Sugar Diabetes and Insulin

[DisneyBamaFan]

These days the pump isn't really a "necessity" for anyone, more than it is a convenience for most. I control my Type I with Multiple-Daily Injections (MDI). I take Lantus in the evenings, and at each meal/snack I take Humalog based on a carbohydrate-to-insulin ratio. I don't mind sometimes taking 4-5 shots per day, since I've been on insulin since Day 1 of diagnosis.

As I've gotten older, though, I may start moving to the pump because I'm not out playing sports or other activities where the pump would have been a nuisance (although, again, the new pumps can be used in all circumstances). The MDI-plan that I'm on pretty much mimics what the pump would do anyway.

Please don't let anyone convince you that you NEED a pump. There is nothing the pump can do for you (beyond taking away the needles) that you can't do with injections.

This is true, to a point. The simple fact is that natural insulin is very fast acting and is secreted as needed. An insulin pump provides a pump user with the closest insulin coverage to a working pancreas, as it provides programmed insulin "injections" in tiny amounts (set in tenths of a unit per hour) every hour (or more often, if necessary). You take a bolus when you eat to cover your food intake, but your body burns fat and muscle 24 hours per day, and the slow acting insulin used by those who are not on a pump cannot exactly match the metabolic rate, as insulin is absorbed and used in set way every time. There are different insulins with different curves, but those curves are set in stone.

In other words, you can live a perfectly happy and healthy life taking 4-6 shots per day (less and you take your chances), but you will never achieve the even blood sugars 24 hours/day that are made possible with an insulin pump unless you live a very strictly regimented life.

My wife had early stage kidney disease when she went on her insulin pump. The even blood sugars that it has produced have her kidney function fully restored - something that would not have been possible without the pump. With the pump, she eats whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Sugary desserts are covered just as they would be in a non-diabetic. Hungry at 2am, she has a snack - with no peaks or valleys in her blood sugar levels. This is just not possible without a pump.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

My wife had early stage kidney disease when she went on her insulin pump. The even blood sugars that it has produced have her kidney function fully restored - something that would not have been possible without the pump. With the pump, she eats whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Sugary desserts are covered just as they would be in a non-diabetic. Hungry at 2am, she has a snack - with no peaks or valleys in her blood sugar levels. This is just not possible without a pump.

Respectfully snipped. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. With my MDI's I have the same coverage. I have my ratio pegged to a "T" so I can eat all day. The only difference is that i need to draw and inject (even if it's the 8th or 9th injection), rather than push a button to increase my dosage.

It's all good, though. One thing I've learned from diabetes is that for all of the similar "regimens" we're on, nobody reacts the same way.

 

[DisneyBamaFan]

Respectfully snipped. I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. With my MDI's I have the same coverage. I have my ratio pegged to a "T" so I can eat all day. The only difference is that i need to draw and inject (even if it's the 8th or 9th injection), rather than push a button to increase my dosage.

It's all good, though. One thing I've learned from diabetes is that for all of the similar "regimens" we're on, nobody reacts the same way.

Agreed - if you are willing to take enough injections, you can mimic it...

 

[Eeyores Butterfly]

One thing that frustrated me was that I saw a doctor for my symptoms a full year before diagnosis- and was accused of lying about symptoms and not a single test was performed! My new endo said that my presentation is just weird, I don't really fit any profile. But it still should have been obvious what the problem is. Too many PCPs can't recognize it if it is not a textbook case.
If it had not been for the dis, I would not have even sought a second opinion because I was so humiliated by the first doctor.

The place that has really helped me is diabetes forums. Without them, I would still think I was a prediabetic and be happily rowing along with no clue that things were not okay. They have great info and gave me the tools I needed to be an active participant in my own care.

 

[Janet Hill]

I was very lucky that the moment I told my PCP my symptoms, he didn't even have me come in. He immediately sent me to an endo. I'm amazed when I speak to other diabetics (especially fellow Type I's) who don't see an endo on a regular 3 to 6 month basis.

This would be my husband. He never goes to an endocrinologist, he just goes a couple times a year to the gp for a full round of blood work. He keeps his A1c below 6, but he is very careful about what he eats and doesn't a lot of carbs. He follows the regimin that Richard Bernstein recommends.

He's had a pump in the past, but kind of got tired of the inconvenience since he rows everyday march to sept.