Starting to research insulin pumps and need your input

Katrina - posted on 04/02/2013

Each pump is great in its own way. it all depends on what features you are wanting the pump to have. Your pump options are as follows: Omnipod, Medtronic, Animas,Tslim, and Accu-Chek

Karon - posted on 04/02/2013

My son was diagnosed when he was 5, he is now 7. We have gone from syringes, to the insulin pens and now his doctor is recommending the insulin pump because it has been hard to keep his blood sugar under 200. They gave us pamphlets and told us to choose a pump and call and we would get everything started? But I am concerned, my son doesn't really like the thought of it and it really scares me because the pamphlets don't really give out the good and bad things about it? Just wanting to talk to someone who has a child on a pump and see how things are for them?

Susan - posted on 09/20/2009

Hi, my son Nate was diagnosed at 7, started using the minimed pump at 10. He is now 19 and still uses a Medtronic Minimed pump. We just up graded again to the Paridigm real-time. It has the option to link with the CGM, which our insurance denied because they say it is an "experimental therapy" and hasn't been proven to work. I'm in negotiations with Medtronic to see if they can help us receive the CGM. Nate tried a Dexcom CGM to get an overall reading for our new endo.He liked knowing when he was going low but it was a drag for him because he then had to enter his numbers into his pump for corrections. We like the ease of use with the minimed pump. We looked at others but this is the pump we chose and ultimately stayed with for 9 years. Great customer service and help when needed 24/7. I hope this helps you in your decision. It was the best decision for us when we switched from shots to the pump.

Jodie - posted on 08/08/2009

Our daughter, Tiahna was diagnoised with type 1 diabetes when she was 3 years old, she is now 7 and she decide she wanted to go on the pump! We did back in june and newly on the pump still! She would never turn back now! it's the best thing we ever did for her and the family! hope to talk soon!

Kendra - posted on 08/07/2009

We chose the Animas Ping and are very happy with it...the ONLY thing that I really don't like is that the cartridges don't hold as much insulin that I'd like. Other than that, I don't have any complaints. We are on our third pump; the Omnipod was a very stressful experience and and the Cozmo was good, but was just discontinued. There are new pumps coming out all the time & it's tough to really know all that's out there!

Bobbi - posted on 07/31/2009

Hi my son is 5 and just diagnosed last may. He is on the animas ping since April. we chose this one because it will give him the smallest amount of insulin (.05u). He is very insulin sensative. I wish it had a continuous glucose meter but from my understanding animas and dexcom are supposed to be merging together and they will soon have a CGMS. We haven't tried anything else so I can't give an opinion on the others.

Claire - posted on 07/24/2009

Hi My son was diagnosed at 6 and started basal/bolus regime at 10 years old.He started on the pump age 12 and has never looked back!!! His overall bloods are great and he has much more freedom with foods and only injects the small plastic tube every second day instead of 5 to 6 injections daily.I must admit it was alot of learning and hard work at the beginning but so much better now.Its not for every one but we as a family would highly recommend it. He still has hypos but not as many and if he is sick it is easier to manage his bloods better than before he was on the pump. Good luck Claire Scotlandx

Felicia - posted on 07/02/2009

My son was diagnosed just before age 4. for 2 years we did numerous shots a day with little response. He was put on the Medtronic Minimed for 1 1/2 years. He switched in November to the Omnipod and it's wonderful! It's wireless and has him controlled the best he has ever been! Good luck with your research.

Lita - posted on 05/13/2009

In regards to a pump, find out what your Dr thinks. Some kids do well on it others don't. My son is 13 this yr and I have asked about a pump and my diabetic educator and she had said hat they are hard work and the chld has to put in the dose themselves. Agan it is upto you, and what works best for you and your child.

Julie - posted on 05/09/2009

My son was diagnosed when he was 2 he is now 7 and has been on a pump for nearly the whole time, we started on needles and my specialist asked me to consider a pump and i had my doubts about an active rough and tumble boy with it attached to him. I don't really have any cons for the pump. The pros rum long, no more timing food with insulin, sleep ins, not having to say no to certain foods that children love ( although they still need a healthy diet) kids birthday parties are much easier, you can have much better control because you give insulin as they eat for what they eat. It's 1 needle every 2-3 days not 4+ plus every day, there are some very cool accessories for little girls. Recently my son had a problem with his pump while he was away with grandma and had to switch back to needles for a couple of days (the problem with his pump was through his mistreatment of the pump) so i made him go with out for a couple days to show him what life is like on needles, he never wants to back to needles and is much more nicer to his pump. The pump does have the ability to set patterns for school if your child is not quiet ready to work out her own insulin needs, you set pattern around school meal times and put required exchanges in lunch box, I only got to the school about 1-2 a week usually to give extra insulin because my son has eaten more than required amount and he is a bit high. If you have health insurance to cover the pump cost, recommend you get one try for about 6mths if you or your daughter don't like it you can go back to needles you have lost nothing, but i really doubt you will go back it is fantastic, takes a little bit of fiddling with numbers in the beginning to get it right after that its easy. If you have any other question you can contact me through email thewiseman@bigpond.com.au

Julia - posted on 05/09/2009

Hi Kim. My 3 year old son and my husband both have minimed pumps. We would not use anything else. My husband did a trial run with the omnipod before we got my son his pump and he did not like it. He is very active (high contact sports) and the adhesive that held the pump on did not hold up to the activity and then the cathether would pull and cause a lot of discomfort. He also said that the omnipod seemed like it would be heavy on a small-framed child. Their minimeds on the other hand have worked very well for us. My husband has had his for about 7 years. He is able to wear it doing everything except when he does take it off when he gets really rough...like boxing. We were a little worried when we started our son on the pump because of the tubing and having a foreign object attached to him....but it worked out great. He doesn't care about the tubing and very rarely does it get caught on things. He never complains about the pump being on him and he plays rough all the time. As a side note...we use the sure-T infusion set. This was reccomended to us by a diabetes educator that wears a pump himself for young active children. Since my since started using this set my husband has actually switched to it as well and really likes it. He has far less inclusions and issues with the site than when he was using the other infusion set. Neither of them have the CGM that can accompany the pump. It is such a hard decision since you are investing a significant amount of money into it. Good luck making a choice and I hope this helps!

Bobbi-Jean - posted on 04/04/2009

My son was diagnosed at the age of 8, he is now 11. He was on injections for 7 months and then we started pumping. (Minimed Paradym 515)...Soon to be upgraded. It has been a life saver for our son. It gives individuals with type 1 diabetes more freedom. My son eats when he is hungry and can eat as little or as much as he wants. (still keeping in mind that he still has to make healthy choices and not choose high carb foods that have no nutritional value). No more being told its time to eat and you have to eat everything on your plate. Also when your child becomes ill, it is a lot of calculating and guess work to determine how much insulin is needed to bring down their BG. With the pump you check BG every 2 to 4 hours and the pump will calculate how much insulin is needed to bring the BG back down into target.For my son it has given him freedom and more independece which has helped with his acceptance of the disease. I have compared several pumps and we found the Minimed pumps to be the most user friendly...especially for children. My son has done his own sitechanges and finger pokes since day one. (he sometimes uses emla cream to numb the area before doing a site change...he sometimes get tired of all the pokes)

Hope this helps.

Tiffany - posted on 04/01/2009

My son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 18months and was on insulin shots since then. It was really hard to manage with my our busy schedule, staying at grandparents house wasn't good for his BP at all (giving sweets just because). So after numerous recommendations, overcoming my fear of him pulling it out all the time with his daily activity, and with our new baby on the way, we made our switch to the animus one touch ping meter in november 08.  Since the switch his A1C has come down greatly to a good level, his BP is no longer floating above 200 and he loves it becuase of the freedom it gives him to go more places, less retricted because he likes to give his self the insulin and he can eat more without worrying if  his BP will be to high.  It is totally worth it to see my son doing better and feeling better, I'd recommend it to anyone, hope it helps!

Katherine - posted on 04/01/2009

My daughter is Type 1 and has the Minimed Paradym 722. She has had the pump for 5 years now. If I new how easy it was, we would have done it sooner. Our live changed so much. It went from Diabetes controling our lives, to us controling Diabetes. Gave our family the freedom to eat or not to eat at any given time. Many different pumps out there. We like the Minimed and chose to stay with them a second time because of the sensor. But the sensor is not covered by insurance yet and it is very expensive. So next we are due for a new pump, (our insurance allows a new pump ever 3 years) we might switch to the Omni pod. No tubing. Hope this helps.

Carole - posted on 03/29/2009

My son is on the Animas Ping, and my husband is on the Minimed Paradym 512. The Animas has a great feature with the meter remote and the low dosing requirements, but the Paradym far exceeds quality and ease of use in EVERY aspect. The Paradym requires a minimum of 10 units of insulin use a day, and our son did not require that at the time he was place on the pump. Animas has a low dose capabilty, and that is the only reason he is on it.

Katrina - posted on 03/29/2009

Kim, My daughter will be 5 in June diagnosed with diabetes Jan '07, my daughter has also been on the Minimed Paradym 722 since 12/07. I chose this one because it is the one her ped endo dr recommended and it has been amazing. It is my new best friend

Renee - posted on 03/28/2009

My daughter just turned 8 and has been on the Medtronic Minimed Paradigm 522 for a little over a year now. For us it has been great! Her A1C has dropped substantially since she started on it and it is so much easier to have flexibility in what and when she wants to eat. Medtronic has excellent customer service as well. The biggest con would be that because she is only on rapid insulin if there is a problem (blockage or tubing coming loose for example) she can get sick very quickly. We never had issues with ketones until the pump, but we know how to trouble shoot and how to get her back down again. I would also point out that there are several different types of infusion sets (the tubing and insertion part) and since we have made a switch thing have been better again. Contact some of the different companies too, they are more than willing to give you their information so you can make the choice that is best for your family. Hope this helped!

Kimberly - posted on 03/26/2009

I have two children with Type 1 a 7 year old girl and 10 year old boy. Both wear the Medtronic minimed 522. They love it and it has really changed their lives.

Shelly - posted on 03/26/2009

We have the Minimed Paradym 722.  It has been easy to use.  My girl is 11.  We used Novolog pens until this summer.  We chose 722 because of the sensor. Our insurance doesn't cover it but if we do deside it will be an option.  So far we are very happy.  I hope this helps.