It happens every year. I gain a bunch of weight ,and then lose a bunch of weight. When I get fit, people question the necessity of my pump. I’m 28 so people my age are generally more concerned about looks than they are health. I dunno, a 5 injection a day therapy regimen wouldn’t be so bad. Should I switch just so everyone else will shut up about it?
By the time I was 28 I was beyond worrying over what other people thought. I don’t know where you live but I do know that the 28 year olds in my neck of the woods don’t try to change each other, or judge, or make any recommendations about my health. Lots of them are being moms and dads and have no time to even consider what I am doing much less question it. Why does everyone know you even have a pump and why would you consider their recommendation when you say "people my age are generally more concerned about looks than they are health."
But yeah, why not switch to appease a bunch of adults who have no business judging you.
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if you’re so concerned what people think, why even discuss diabetes with people who dont have it? why even go there? Very few people in the real world even know I have diabetes… Not because it’s some shameful thing or anything, just because I don’t feel the need to discuss my personal issues with people who don’t share those concerns or really even understand at all. Most people can’t relate. (that’s why I do it here… In an interest group so to speak)
If you prefer pumping I sure as heck wouldn’t let anyone tell you otherwise, especially if they don’t know the first thing about diabetes… just keep the subject to yourself if it causes you stress to hear people’s uneducated and uninformed reactions to it… on the other hand, if MDI is just as good for you, why bother with a pump at all?
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What people? Who is questioning the necessity of your pump? Your doctors? Fellow customers at Starbucks? Co-workers? Siblings? I personally pay a lot of attention to what my doctors say, and I pay zero attention to co-workers, shoppers, and parking lot attendants who are probably just making small talk.
There are three things in play, and you can change any of them.
- If, like me, you have enough Asperger’s that it is genuinely difficult to tell small talk from nagging, or compliments from insults, then find a psychotherapist who can help you discern the nuances. Once I was better able to tell the difference, I spent much less time worried that I was upsetting those around me.
- You can switch to MDI. Will that stop the comments that bother you? If they are making small talk, they will continue to make small talk, right?
- You can change the people you hang around. If this group is being deliberately unpleasant, then no matter what you do, they will remain unpleasant. If that’s the case, it’s time to get away.
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Just do whatever makes YOU happy.
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Teachers, professors, dates, bosses, friends, family, random strangers at Walmart, the customer at my Dad’s store who touched it while I was waiting on her, etc have all had a problem with it.
I don’t see why a fit person shouldnt wear a pump.
plus, as said, why do these people have a say in your choices regarding your diabetes?
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Well, a few of them were females I was dating. They found the pump cumbersome and obtrusive during intimate moments. My theory is that it made me look like there was something wrong with me. and they may have been embarrassed by it. I know that’s a stretch, but ya know how people can react sometimes.
Cocheze, you keep asking this same type of question. You always end up throwing the females you were dating under the bus by explaining how they may have felt or thought. I’ve said over and over that in my life no one has ever reacted to my choice of insulin delivery methods. You need to “own” your choice and stop trying to appease others. Why do you care so much what folks think, certainly random strangers! Someone touching your pump has some nerve! I would move away from wherever you live and find folks who will support your choices.
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@karen57, u are 100% right, i will move away from wherever you live, to. as for me i never throw females, i was dating under the bus, no matter what they did, that is not the type of person I’m,.
Look, @Cocheze, i am tired of this kind of discussion with you. You keep asking the same question over and over again. I can’t take you serious anymore.
Either, this whole pump problem is big enough for you to go back to MDI, and there are plenty of people happy that way, so go for it.
But since the first time you asked this question over a year ago, you still haven’t changed anything, so i slowly start suspecting that there isnt anything wrong and you just start those discussions for attention. So i’m not giving you any attention anymore. Good luck
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I think you may have an issue differentiating between ‘comment on it’ and 'have a problem with it’. If so, this will never be changed by altering your external appearance to accommodate others. Having said that, it’s clear that the tension you feel is real, and it makes you unhappy. I urge you to see a mental health professional - they are specialists in the same way that orthopaedics are specialists, and they can help you to find genuine relief.
With respect to the original question as asked, you and your endo will set targets for A1c and for maximum and minimum BG readings. If you can meet those targets on MDI, ask your endo to switch you to MDI.
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Dear @Cocheze
I guess what you need to change isn’t your way of treatment, but how you see yourself and our sickness. I sometimes wonder too, maybe nobody would love me because I’m stuck with a chronic illness, but then it’s very important to remember that we are a lot MORE than our Dx, that’s just one part of us.
And I actually think a pump is quite cool, i always do injections and blood tests in public, and most people don’t mind, in fact, it gives a chance for them to understand what we are going through better. Once i was doing my insulin injection at a cafe, and the girl sitting next to me asked me about it, a stranger, and that started our chat, and we became friends from then on.
Maybe your teachers/friends/family/random strangers around you don’t have a problem with your pump, maybe you have made the assumption BEFORE actually trying to understand what they were actually thinking - some of them might want to know more, but didn’t know whether you’d feel comfortable sharing etc.
Try to see your pump as a cool thing for a week, and see what difference it’d make? : )
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I love my pump. I just think I live in a densely uneducated community in all honesty.
But seriously, you can’t expect people to be educated about your illness, my friends too were quite ignorant at first, but if you care about having friends, then you really have to share with them what you’re going through, a lot of times they just really don’t know what it’s like for you unless you explain, it’s frustrating and will take time, as they might misunderstand you (because they have not been dx with a chronic Illness so naturally no nothing about it) but at least try, I tried, and some people stayed as very important supportive understanding friends to me.
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[quote=“Cocheze, post:14, topic:51270, full:true”]
I love my pump. I just think I live in a densely uneducated community in all honesty.
[/quote]Well, I still think you should move. Your post is in the Teens and Young Adults forum, and so I also think you should grow up. You are no longer a teenager or a young adult. Find a new community, a more mature one at the very least.
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I, too, believe you need to seek counseling. However, you also need to know that you cannot blame society for not knowing about your pump. If a discussion is taking a turn you don’t want it to, simply say that you and your doctor have made decisions that will help keep you alive in the most efficient way. Or just don’t tell people. Why are you discussing your treatment options with strangers? Where are you wearing your pump? Most people don’t even notice mine even when it’s clipped to the outside of my pants pocket.
I’m your age, about to be 28. It has been a decade or more since I’ve been surrounded by the type of people you’re talking about. You’re a grown man. If the people you have surrounded yourself by make you uncomfortable or make treating your life threatening illness difficult, then that is your choice and there is nothing that anyone can do to help that.
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I do see a therapist. She advises me to keep the pump. I think that all of this is just the byproduct of others’ misunderstanding and ignorance of diabetes and diabetes products. You guys are right. It really isn’t anything to get worked up over. I already know I would hate MDI.
I apologize if I am really blunt (coffee hasn’t kicked in yet), but all that you need to say to other people who ask about your pump (or comment on it) is “This is my insulin pump. I need it to live. You got a problem with it, grow up or get out of my life” (or be nicer and show them resources about type 1 diabetes and insulin pumps). Most of the time, a lot of people are simply curious about it or type 1 diabetes in general (remember that type 1 is the minority of all diabetes cases), and I have no problem with talking to them about it.
I tend to have really low patience with people who outright disagree with my diabetes or the way I am handling it. If I find a romantic partner and he doesn’t want to be intimate because of my pump (even if I offer to disconnect during intimacy), then he’s going to get his sorry butt kicked to the curb. My diabetes is as much of a part of me as anything else, and any guy who wants me is going to have to learn to accept it.
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Not sure if you know there are other tools
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