Info on insulin pump please?

Question

My son has been insulin sependent since he was 8 years old. He's now 23. The last year he has been having terrible problems with control. He is having sudden and unexpected hypoglycemic reactions. There are no symptoms at all of an episode coming on.

Today is was suggested he go to the insulin pump. We have an appointment next week to see about this (we can;t get one before) He can test and be fine, but just minutes later his sugar plumits and he's unconcious.

Can you please give us some info on how the insulin pump has worked for you? Pro's cons (I know cost is a big con, but his life is at stake)

I'm just terrified i'm going to lose my son.

Hi Mellon. Guess we have more than dogs in common. I sure hope we get some answers. Saturday was really bad. one moment he was stood up at work talking to someone. He was in a coma on the floor the next. I'm scared to let him out of my sight. I have many health issues myself including diabetes and MS. The stress is really getting to me too.

St Lady, Yes he has a great Endocrinologist. In fact we share the same one. He is type 1 diabetic. We both are. He had tested less than 15 minutes before as he does hourly tests while at work. His test was well within normal. He did a little paperwork sttod up to pass on some instruction and collapsed. Now we use the Canadian scale. (not sure you knwo this, but I'm sure you do) He was 7.5 when he did the test just before collaps. He was 1.1 when the ambulance arrived 18 minutes after that test. He had a Subway sandwhich and actually did less insulin than he would have for that same food had he of been at home.

He spent 2 weeks in hospital a while bad under 15 minute monitoring and strictly controled diet and still it was happening. They just don;t know why. He even cut his insulin to virtually nothing. Then his sugar flew up. He's producing no insulin at all.

Jeancommunicates, thanks for all the info. He does not drive at all. His eyes, kidneys etc are fine.

We do check him in the night also. It went through a spell of happening in the night, but thankfully that seems to have passed.

He has to see his specialist weekly right now. Hopefully once he has this ultra modern pump thing he will be okay as it constantly monitors him and will tell him when he starts to get low, but the way it is right now I'm still concerned that may not be enough time if his sugar can fall that fast in such a short time.

Oh St Lady, on specialist advice he now injects his insulin after eating rather than before. This has helped some.

Thank you Anita. We have been told because Mark has been so bad he would probably be admitted to hospital for at least a few days to get started. We know we are at that life/death border and as his mom it's killing me too. Yours is the kind of reply I was really hoping for. Someone who had been through this, but I welcome and are thankful for all replies.

I'm so glad life is much better for you now.

computers are not: His specialist now has him taking the insulin after he as eaten. He takes his sugar every hour throughout the day and every 2 hours through the night. He's tried other insulins and things have been even worse. His dose has been constantly adjusted, both at home and in the hospital under close supervision only eating and drinking what was supplied in the diet and the doctors setting the insulin at each meal. None can understand how his sugar can drop so drastically in mear minutes such as Saturday when it droped 600% in just 18 minutes.

Answer 1

My pre-pump days were just like your son. Literally I feel that the pump saved my life.

Since being on the pump (5 years) I have not had any hypos where I have loss consciousness; plus with my blood sugars running a little higher, I have regained feelings for hypo's so when I do have them (which isn't very often) I know it and can treat accordingly.

One con that some people don't realize is that a pump is not a cure-all. It is a lot of hard work to get the settings adjusted appropriately. The first few weeks are a roller coster of highs and lows. You are testing your bg constantly and making adjustments. Even once things are adjusted, you still have to test often. It's worth it though, your son will feel that he has some control back in his life. I know I do.

Good luck!

Answer 2

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Answer 3

I've had my pump for 8 years, been diabetic for 10. It is a lifesaver. I never had the problems your son is having, but even I can tell a difference. My lows are not as frequent, and they are usually not as severe. He sounds like an ideal candidate for the pump. If you can find a way to get over the financial hurdles, the sensor integrated pump would be the best. The Minimed Paradigm 522/722 integrates glucose sensing. He'd still have to do finger sticks every day, but the pump would alarm when the sugar is changing rapidly, so he could take action before having a big problem. The downside is that insurance doesn't cover the sensors yet because they are so new.

Check out minimed.com for more information.

There are other pumps, but I use minimed, so I don't know where the others websites are.

Answer 4

Maybe he needs to have his insulin switched. Right now I take levemir flex pen (long lasting pen) and also the novolog flex pen 3 times a day.
What about his carbohydrates, and following the index guide. Something is not right about the brand of insulin he is taking. Maybe he is taking to much. You cant just take so much insulin at once as well if your sugar gets so high.
What about the endocronoligist that he is seeing couldnt they just lower the amount of insulin so he wont drop into a coma.

Sounds like the insulin pump is a good idea, a little bit at a time, but he must constantly check his sugar levels as well.

I recommend switching insulin. Good luck

What really concerned me is that you said he took his insulin before he ate, thats what I do, however its best to do it within 15 minutes before he is, however if his sugar is still high maybe he is getting to much insulin during his main meal, and if he is only getting a certain amount of carbohyrates that can be the problem. What I mean by this is say you do your insulin and only eat meat, and a little bit of carbo, and you take to much insulin, your sugar is going to drop fast to high noon. Maybe he should consider adding a desert at dinner too.

Things always get hectic sometimes with sugar, maybe he needs his meds change, once again I already said this, that is probably the issue.

Answer 5

PLEASE have him screened for the following conditions, which are much more common in Type 1 diabetics and can cause unexplained low blood sugars:

-Celiac Disease
-Addison's Disease
-Hashimoto's Disease

Please Google these conditions if you need more info. There is a very good chance he may have any of the above. Celiac Disease can often be silent (no obvious symptoms) aside from low blood sugar. It often goes undiagnosed. Up to 40% of people on the waiting list for Islet Transplants to treat "severe" Type 1 diabetes have subclinical thyroid (Hashimito's) and Celiac Disease. Both of these conditions went undetected.

All of the above are autoimmme diseases just like Type 1 diabetes. It is common for more than one autoimmune disease to run together. Having the family history of multiple autoimmune diseases make this more likely.

Your son needs to be off of any unpredictable long acting insulin like NPH. The pump will help for sure, but it seems like something else is suddenly going on here. I would also have him screened for gastroparesis. He may be taking insulin for food that is not getting absorbed. Thus, he crashes. Also, he may have tissue damage from years of injections, and he is not absorbing his insulin properly. Rotaing sites and/or inhaled insulin may be a possible solution. Make sure he is not injecting into muscle.

P.S. He may also be creating antibodies to the injected insulin itself. When these antibodies "break away" from the insulin, it renders them active again, causing random and severe lows.

Answer 6

My daughter became a Type I diabetic at age 11. She is 40 now and just had pancreas and kidney transplants.

My daughter had spells of low blood sugar and her eyes started giving her trouble. She had 9 eye surgeries and then her kidney's began to fail. When she went on the pump she was experiencing the plummeting low blood sugars also. I personally think they are worse than the high blood sugars because they happen so quickly. We would use an alarm clock to wake her up every 2 hours to check her blood sugar or see how she felt. She couldn't detect the low blood sugar while sleeping. During the daytime she could feel it coming on or we could see her start to get lethargic.

The pump just distributes the insulin more timely, but the finger pricking or the blood tests still remain. It is very important that they eat small regular meals and at least five times a day. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner and snack before bed is best. He must stick to the diabetic diet which eliminates white sugar and breads, potatoes that make sugar.

Get his eyes and kidneys checked because he is out of control and something is triggering it if he has been eating correctly. If he hasn't been eating correctly that could be why he is becoming brittle or uncontrollable.

Emotions are greatly responsible also. He cannot work and this causes emotional problems. To be honest, he shouldn't be driving during this uncontrollable problem.

After the 9 eye surgeries, then my daughter's kidneys starting acting up and finally she had to be put on dialysis. The doctors saved her eyes but her vision is not as good as it use to be of course. She can drive, but not at night.

She was on dialysis for one year while waiting on a list to receive a pancreas and kidney transplant. We were blessed because some people wait for years.

Today she is doing fine, no longer a diabetic with her new pancreas and one new kidney. She has 3 kidneys, the old 2 and her new one. It is better to leave them in than take them out. A wonderful doctor, Dr. Knight, at Hermann Hospital in Houston. The absolute best doctor and hospital.

I was terrified that I would lose my daughter, but I put her in God's hands because I couldn't do anything. And the Lord made it all happen. That was 2 years ago, she was 38 then and now she is 40 taking 20 pills a day still to make sure that her body doesn't reject the transplants, but believe me 20 pills to her is a lot better than insulin shots and finger pricking and blood tests. She can eat whatever she likes to eat including sugar items. She still tries to eat good meals which is good advice for all of us, but she feels and acts like a new woman. She knows that she has been blessed. She is very thankful and humble and sweet.

I hope this has helped you. I truly wish someone had told me what the future held for my daughter and how it would unravel.

Oh, one more thing I can remember getting my finger bitten trying to put orange juice under her tongue to bring her out of the coma that she was drifting into with these low blood sugars. Watch him closely at night. Cold and clammy from touching their forehead means they are drifting into a coma, but test the blood to make sure. You are a good mother and he is blessed to have you.

Answer 7

My husband is diabetic, diagnosed at the age of 15 and he too has issues with sugar levels dropping. We've considered looking in to the pump as well. I'll be curious to see what answers you might get and what others who may use this think.

I recently discovered that there are people who actually train dogs to detect sugar lows and highs in people with diabetes. I've suggested to my husband, that should his ever get harder to manage, that we might want to look into this. I guess it's very much like what seizure detection dogs do, but they can alert to off sugar levels instead.

ADDED: My husband has managed to develop a tolerance for his "lows". I have seen him conscious at 19 and thought his sugar was "high". Tho he uses candy bars sometimes to get his sugar up, one thing I learned was that foods with high protein were better for getting the sugar up and leveling it off, like peanut butter. So when he needs to go for sweets to get the sugar up, he does something like Reese's.

What kind of insulin does your son use? Does he use 2, like my husband? One is for when he's going to eat and is fast acting and the other is a single dose for a 24 hour period, so that if he doesn't eat much, it will stabilize his levels anyway. We have found that during the warmer months, when my husband is more active, he has to lower his 24 hour insulin, otherwise he gets a lot of "lows".

Answer 8

Hey Diane, I am a nurse of Endocrinology. The pump is a wonderful invention and after the initial start up (adjustment period) has become very dependable. What I am questioning is his diet. Sudden drops in sugar usually follow an excessive intake. Is he eating correctly? The pump delivers insulin but, insulin is to lower the sugar levels. Since he is still having fluctuations I am assuming he is a type ll diabetic. Has the pancreas completely stopped producing or is it still semi active? I am not a doctor and it is obvious you are dearly concerned. Has he seen an Endocrinologist? Family doctors aren't the most reliable when it comes to diabetes. Good Luck and God Bless.

Answer 9

Like Anita, we found that the pump virtually eliminated the really bad lows.

Also, have you considered continuous blood glucose monitoring? These have alarms that will sound if blood drops to a certain level, or if it is trending down. The two most common are Minimed and Dexcom.

Answer 10

Dear Diane,
My prayers are with you and your son.
kiki