coltsfan715
New member
Margaret,
I personally think you would LOVE the pump if you were to get one.
I was diabetic before transplant and went about 7 years taking regular insulin injection starting with 2 a day then increased to 1 long acting and a shot at every meal. Then by October of 2006 I was giving up to 8 shots a day because my sugars were becoming so difficult to control.
I asked about an insulin pump because I was running out of places to stick and I found I was keeping myself from eating just cause I was tired of giving myself shots.
Well long story even longer. I got hooked up with an insulin pump in December of 2006 and learned how to handle it and such over the next few months. Went through my evaluation for transplant shortly after getting the pump and actually got transplanted about 6 months after starting the pump. I will be honest and say it has been a godsend it has made my blood sugars so incredibly easy to control.
You can set in varying basal rates (takes the place of a long acting insulin) - ask your doc and they can explain it really well. You can also program different card/insulin ratios per time of day. Meaning with all the drugs post transplant I had to go from needing 1 unit of insulin per 12-15 grams of carbs to needing 1 unit of insulin for every 6-8 grams of carbs. I can set up my pump so that all I need to do is enter the number of carbs (or a close estimate) and it calculates exactly how much I would need to dose myself.
Depending on the infusion kit you use, you can make it to where you change the infusion set every 2-3 days. Instead of sticking yourself multiple times a day it is once every few days (blessing). Then you can also check your sugar a few hours after eating - and if it is high (or low) you can enter the value into the pump (the kind I have anyway) and it will again tell you how much insulin to dose yourself or if you still have insulin in your system from your last dosing to cover the remaining high blood sugar.
Also to add I use the Animas IR 1250. I fought the pump tooth and nail and am wondering now WHY I did that for so long. It has by far improved the control of my blood sugars and my desire to actually keep track of and maintain control of my blood sugar - because it is sooo much easier.
One thing I will say though with the pump it will reduce the number of injection you have to give yourself BUT you will need to monitor your blood sugar just as often if not more so (especially when you first start using it).
I will stop talking for now, but I wanted to put my two cents in being that I am diabetic and use a pump AND am dealing with the POST transplant meds that wreck havoc on our blood sugars too.
Take Care,
Lindsey
I personally think you would LOVE the pump if you were to get one.
I was diabetic before transplant and went about 7 years taking regular insulin injection starting with 2 a day then increased to 1 long acting and a shot at every meal. Then by October of 2006 I was giving up to 8 shots a day because my sugars were becoming so difficult to control.
I asked about an insulin pump because I was running out of places to stick and I found I was keeping myself from eating just cause I was tired of giving myself shots.
Well long story even longer. I got hooked up with an insulin pump in December of 2006 and learned how to handle it and such over the next few months. Went through my evaluation for transplant shortly after getting the pump and actually got transplanted about 6 months after starting the pump. I will be honest and say it has been a godsend it has made my blood sugars so incredibly easy to control.
You can set in varying basal rates (takes the place of a long acting insulin) - ask your doc and they can explain it really well. You can also program different card/insulin ratios per time of day. Meaning with all the drugs post transplant I had to go from needing 1 unit of insulin per 12-15 grams of carbs to needing 1 unit of insulin for every 6-8 grams of carbs. I can set up my pump so that all I need to do is enter the number of carbs (or a close estimate) and it calculates exactly how much I would need to dose myself.
Depending on the infusion kit you use, you can make it to where you change the infusion set every 2-3 days. Instead of sticking yourself multiple times a day it is once every few days (blessing). Then you can also check your sugar a few hours after eating - and if it is high (or low) you can enter the value into the pump (the kind I have anyway) and it will again tell you how much insulin to dose yourself or if you still have insulin in your system from your last dosing to cover the remaining high blood sugar.
Also to add I use the Animas IR 1250. I fought the pump tooth and nail and am wondering now WHY I did that for so long. It has by far improved the control of my blood sugars and my desire to actually keep track of and maintain control of my blood sugar - because it is sooo much easier.
One thing I will say though with the pump it will reduce the number of injection you have to give yourself BUT you will need to monitor your blood sugar just as often if not more so (especially when you first start using it).
I will stop talking for now, but I wanted to put my two cents in being that I am diabetic and use a pump AND am dealing with the POST transplant meds that wreck havoc on our blood sugars too.
Take Care,
Lindsey