• Home
• Understanding Diabetes
• Caring For Yourself
  • Daily Living
  • Self Monitoring
  • Diet
  • Exercise
  • Reducing Complications
  • Sickday
  • Email Newsletters
  • Competitions
• Accu-Chek® Products
• Accu-Chek Extra Services
• Accu-Chek Extra News Latest Edition
• Kids
• Your Healthcare Team

About insulin pumps

An insulin pump is a small device – similar in looks to a phone pager – that delivers rapid-acting insulin in very precise amounts throughout the day and night. It replaces insulin injections and, for most people using one, it makes life much easier. Sleep late, eat when you want. Fewer hypos. Better blood glucose control. And that’s not just our word. It shows up in a number of clinical studies. Here’s what they’re saying…

• Quality of life improves
  Compared to multiple daily injections, an insulin pump gives people more quality life, according to the Equality Study Group.¹ The quality of life comes from greater lifestyle flexibility, less fear of hypoglycaemia, and higher treatment satisfaction.
  
  “The ability to increase flexibility in moment-to-moment living is the reason most frequently cited by individuals who have chosen insulin pumps. It allows the patient to modify insulin availability hour by hour, making possible the performance of activities that would otherwise be risky: missing or delaying meals, sleeping late on weekends, or engaging in vigorous exercise.”
  
  
• Fewer hypos without raising your HbA1C
  For some people, avoiding hypos means letting your blood glucose levels run a bit high. But that’s not the case with an insulin pump according to at least two studies. A study published in the Diabetologia journal² last year, showed that using an insulin pump resulted in a greater reduction of glycated haemoglobin (HbA1C), in adult patients without a higher rate of hypoglycaemia. In adolescents with Type 1 diabetes, glycated haemoglobin and insulin requirements were significantly lower in those on an insulin pump compared to injections. Information on hypos amongst adolescents wasn’t available in this study.
  
  

  The other study, conducted by the Waikato Diabetes Service³ also shows that people with Type 1 diabetes who suffer serious hypos can not only reduce the number of hypos by using an insulin pump, they can also improve their HbA1c.
  
  The study was conducted in response to concerns that some doctors weren’t offering insulin pump therapy to people who had a history of severe hypoglycaemia. The study discovered that instead of increasing hypos, insulin pump therapy actually reduced the number of hypos amongst patients who had previously had severe hypoglycaemia. The average reduction over the study period went from nearly three hypo events down to 0.55.
  
  But that wasn’t the only good news. The study also found that patients using an insulin pump also improved their HbA1cresults. What’s more, the incidence of ketoacidosis and skin abscesses during the study was low. And patients reported an improvement in quality of life when using an insulin pump. In particular, people reported having less fear of a hypo while they were on an insulin pump, more flexibility in their daily life and less restriction on eating times.

• Control, flexibility and freedom
  In another study⁴ looking at the quality of life enjoyed people on insulin pumps, all 80 participants reported benefits. Key positive themes included:
  
  • greater control (45 people)
  • flexibility (33 people)
  • freedom (29 people)

Other benefits included positive effects on the family, conveniance and independance.

Is an insulin pump right for you?

With all the benefits being reported by people already using an insulin pump, you might be keen to get one yourself. But while those benefits are very real there are some things you need to consider. It’s not something you can do overnight. Here are some of the things you need to consider:

• You need to be committed to making it work for you.
• You need to be prepared to test your blood glucose levels at least 4 times a day
• You need to know or learn how insulin, exercise and food affect your blood glucose levels
• You need to count carbs.

For a good example of the challenges involved in going on to an insulin pump, see Frank Clarke’s story.

• And to find out if you’re a good candidate for an insulin pump, take our interactive quiz.

The next step – a FREE trial

If you want the freedom of life with an insulin pump and you’re prepared for those challenges, talk to us. Nisha Taylor, our Diabetes Nurse Educator is happy to answer any of your questions and can give you more information about all aspects of insulin pump therapy.

We can also arrange for you to have an Accu-Chek Spirit pump for a FREE trial. You’ll need some assistance and training for this trial, so it’s not something we just send you in the post, but it’s not that hard either, so give us a call or send Nisha an email - and let’s get you started.

Call: 0800 80 22 99.
Email: nisha.taylor@roche.com

 

« Back to Accu-Chek E-Newsletter