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Feeling let down by the pump

H

Han.15

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
After waiting for what seems a lifetime for an insulin pump I finally got one a month ago with the hopes of having a baby soon. The first 2 weeks were great and I’d never seen my blood sugar so stable. But the last 2 weeks things seem to have gone a little wayward. I’ve had 2 incidents with high blood sugars over night due to 3 failed cannulas and had difficulty getting my BG down from high twenties. And my control has gone awful, loads of hypos and BG out of target range with no explanation. I am carb counting, avoiding foods I shouldn’t eat and I am liaising with the diabetes nurses but wondered if anyone else has experienced this when getting a pump? I feel like it was sold to me as this wonderful technology that would help manage my life but am now wondering if my diabetes control will get better. It is making me nervous about having a baby and I am feeling deflated.
 
Good morning @Han.15
Sorry that you are feeling let down by your pump.

The switch to a pump takes a bit of time to get it working for you. The biggest bonus of a pump is that you can get your basal to match what you need, but this does take time to sort out and requires a while to make necessary adjustments. Also the pump relies on good cannula sites. Most pumps have a variety of cannulas available to choose from and it may be that you need to try alternatives: straight, angled, metal Teflon, …
To help us help you it would be useful to know which pump you are using and are you looping?

Any pump take some work, but I would definitely not want to go back to injections. I hope that you can get things sorted and that they settle down .
 
Sorry your pump has not started as the silver bullet that was sold to you.
Unfortunately, it does takes some tweaking to get used to the change. I found it was like learning a new set of rules compared to injecting.
I see @SB2015 has just asked the same questions as I was going to:
- what pump are you using?
- I assume it is a tubed pump (you mentioned failed cannulas). If so, have you tried different cannulas?
- are you using the pump "manually" or is it "looping"?

I have been pumping for 8 years and remember it was a challenge at the start but when I was forced to revert to injections recently, it felt as if I was using a sledge hammer and couldn't wait to get back to the additional "precision" from my pump. And I am not looping.
 
Sorry to hear this is impacting you so much.
I have nothing helpful to add to the comments above but I hope it resolves soon. Pumps are brilliant, but they do take some getting used to for sure!
For issues with cannulas - I'm sure you've already thought of this, but it may be worth reviewing the sites you use or considering different infusion sets. For instance, I've ended up using my upper thighs for cannulas for years now, as they failed so often in my (admittedly quite wobbly) abdomen, and don't seem to work as well in my arms either. But it is different for everyone.
 
Han.15 said:
Thanks for the responses, it helps to hear experiences from others as it can be isolating. I’m currently on the ypsomed pump in closed loop.
Click to expand...

Odd as you say all was stable first 2 weeks.

Have you thought about reaching out to pump rep, don't know if one was there when you did any training prior to or after starting on pump, they can offer up some useful advice.
 
Which cannulas are you using? There are often options.
 
Han.15 said:
After waiting for what seems a lifetime for an insulin pump I finally got one a month ago with the hopes of having a baby soon. The first 2 weeks were great and I’d never seen my blood sugar so stable. But the last 2 weeks things seem to have gone a little wayward. I’ve had 2 incidents with high blood sugars over night due to 3 failed cannulas and had difficulty getting my BG down from high twenties. And my control has gone awful, loads of hypos and BG out of target range with no explanation. I am carb counting, avoiding foods I shouldn’t eat and I am liaising with the diabetes nurses but wondered if anyone else has experienced this when getting a pump? I feel like it was sold to me as this wonderful technology that would help manage my life but am now wondering if my diabetes control will get better. It is making me nervous about having a baby and I am feeling deflated.
Click to expand...

@Han.15 If the first two weeks were great, is there anything that’s changed now that could be affecting your blood sugar, eg menstrual cycle, stress, illness, etc etc?

In addition to the questions about what pump and whether you’re looping, what CGM do you use and what’s your High alert set at? When you got the highs overnight did you correct with a pen?That’s what I’d do.

If you are looping, can you put the pump into manual and use it that way until you feel more confident? I’ve had a pump more than 30 years and after the first couple of days when I was worried I’d pull the cannula out, it’s been great. I’ve also had 3 pregnancies with Type 1 so don’t let this temporary blip put you off.

You mention ‘foods you’re not supposed to eat, what are those? Type 1s can eat a normal diet. Have you changed your diet and could this be contributing to your problems?
 
Inka said:
If you are looping, can you put the pump into manual and use it that way until you feel more confident? I’ve had a pump more than 30 years and after the first couple of days when I was worried I’d pull the cannula out, it’s been great. I’ve also had 3 pregnancies with Type 1 so don’t let this temporary blip put you off.
Click to expand...
I would suggest this as well. I had had a pump for over 15 years when I switched to looping and that was another big step to get used to. It could be useful to be familiar with how your pump works in manual to give you more confidence when looping.

I definitely switch cannulas very readily when something goes wrong, as it is more often than not the cannula causing an issue. Then I work on the other bits if that doesn’t work.
 
I was wondering if you'd moved onto a new supply of insulin that may have 'gone off'?
 
Han.15 said:
Thanks for the responses, it helps to hear experiences from others as it can be isolating. I’m currently on the ypsomed pump in closed loop.
Click to expand...
If I were you I would do some digging and find out how reliable your pump is.
My hospital refuse to use this pump and point blank do not recommend. Patients were swopped over to a different tubeless pump for safety reasons.
 
As Inka suggested, there is a chance this is menstrual related. It was only when I went on a pump (nearly 20yrs ago now) and finally started to have some control that I discovered just how insulin resistant I became a full week before my cycle. I learnt the pattern and had a different basal set up for this, as soon as I started to see the rise I would switch basal. Pre pump my sugars were all over the place so there was no hope in ever seeing a pattern. I believe the ypso has a couple of basals you can set and that is great, im on tslim and I love the fact I can have different basals. It might take a little effort now but before long you will just go ' oh time to switch ' and you will be back in range. Good luck, stick with it, it will.be worth it.
 
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