PUMPS!!!!!!!!!!!

Marcella - posted on 01/28/2010

my son started using the medtronic minimed pump last june when he was 6 i absolutely love it due to the fact that i can download his pump to my computer and his doctor can pull it up with out us being there and look at his numbers from up until you download and make changed from there having more then one child that is easier for our family and it was easy to maneuver threw the pump once we got it dialed in it is alot easier yesterday we ordered the continuous monitor that goes with it and he is very excited.it gave him a little bit more freedom.

Sheila - posted on 01/08/2010

My daughter is 11 and she uses the Medtronic Minimed pump. She is very happy with it and so are we. We are interested in the omnipod, it would be nice not to have the tubing but it looks a little bulky. Minimed is the only pump our doc would let us use years ago because it was the leader in the industry. We have had to have it replaced once in the 6years that she has used it. They had a new one in our home within 24hrs. Really great customer service. When you think you have made a decision you should call and see if they will come out and demonstrate it. Minimed let us test ride one, my husband actually wore it without insulin to see what it would be like, and we kept it for a weekend to see if we liked it. I highly recommend doing that so you can get a feel for it and see if it will work for you before making the investment. No matter which one you choose you will love life on a pump. So much more freedom.

Jen - posted on 01/07/2010

My 2 year old has an Omnipod. We LOVE it. His numbers have been so much better, and he's happier with less shots. The smaller dosing is so much better than using the pens. I know you can dose lower with the Ping, but that hasn't been necessary for us,

Jennifer - posted on 01/07/2010

Animas 1250... When we upgrade it'll still be an Animas. Smaller bolus doses, waterproof, great customer service...

Amanda - posted on 12/23/2009

My 11 year old daughter has had a Medtronic Pump for nearly 3 years now. It makes a huge difference to her management. But I am with Denise on all the different ways you can change setting. Sometimes it gets a bit confussing. Usually I leave the adjustments to her specialist but she grows so fast and loves her food that we are at a point of needing to make adjustments inside of the 3 monthly clinic visits. We do not use the BG monitor that goes with this pump (because it costs so much in Australia- about $900 every 9 months or so) and just really on her doing regular finger-pricks. I do remember the first time she was really sick and off her food - we really didn't have to worry about her insulin. We kept the basal rates going and just bolused for food once we saw how much she actually ate. It was great.

Valerie - posted on 12/22/2009

Hi Denise. My daughter is 9 years old and she got a pump in August. We were trying to figure out which one was good for her. She is very active. I like the omnipod and was pretty set on getting that one. She tried the demo and we realized it is pretty bulky(she is a skinny thing). I would strongy suggest trying it first. We opted for the medtronic one(I think its great-the meter communicates the bs to the pump and if you get the cgm it als tells the pump her numbers. You dont need a seperate gadget for he cgm) Good luk!!!

Denise - posted on 11/05/2009

Hahaha....well first thing is that with a pump, the adjustments are actually harder because there are so many little things that can be adjusted. There is the basal rate (this is the constant amount he gets ever min or so and can vary throughout the day), the insulin to carb ratio (to bolus for meals...again can have different ones for different times of day) the insulin sensitivity factor (how much a unit of insulin brings down his bg) and the insulin on board (how much insulin is still in his system). It is nice that there are so many ways to bring the bgs within range but figuring them out is not easy. With that said, I much rather be on the pump!! We can also download all his numbers, and insulin intake onto the computer to look for patterns and figure out what needs to be adjusted.
We decided against the Omnipod cuz my son is only four and doesn't have much fat on his body and the pods are huge in comparison to him!!
Bryce was diagnosed a year ago right before Halloween. He was 3 and a half. It is amazing what a brave little guy he is and how well he does with all of this!

Danielle - posted on 11/05/2009

Thanks so much Denise. I am leaning toward the ominpod and animus for the remote capability. Did your son make the switch ok? When was he diagnosed? Gavan's numbers are all over the place regardless of what we do, he is just growing and active, I can't wait until there is only one insulin dose to switch.

Denise - posted on 11/04/2009

My 4 1/2 yr old son is on the Animas Ping. We LOVE it! The meter serves as a remote for the pump so we can bolus him without having to slow him down. It also delivers the smallest dose which is nice for kids that are super sensitive to insulin. The people at Animas have been great to work with. They sent a trainer out to our house to get us set up on the pump and was available for us 24/7 if we needed assistance those first few weeks (and even now-7 mons later). Moving to a pump does take some adjustment but overall it is so much better than shots. It is so nice that my son can eat like a normal 4 year old...when he is hungry (or not if he isn't hungry!) We still have troubles with his numbers but that is because he is constantly growing and changing. However on a pump, it is so much easier to make adjustments. We can correct high bgs at any time without needed an extra shot and can stop a low by turning down his basal rate on his pump. The pump lets us know how much insulin is still in his system so he doesn't get over corrected. I think going on the pump was the best thing we could do.

Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns that I could help with in this decision. Best of luck!!!