PUMPS AND DIABETES MANAGEMENT

          The purpose of this blog is not to substitute any research you should do if you are looking into getting a pump to help with the personal management of your diabetes and you should always consult your endocrinologist about which type is best for you. Consider this blog as a road map to help direct where you should go for your research into the pump that sounds like the best fit for your lifestyle.

          I’m going to be honest here when I say that I only have personal experience with two types of pumps. From the age of 10 to 29 I have been on Medtronic Insulin Pumps. I found the pumps to be great and the customer service to be excellent. I only ever had maybe 4 major pump malfunctions in those 19 years. Most of the time the customer support team would try to trouble shoot my problem and If it still was acting up, they would overnight me an insulin pump. I would be back on shots for that 24 hours till it arrived, but it was a relief knowing a new pump was on its way. I loved the pumps until the Medtronic version of the CGM was introduced. The CGM hurt upon insertion and was not very accurate. It had to be calibrated all the time and the battery didn’t last long at all then the worst part there was no integration with your smart phone. (The newest model they just released but is not approved in the U.S.A. yet is the 780G which does have smartphone integration!) The pump in general was great to me but there was a lot of problems with the Guardian Sensor.

          I had recently graduated from college in May and had a bit more time to research pumps. I discussed which pump my endo recommended and we decided that the Tandem T-slim X2 with control IQ technology with a Dexcom G6 would be the best fit for me and my lifestyle. It was a complete turnaround. I was used to the Freestyle Libre and while it was better than pricking my fingers so much it still was like taking a single snapshot of what my numbers had been. With the Dexcom G6 I get to see what my numbers are doing in real time! My daily patterns and the most wonderful part the suspending of the pump with the communication with the pump when I go low. It even has different modes for sleeping and for exercising which work great!

          There are other pumps that work great too like I have heard wonderful things about the Omnipod. It works really well for those who have a really active lifestyle who don’t want any tubing that can get caught on things. You don’t have to be so constantly vigilant about being careful. It is controlled with a separate remote or “Personal Diabetes Manager” which allows you to program how much insulin is delivered by the pod. It was my sedond choice when I was thinking of switching but my numbers are very hard to control and my lifestyle isn’t as active as some so the T-slim seemed to work better for me.

          There are other insulin pumps on the market but from what I can tell these really are the bet 3 systems out currently. Please be aware there some insulin pumps are made for type 2 diabetes patients who require more insulin to manage their numbers. Please do your due diligence when looking into these new pumps and make sure this really is something you can see yourself wearing for the next 3-4 years because that’s usually how long the manufacture warranty lasts and your insurance will not cover new one before the warranty is up.