Diabetes Management with Pump Therapy
How you manage your diabetes is a personal decision, but it's one you should make knowing all the facts. Here are some important points to consider when thinking about switching to an insulin pump:
Injections
- When you're on injections, you may have to use one, two or three different types of insulin. And you may have to give multiple shots each day.
- Once you've injected, you can't stop the insulin, and you can't steer or program its activity.
- Sometimes injected insulin works before or after you expect it to. And unpredictable absorption of injected insulin can give you unpredictable blood sugars.
Pump Therapy
- Insulin pumps use only fast-acting insulin, which is in and out of your system quickly.
- Pumps put you in control of your insulin: For example, you can stop or slow delivery in response to increased activity or a skipped meal.
- Pumps deliver tiny, precise doses of insulin around the clock, which means they can give you very predictable blood sugars.
Pumps can give better control than injections -- with more flexibility -- for many patients with diabetes.
With a pump, you have to test your blood sugars a minimum of 4-6 times a day. But the tradeoff is that you can plan your meals and activities with much more certainty about when your insulin will take effect. And unlike injections, you can stop or reduce your delivery rate if your blood sugars go low, or if you anticipate them going low.
Moreover, because the pump uses only short-acting insulin, you will not need to follow as rigid a schedule as you did before, because there is no long-acting insulin telling you when you have to eat or when you will need more insulin.
So with a pump, you are in control of your insulin -- so you can take control of your diabetes management.
Sound exciting? It is exciting ... not only can your blood glucose be easier to manage, but life can be easier too. As long as you are ready to learn what it takes to use the pump, the pump can work for you..
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