Happy 4th of July!
I am considering an insulin pump and I am looking for some advise. Some of my history is: I am Type 2 diabetic, my A1C is 6.1, I take 4-5 injections of humalog per day averaging 45 units total and I inject 15 units of lantus per night. I am 6 ft. tall, weighing about 150 pounds, with very little body fat.
I am interested in which unit that you think would be best for my situation. Should I even be on a pump?
Thanks for your time and I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Jimmer
I’m a Type 1 and for quite awhile I didn’t think I “needed” a pump as my A1C was 6.3 and I am mostly retired, so have plenty of time for MDIs. Then I met a lot of people on the pump, and realized that it was just a better way to manage insulin dependency and got one. So I don’t think there is any case where someone either “should be on a pump” or “shouldn’t”. I really believe the pump can benefit most people in terms of convenience and better bg management, but there are other people who really don’t want one, or who try one and don’t like it. Like most things with diabetes, it’s individual. I see you are on a low dose of basal for a type 2, and you will find it a lot easier to maintain your basal rates when you can have different rates at different times a day. That’s one of the chief advantages of the pump.
The consideration for you, though, as a Type 2, is that you might have a hard time getting your insurance to approve it, since you aren’t displaying need. I had no problem getting mine approved despite also having good control, but they are, I think, less stringent in the approval process for Type 1. So you might want to check it out with your insurance, or have one of the pump sales reps do it for you. Also, if there is any chance at all you may actually be a Type 1, do get antibody testing to improve your chances with insurance. Several things in your story make me wonder about your Type.
Another consideration about getting a pump when you are fairly newly diagnosed is how comfortable you are with I:C ratios, ISF, tweaking doses, etc. There’s really a lot to learn using insulin and there’s a lot to learn switching to a pump, so you want to be comfortable with the first part before you consider the second. That’s my opinion anyway!
That having been said, I considered the Omnipod but really didn’t hear very good things about it. I heard there were lots of problems (I’m sure some people using the Pod will disagree with this and tell of their good experiences, but that is what I heard.) I also figured that tube free sounded good and if the Omni was as good in all other ways, more people would use it.
That being said I got a Ping and I love it. I especially like the meter/remote, because you can do everything from there, and your pump can stay under your clothes. I don’t think I could switch to one that didn’t have that.The only negative I can report about the Ping is what most people complain about, the damn buttons go too fast and you keep scrolling past your number. Other than that I’m really happy with it.