Pump Question

A quick question l have puzzled over from comments made:
Do T1 get pumps because:
They are in control of their blood sugar
Not in control of their blood sugar pump does it for them
Some other reason?
All of the above
Thanks

Hi, MUD, I have attached NICE criteria here which explains things clearly. It is slightly frustrating because if you manage good control with MDI, you don't qualify. So, not that I want one, if I did, because of my good control, I wouldn't be offered one. There are a few though that no matter how often they adjust basal/bolus injections, still struggle with decent numbers.

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta151

Has anyone ever noticed some of the staunchest anti low carbers at the flog, such as Phoenix, Nobblyhead, Carbsrock aka SarahQ and Jopar, all claim to have wonderful control and know all the answers. Yet they would not get a pump according to the NHS guidelines.

The only pump users I know of with excellent control and knowledge is Pneu the ex flog mod. He could only get mega control 24/7 by waking up through the night and testing, so a pump could help with that problem. The most knowledgeable diabetic expert I know calls insulin pumps "colostomy bags for failed diabetics" a somewhat hard line I reckon. Personally I would not ever use one, if you check out the down sides, you might see why.

As we all know, the less carbs the less insulin required the greater the predictability and less margin for error. It has never surprised me one iota, that the usual suspects named above need insulin pumps. How they control their diabetes is cool with me, each to their own. But you have to ask yourself, do they really control their diabetes well? and why the hell have they spent years kicking low carb, when they know many type two's can't even get their hands on test strips, let alone insulin and insulin pumps and access to Endo's etc. This is the reason I detest the aforementioned antis. They have done great harm over the years.

eddie1 wrote:Has anyone ever noticed some of the staunchest anti low carbers at the flog, such as Phoenix, Nobblyhead, Carbsrock aka SarahQ and Jopar, all claim to have wonderful control and know all the answers. Yet they would not get a pump according to the NHS guidelines.

The only pump users I know of with excellent control and knowledge is Pneu the ex flog mod. He could only get mega control 24/7 by waking up through the night and testing, so a pump could help with that problem. The most knowledgeable diabetic expert I know calls insulin pumps "colostomy bags for failed diabetics" a somewhat hard line I reckon. Personally I would not ever use one, if you check out the down sides, you might see why.

As we all know, the less carbs the less insulin required the greater the predictability and less margin for error. It has never surprised me one iota, that the usual suspects named above need insulin pumps. How they control their diabetes is cool with me, each to their own. But you have to ask yourself, do they really control their diabetes well? and why the hell have they spent years kicking low carb, when they know many type two's can't even get their hands on test strips, let alone insulin and insulin pumps and access to Endo's etc. This is the reason I detest the aforementioned antis. They have done great harm over the years.

Yep,I remember in mid 2012 when Jopar implied that type 2's were a burden on the NHS and taking up places at the trough away from 'Proper' diabetics like herself despite costing the NHS a fortune with her pump and consumables!!! I too,detest folks with an attitude like that!

Hi, pump user here. For years I controlled my sugars well with injections. Not perfect but ate wahat I wanted and no complications.
I decided to give up alcohol. Around the same time I developed mental dawn phenomenom - didn't know at the time. Had blood sugars of 15 sometimes by dinner time.
Decided this was mental and would be on dialysis if I didn't get this sorted.
Cut right back on carbs - stopped eating breakfast. Tested every fecking hour for days. Got on Dr Google. Found this website and a few others.
After being told I was rebounding from a hypo through the night I had the info I needed and the proof of normal sugars through the night until bang on 7am when the DP began.
They gave me advice of splitting my lantus dose. And best advice ever - not just let your sugars go up and then correct wtf. And why are you testing so much?
The strategies to deal with DP meant low sugars through the night so waking up every two hours to test for safety.
Low carbing and testing meant I got to 6.5% but very hard work with lack of sleep.
Applied and got a pump- 5.6% and told I was more normal than normal.
No hypos, some lows - very rarely. I will kill anyone who tries to take it off me!!!!!!!!!

Sorry it is so long!!!

@Mrs Vimes that was a great explanation. Even I understood it!

Cor I'm glad that was an epic post. Eddie is right. There can be problems due to air bubbles in tubing leading to high sugars, ketones through lack if insulin BUT GUESS WHAT? The highest I've had is 9. Something because I LOW CARB!
Bumps under the skin because of constant insulin flow - low carbing means my total daily units of insulin has gone from 60-80 units to on average 23 units.
If I go hard core Ketogenic then I can get it down to 13 units so I'm hoping to avoid bumps.
Low carbing, pumping and self funding CGM means I aim for a range between 4.4 and 6.7 through the night. Either extreme my pump alarms, I wake up, test then decide on what to do. Could be eat a 7g carb oat biscuit or a correction dose if needed. Most nights now I sleep through but I do make mistakes.
But low carbing means mistakes are much smaller and so much safer.
I can change my background insulin throughout the day. I have high insulin resistance of a morning which decreases as the day goes on.
I can also do endurance exercise without eating carbs or fast acting sugars by reducing background insulin. Or increasing background to counteract a liver dump from HIIT or weight training.
Love it for now!

Thanks for all the above's l know seems a silly Q just there did seem some conflicting comments about it around. I hope as a T2 never to get that bad but just wondering how "the other side works"

Hey, and Mrs Vimes your sentence " But low carbing means mistakes are much smaller and so much safer."

.... Please excuse a non diabetic 'butting into the conversation' but isn't this what Dr Richard Bernstein called " the laws of small numbers, which was if you had small amounts of carbohydrate you needed only small doses of insulin."

OK signing out now .....

All the best Jan

Big Bernstein fan!

Thanks for a good explanation Mrs Vimes ! Makes total sense.