of general garden and farm work caring for my animals. I can still hoist a 40 or 45 pound square of hay. Walking is no problem either. As I grew older, I loosened my eating practices a bit. After all, I have no problematic extremities, my retinitis pigmentosa will keep any diabetic visual problems at bay, and my diabetes management was not interfering with my daily life. My comment about the t.slim with CIQ is that it takes much more time and effort for the same or higher A1c result than I was expending before. That is my greatest disappointment and I wish it weren’t so. I identify the problems as being too high targets and too slow insulins.
As with all things relating to diabetes, nothing works well for everyone.
Pumps are such a difficult one to make everyone happy. We each have our different wishes and dreams for that dream pump. There are some that come close but never everything. And I think when deciding on which pump is best for you, you need to think long and hard about the things you love and hate about your current system and see which one matches best from both of your lists.
I am by no means a “super star” when it comes to my diabetes. I no longer sweat the blood sugars when they go out of range. I fix it and more on and at the end of the week when I look at reports, I try and come up with something better. But do I worry about it, nope! I just fix it and more on.
I ran in the mid 6’s before Control IQ and I and still in the mid 6’s for my A1C. But my time in range in the low 70’s is now in the 80’s and 90’s and I find it with a lot less work. I maybe a outlier but my system is set just they way the training stated and things work well. I like that I can go all day without really looking at things except when getting ready to eat. It’s super easy and even my doctor has said that we don’t have much to talk about anymore because things are looking good. Did I need or want a lower A1C? Nope. Do I want to micromanage my diabetes? Nope. I have more than enough on my plate, it’s so nice to have much of the diabetes management off that plate.
Do I sometimes wish it would be a little more aggressive with the highs? Sure, but I just look at my tconnect app, see what the pump gave me and do a second dose for the full amount I would have given. It usually is another .3 or .4 to bring it back into line.
I find it fascinating that my overnights are great but there are some nights my .8 is as high as 1.8. There is just no way to do that with a pump that doesn’t have some kind of automation. There is no way we can really think like a pancreas so my little pump does it for me.
I hope everyone can find their dream pump! And I hope everyone can find the management plan that works for them and their lifestyle. There is no perfect pump or perfect plan, but we just keep plugging along. I mean I think back to my first MiniMed pump, wow, we have come a long way!
I believe pumps require more attention than MDI. I think they try and sell it as something that requires less, but that is misleading and a bit dangerous.
CF was always the hardest setting for me to get right. @Helmut and @Robyn_H. I wondered if sometimes it was failing because of HOW the algorithm delivered it through the APS system. Loop has since written in some stuff to allow for prebolus and more flexibility options. Super tough to get right.
It depends how much attention you pay to your diabetes.
Yes the pump will get your attention more than injections do, but it also will give you better control.
When I switched to my current pump, it took a lot more time and attention, but now it’s a lot less, now that I trust it more, I let it go a little more.
