I have only been diabetic for 8 weeks and I am already sick of MDI. I am supposed to hear back from Animas tomorrow about whether or not insurance will cover my pump and if so, what the cost will be. They have a clause that says basically if trying to get pregnant or are pregnant you can bypass the 6 month requirement. I lost a pregnancy 2 weeks after diagnosis so I am hoping that take that into consideration. I have aetna until the end of the month then we are switching to bcbs.
Does anyone have the Animas vibe with dexcom 4? What do you think about it?
I have the Vibe and Dexcom G4 and I am very happy with both. I like the caster delivery. find set changes to be quick and easy enough and I like the pump’s solid construction. I’m an Asante Snap “orphan” who really liked the Snap until Astane went out of business. Between the two, I tried Omnipod, but had several things I disliked about it. The Vibe is good - and good enough that I don’t mind having the tubing (except near doorknobs!!)
I’m not saying don’t go on a pump but I want you to be aware of some things. I’ve been on MDI for 5 years. I bet there are a bunch of others who have been on MDI for way longer. 8 weeks isn’t really very long. It isn’t long enough for anything to become routine and it isn’t a surprise you are still sick of it. If you started with a pump you would also likely be sick of it as well. Pumps also come with their own set of difficulties.
And 8 weeks it really isn’t enough time to build all the skills that you need to really take advantage of the pump (let alone do MDI well). You need to learn carb counting and how your body responds to different meals. You need to become at least passingly familiar with basal, bolus, corrections, ICR, ISF and all the little details. My general feeling is that moving properly to a pump should involve having a good working knowledge of intensive insulin therapy. You can get this knowledge by taking classes at a diabetes center, from your doctor and by learning on your own from books like Pumping Insulin by Walsh. But if you are on a fixed insulin dosing and just think a pump will automagically take over everything, it won’t.
And finally, if you are switching in three weeks you would be better off filing under the new insurance. It is risky trying to get the date of service into the last couple weeks in order to get coverage by Aetna and then having to restart the process under BCBS in order to get supplies. It is probably better to wait and do it all under BCBS.
I’m not saying don’t do a pump. I’m just providing some perspective. And again, I’ve been on MDI for five years (albeit a T2). It can become very routine and you can get good at it.
I actually have no issues carb counting or using insulin. My sugars are great and I make sure to have tight control. I need to have my a1c down so I can safely get pregnant again. I also don’t want to switch to a pump while pregnant since there is a learning curve. My mom is also type 1 and switching to a pump changed her life. So since I grew up around type 1, I know there are many challenges with a pump, but I also know I am smart, and I learn fast. Along with my tighter control, I take insulin every time I eat carbs, not just at meals hoping it will cover snacks. Which means 5-7 shots a day. A pump would be easier. I have a toddler and we are active, again, it will be easier.
sounds like good reasons. I think @Brian_BSC was just concerned you might have the idea that using a pump means you won’t have to think about things as often (a common misconception), because imo you actually have to think about things even more. With pumping, you only use the short acting insulin, so if for some reason the delivery is impaired or disrupted, it doesn’t take very long to get into a whole mess 'o trouble. With MDI, you have that long acting insulin still working in the background.
I’ve been pumping over 25 years and I’d never go back. I like the flexibility it allows me.
As another T2 on insulin, I was on MDI for two years before switching to a pump. I was donig pretty well on MDI, too - A1c’s between 4.9 and 5.2 - but my endo was concerned about some lows that had become somewhat routine. After a couple months of trying to adjust my basal injection schedule, dose, etc., that always reverts back to the same pattern on lows after 3 days, he recommended I try a pump. The thought of ANOTHER “attachment” was definitely not appealing to me (I already wore a CGM sensor); however, kicking and screaming, I went on a pump a little over a year ago. The pump did solve the problem for which it was intended and has the added benefit of quite a lot of convenience. Yes, as @MarieB said, I think about things as much or more on a pump than on MDI, but I don’t think I want to go back now that I’ve been enjoying the benefits a pump had to offer.
I strongly second that. It was one of the main I had misgivings about when changing to a pump after being on MDI for 10 years (30, if you count R/NPH, which I don’t). Actually I still have misgivings about it, though on balance I prefer the pump in spite of all the annoyances.
I have been on MDI for 3 or 4 years. I’m not anti-pump, I just don’t think it’s right for me. I understand full well that pumps are an absolute godsend for some. And I suppose my control might be slightly better (emphasize “slightly”) with one, but even that is not a certainty. And to be utterly blunt, the logistics (and expense) of pumping just repel me.
Full disclosure: unless Medicare should happen to have their long-overdue epiphany and begin covering them, this is essentially academic anyway since there is no way on earth I could afford one. But the above has been my fundamentally unchanged view pretty much since I learned how to manage insulin properly.
The animas pump and Dexcom combo is used by quite a few people around here and they seem to be pretty Highly regarded in general… Of course your individual tastes and preferences play into what the best pump for you would be… But there is certainly nothing wrong with that setup
I agree with some others though that I don’t see what the huge rush is-- if you’ve only been on insulin for 8 weeks and are having good results with MDI, I am not sure why the sense of urgency…
The rush is wanting to be pregnant again since I sadly lost my last pregnancy most like because of undiagnosed diabetes. I want to get used to it and learn to use it before being pregnant again.
Sorry to hear that happened… I guess I’m not understanding the relationship of having a pump to pregnancy if you’re able to achieve tight control without one.
Oh, I agree - and, as I think you remember, I was reluctant to get a pump for all of the same reasons. Note - I had nearly ALL of the anticipated problems since starting on a pump, but overall, I’m still glad I did it. By the way, my A1c has been a bit higher since going on a pump than it was on MDI; however, some of that can be attributed to eliminating most of the lows I was having. The pump does let me react quicker to falling or rising BG, as my absorption is better with the pump than MDI, and my TDD is down around 35% - which I think will help me manage my weight better (I gained weight after starting insulin, though I was not overweight before Dx.
I only spent a few years on MDI before I started on a pump over 28 years ago. Aside from the ability to customize and dynamically adjust a basal profile, the pump’s memory works well for me. When I was on MDI, I took two basal injections and one injection for each of three meals. That’s 5/day, 150/month, and 1,825/year.
For me that turned into a blur when I was also paying attention to my job, family, and other interests. I regularly, but not often, doubted whether I took my insulin dose. The pump’s never-failing memory saves me from that poor choice of either double-dosing into hypoglycemia or under-dosing and chasing high BGs. If I returned to MDI, I would like to use pens with memories of at least the last dose.
[quote=“Dana925, post:10, topic:49473, full:true”]
The rush is wanting to be pregnant again since I sadly lost my last pregnancy most like because of undiagnosed diabetes. I want to get used to it and learn to use it before being pregnant again.
[/quote]I wish I had had a pump back in the day when I was pregnant! It was not even available though. So I say GO FOR IT! I hope your doc(s) will help you with getting one. Good luck
I’m definitely sympathetic to that perspective as well, David. In my case I definitely prefer it but it’s never made me want to turn handsprings the way it does for some (nothing wrong with that of course). Maybe we should have a Pump Ambivalence Group. We could call it Pump Grumps
I certainly had that question more than a few times when I was on MDI. I took my Lantus dose first thing while sitting on the can in the a.m., before coffee (i.e., not fully awake), and after a while it becomes so automatic you can’t remember if you actually did it. And then there was the time I looked down and realized I’d grabbed the Novolg pen by mistake. Oops…
At least you caught it in time. My first trip to the ER was the result of taking short acting insulin at bed-time instead of the long-acting insulin. I drew up my insulin that evening distracted by a phone call regarding a health crisis of my parent. I didn’t realize my mistake until after my ambulance ride to the hospital.
Well yes, in the sense that I discovered what I’d done in time. I’d injected the whole load (zzzzzip!) but I did at least realize it when I went to put the injector back in the fridge… and saw that it wasn’t the one that went back to the fridge. Fortunately we had lots of OJ on hand. Important life lesson: never do anything important before coffee.
I can easily see how that would play out. In my case, I one of the very first things I did was to form the habit of logging every injection in order to have a permanent record. The habit is now so rigid and ingrained that I can’t not do it; kind of like brushing your teeth. It’s just on automatic pilot. So I always know what I’ve taken, how much, and when.
