[Diabetes-talk] Now a question about insulin pumps

Fri Dec 16 04:04:19 UTC 2011

See Bridgit?  I just knew Veronica would come through with her great wisdom! 
Told ya she's good!!!  Phantabulous!!!

Bern

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Veronica Elsea" <veronica at laurelcreekmusic.com>
To: "Diabetes Talk for the Blind" <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2011 10:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] Now a question about insulin pumps

> Bridget, first, were you looking at the Animas Ping? And was it the 
> Medtronic Rebel?
> I think what would serve you best is to suggest some questions you might 
> put to both reps and see how you feel at the end of it all.
> First, there is a major difference in how the two pumps calculate and 
> deliver basal insulin. The Animas is the most identical to the Cozmo in 
> that it divides your hourly rate and delivers a portion every three 
> minutes. The medtronic uses the amount of the basal to sort out how much 
> is delivered when. If you have a really small hourly basal rate, you only 
> get delivery a few times per hour.
> Second, ask about insulin on board. Here's my biggest gripe with the 
> Medtronic. Let's say you've bolused for a meal and then you test two hours 
> later. If you've entered your bolus through the easy bolus wizard, the 
> amount you have left in your system after those two hours is not 
> calculated into the insulin on board. So if you give yourself a correction 
> for a high BG, I'd worry that you'd be back to the problem of stacking 
> insulin, which is one of the real benefits of being on a pump, in my 
> opinion.
> Third, take a good look at the infusion sets. With the Medtronic, you can 
> only use their infusion sets. The Animas does allow you to use the same 
> ones you're using now, if you like them. The down side of the Animas, in 
> my mind, is that you do have a few more button pushes to do things, when 
> compared to the Cozmo. And things like having to prime again just because 
> you change the battery. In my stint with the Medtronic, I found it harder 
> to work the way I like to, separating out the correction bolus from the 
> meal bolus. All the questions drove me nuts when I just wanted to say 
> here, give me insulin to match my food. <grin.> I do like the cartridge 
> holder on the Medtronic though. But it still bugs me that neither one has 
> the option of key beeps. At least the Animas menus don't wrap around. And 
> at least it does have the audio bolus button on the side.
> And in the early days, it also matters which company has the trainer that 
> will work with you most easily. I actually know a sighted guy here who 
> chose his pump based on who had the slickest video. The funny thing is 
> he's probably had the fewest complaints about living with his pump than 
> all of us in our support group. <grin.> Down the road, the Animas will be 
> working with the Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, which is much less 
> expensive than the Medtronic version and I like it much better. Oh, the 
> other thing about the Animas is that with its software, you can set up 
> custom sounds for some of the alarms, although not necessarily the ones 
> I'd like to customize. <grin.> I haven't actually had the chance to play 
> with either company's software, but not for lack of trying!
> And my local Animas rep did just tell me that they're changing how things 
> work in the correction bolus screen, so that should actually become 
> possible for us to do again. If you want those details, feel free to write 
> me off list and I'll share them with you so you can pester your rep about 
> it. <grin.>
> If I had to choose now, I think I might go with the Animas because the 
> insulin calculations and delivery match what I've had with the Cozmo. But 
> either way, it's a bit of a come down from the Cozmo and trust me, in a 
> year and a half, I'll likely be whining here for sure.
> Anyway, feel free to keep chatting here about this and I hope I've given 
> some things to think about for the moment. If anything else occurs to me 
> in the next day or so, I'll certainly give you a shout. Hang in there and 
> please keep us posted on the process and what you decide to do.
>
> Veronica
> We Woof You A Merry Christmas! Diabetes Melodious! And more!
> Music CDs that will impact and entertain you forever!
> http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
> Veronica Elsea, Owner
> Laurel Creek Music Designs
> Santa Cruz, California
> 877-607-6407
>
>
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