what are the advantages and disadvantages of an insulin pump?

The main advantages of pump therapy are:Increased flexibility in lifestyle. Precise insulin delivery. Ability to accurately deliver 1/10th of a unit of insulin. Tighter blood sugar control, while reducing the risk of low blood sugars. Reducing episodes of severe hypoglycemia. Reducing wide fluctuations in blood sugars. Helping manage the “dawn phenomenon.” The main disadvantages of pump therapy are:Risk of skin infections at the catheter site. Risk of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) from pump malfunction or absorption problems. Cost pumps are expensive, plus the continuing cost of supplies. Checking blood sugars at least 4 times per day.

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My 7 year old has been on the pump for 6 months, she loves it. Before, she was giving herself a minimum of 4 shots per day. We were concerned at first about how she would feel being “hooked up” to something, but it hasn’t slowed her down. There is a company called pump wear inc. they sell these really neat pump packs for kids and adults, check it out: http://www.pumpwearinc.com.Yes you can go into DKA more easily because there is no Lantus for back-up. The risk of infection is pretty rare as long as you clean your skin prior to insertion. My daughter uses the Minimed Paradigm 515 with the Quickset, they sell these IV wipes that you uses before you insert the infusion set. We have not had any problems with the pump, it’s awesome. Her A1C went from 7.3 to 6.2 in 3 months! Yes it is a good idea to test at least 4 times per day regardless if your on the pump or not.Good Luck!

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It gives you a lot more freedom, what I mean by that is you do not have to eat at certain times, of course you do not have to take shots anymore and you can get away with eating a little more sugar every now and then and still keep your sugar under control (i don’t recommend that, just special occasions you know what i mean). Now the disadvantages are different for everybody, but some of mine were as follows: To me the injection site in my stomach stayed sore most of the time it was in, not pain, but just soreness all the time, at least the shots only hurt for a minute, the tubing with the pump can get clogged easily and you have to change the whole thing to make it work again, and the supplies can be high to buy when you add it up for the year, also the pump gets your body used to constant insulin, makes you really dependent on it, I had to go back to shots from the pump and my sugar stays elevated now and my blood work is a mess. So if you go on the pump consider it a life long thing cause trying to go back to shots is hard, your body does not want to adjust to the lack of insulin. I have to take more insulin now with the shots to keep it under control and it is costing me a lot more per month to buy insulin. no more