Benefits and Risks – Insulin Pumps

Insulin pump therapy has improved the health and quality of life for thousands of individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

With insulin pump therapy, you can:

• Exercise when you want
• Eat what you want¹
• Worry less about low blood sugar levels
• Stop your insulin injections
• Get your A1C on target
• Reduce your risk of diabetes-related complications²
• Live a more normal life

If you have diabetes, you know that your main goal is to manage your blood glucose (or blood sugar) levels. Insulin pumps allow you to adjust your blood glucose levels immediately. This means better control of your blood glucose levels. And better control can mean improved health. According to Diabetes Educator, perhaps that's why diabetes experts use insulin pumps nearly 10 times more often than the general population. (Pumps use fast-acting insulin, which has a variability of less than 3% compared to 52% with injections.³)

Before you use an insulin pump, you must first be trained in its use. Pump training with a nurse or diabetes educator may be done in several sessions. With your trainer, you can learn how to fit your insulin pump into your lifestyle and therapy goals. You also need to know that if your infusion set comes out and you don’t get insulin for several hours, you could suffer from life-threatening complications.

It is important to speak with your doctor and be trained in the use of an insulin pump before you start using the device on your own.

References

1. Farkas-Hirsch R and Hirsch IB. Diabetes Spectrum. Vol 7 No 2. March/April 1994.
2. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial Research Group. NEJM 1993;329:977–86.
3. Pharmacokinetics Of Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion. Lauritzen T, Pramming S, Deckert T, Binder C. Diabetologia.1983;24:326–9.

Section Navigation

• About Diabetes Management Devices
• Insulin Pump
  • What Is It?
  • Benefits and Risks
  • Questions and Answers
• Continuous Glucose Monitor
  • What Is It?
  • Benefits and Risks
  • Questions and Answers
• Our Diabetes Management Products
  • Paradigm Pump
  • Paradigm Real-Time System
  • Guardian Real-Time System
  • CareLink Software

• Personal Stories

Additional information