New here...possible pump

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-26-2005
New here...possible pump
1
Mon, 07-07-2008 - 5:28pm

Hi ladies.


My name is Jennifer and I have been a type 2 diabetic for 12 years. I am now 33. When I got married I went on insulin (May 2002) so I could keep my sugars under control for pregnancy. It took 2 years to have my first son and then they advised me to just stay on it b/c we were not preventing a pregnancy. So now that I am done with kids, they wanted to take me off the insulin to see how my body would react. I stopped taking it in Feburary and went on Januvia and metformin.


OMG my sugars were in the 200's and 300's (all new to me!) and just horrible. I felt like crap, was tired and VERY cranky. I had some other issues going on but deep down i knew it was the high sugars making everything worse b/c I felt so awful.


I saw my endo today and she said she really didn't feel that pills would help me. My body doesn't produce much insulin on it's own and my last A1C was 8.4% (they had been at like 6.5% for the last 5 years). We did another A1C and she said that she wants me to start up the insulin and if I want I can get a pump. I know I feel better on insulin and I do better but the pump scares me.


Any pump users out there? Pros/cons? Is Medtronic the only pump maker?


Thanks!

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Avatar for cl_maryfrances40
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 07-08-2008 - 12:29am

Jennifer,


There are several pump makers out there but Metronic is the most common. I am on one shot per day of long acting insulin and then Januvia and metformin. I am not on short acting insulin yet so I am not a candidate for a pump. A pump mimics how your pancreas should work if it worked correctly. There are minute adjustments that they can make about the amount of insulin that you take just under your skin. It takes some getting used to using a pump but once you get it all worked out most people swear by it.