I used to be on a Minimed pump. It was very useful and actually got me out of my D slump. I was in Burnout for a while, but when I went on the pump, I had a chance to look and feel “normal”. There was only the boluses to worry about and it was very simple.
The thing that turned me off of it was the clogging of the catheter. The first few months on the pump I had no issues whatsoever. But, a mixture of complications made it so the catheter would clog and I’d have the stress of having to change my site and correction bolus constantly throughout the day- hard to fix these issues during a work day! I always carried extra supplies on me, including my vial of Humalog and my syringes.
There were times when I’d throw my pump across the room just because I didn’t want to deal with it anymore.
I have a rare case where I’m actually allergic to the catheter- I later found this out- which was partly causing my tubing and sites to clog. I also have a strong resistance to short acting insulins, so I had to come off the pump to start taking the long acting Levemir again- to cover.
I also, due to these two things, went into keotacidosis because I slept through the pump alarm that was telling me there was no delivery. I went for six hours without insulin- and that is without the “coverage” that is offered by long actings like Levemir. If you do go on the pump, you have to be aware that you no longer have any insulin in your blood- except for what the pump gives you. If your pump breaks, or stops delivering for any reason, you no longer have any insulin in you whatsoever- no coverage. You have to be careful.
Overall, the pump was a very good idea. There were complications that prevented me from using it- in the end, but it was something that got me to believing that I am “normal”. Even though it didn’t work out, I needed it- it helped my view of myself a lot.