I have a follow up appointment on Monday with my Endo, because I have been on Symlin for a month now. When I go I would really like to discuss pumping even though he seems to be not so sure about it. So I posted some questions on Children with Diabetes & Diabetes Daily, any feedback here or or on either site would be really helpful. The following is a copy of what I posted.
I have a few questions about insulin pumps, but first I will give you a little history about myself and my diabetes.
I am 15 years old and was diagnosed 2 days after my 5th birthday, so 11 years this September. I have never been on an insulin pump, always MDI, starting with R and N and only to shots a day at diagnosis (1996) to a minimum of 8 injections a day including 3 of Symlin, 2 of Levemir, and 3 + of NovoLog. I have had many doctors one of which was what I like to call a “pump pusher”. At every appointment she was pushing the pump to me (around the age of 10) when I wanted nothing to do with it. 2 years ago I switched to a doctor who is very progressive with putting younger kids on the pump and has discussed pumps with me, but I was not ready. Now I have been investigating them as he suggested and the only one I would ever use would be the OmniPod. The only problem is that he wants my A1c under 9 before he will put me on any type of pump, but unfortunately nothing we have tried (Lantus, Levemir, and now Symlin) has been able to get me to that goal. Mostly now because I am still waking up extremely high, even though using the Symlin usually keeps me in range during the day. I am wondering if your doctors had restrictions like this before putting your children on a pump? I thought that pumps were to proven to help lower A1c’s? Would a pump possibly solve my problem with long acting insulins (Levemir and Lantus) and waking up high? Any ideas and opinions about how to get my doctor more on board would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in Advance.
2 comments:
Jillian
That's a shame about the pump. I can partially understand why the doctor would want your diabetes to be more stable. But that's hard to do without a pump.
What made you decide about the OmniPod? I'd heard both good and not so good things about it. Maybe it would be easier to get his agreement if you asked about a different model?
Have you tried reading the book Think Like a Pancreas? Maybe it would help you get the monster under control?
And welcome to TuDiabetes. Maybe some of us there can help a little.
Find a different doctor. The on-call endo at my hospital refused to let me go on a pump, said I'd kill myself using one. He was a complete jerk. I could not get under control without a pump. I went to my regular doctor and told him I wanted to get on a pump. He wrote me a prescription and in within a week I was on a pump. Good luck. I am now using the OmniPod myself, just started 2 weeks ago.
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