Anna B
Life on an insulin pump
I was diagnosed aged four so diabetes has basically always been a part of my life. I have always had pretty good control over my diabetes and i was offered the pump when i was 9.
Although i found the set changes extremely difficult for about a year and a half, often taking up to two hours to be able to actually press the buttons ( it was a completely physchological thing ) i know take seconds to do the set change every three days and i would absolutely never go back. Ever.
The pump is the best thing that ever happened to me, and if you have the oppurtunity to get one, i dont think you would regret it. Having been on the pump for four years now, i cant even imagine going back to injections. When you're on injections, you can never eat what you want, it is very difficult to eat without a parent/carer making sure you're eating the right stuff. It is more difficult to control a high or hypo and you have to do up to four injections a day in many cases.
Quick and discreet
With the pump, once you get used to carb counting, you can almost behave like a person withput diabetes. You can eat at different times, still not without the risk of a hypo, but you can simply decide to put in your insulin later. The pump will judge how much insulin you need according to your blood glucose level and the amount of carbs you have just eaten. When your level is high, you can just enter it into the pump and it will give you a correction. It dosen't hurt when you are putting in insulin and you don't have to leave a class or go to a special room to get your insulin; it can be done quickly and discreetly with the press of a button.
When i first got the pump in year five, i told all my friends and my class. They were all used to my diabetes so were all fine. I have never been bullied, neither on injections or the pump. A few people who werent in my class did ask what my pump was when i first got it at primary and when i moved to secondary, but never in a mean way; the majority of people really do think it is a phone or ipod.
I love the pump!
I love the pump, it has changed my life, i couldnt live without it now and it has really changed my way of thinking about diabetes because before i did often think things like 'why me?' and feel very jealous of my younger brother and sister and my friends, but now all i think is how lucky i am to be on the pump and i am so grateful! x
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