Does an insulin pump constantly monitor your blood sugar? Or, is it on a timer, perhaps? Also, how is it attached to the body? Is there a surgically impanted shunt to which it attaches? Last, how does the insulin stay chilled, or does it not need to? - Jinx
Alas, they don’t measure the sugar (and thus can’t adjust the insulin infusion rate accordingly - bascially this is almost the holy grail of clinical diabetes research).
Typically, there is a slender plastic tube coming out from the pump and on its end there is a fine needle. That needle is inserted subcutaneously (just like taking a shot of insulin) and is taped into place.
Within reason, the pump insulin needs no refridgeration.
Most pumps have a timer that is set to vary the insulin infusion rate according to the time of day, e.g. perhaps less during the night, or more in the early evening.
Interestingly, in terms of long-term glucose control, there is no difference between taking three or four shots per day versus wearing a pump to deliver insulin continuously. By and large, it’s whichever is most convenient for the individual.
And, here’s a link (written from the perspective, and for the needs of, practising physicians). Note that CSII = continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion = pump; and MDI = multiple daily injections, i.e. three or four shots per day.
If that link doesn’t serve your needs, there are lots of potentially helpful sites that you’ll find with a web search using a keyword of ‘insulin pump’ or similar.
I was on an insulin pump during my last pregnancy. What KarlGauss writes is indeed accurate, but I thought I’d fill in a few more details.
On MDI (multiple daily injection) therapy, typically a person will take two types of insulin daily. One is a long-acting insulin designed to provide basal background coverage throughout the day. The other is a fast-acting insulin designed to be taken before meals and cover the glucose spike that occurs immediately after eating.
An insulin pump only delivers one type of insulin, the fast-acting version. Instead of taking, say, a shot of 20 units of insulin at once, the insulin pump delivers an extremely small dose of insulin – maybe .5 of a unit, or .25 of a unit, or even smaller – every few minutes. This has the effect of providing the basal coverage that a slow-acting insulin would give, without having to actually take the slow-acting insulin. At mealtime, you program the pump to deliver a “bolus”, aka several units of insulin all at once, to cover your post-meal glucose spike. This can be done at any time and doesn’t have to be preprogrammed.
The pump itself can be one of several models, but all the ones I’ve seen (including the one I used) are about the size of a pager and can be clipped to a pants pocket or belt loop. They also make nifty little carriers so you can tuck them inside your bra or your undies or whatever, in case you are wearing a dress or something without pockets. You can program them so that the basal level varies depending on time of day, so that for example if your glucose tends to rise in the early morning hours, you can set a higher delivery rate for 6-9 AM (or whatever). Mine was capable of handling up to 9 basal rates, if I recall correctly.
You have to change the infusion site once every 3 days, or once every 2 days if the skin is irritated. For some reason in late pregnancy I kept getting irritated skin around the infusion site, so I was changing the site more frequently.
They’re really nifty little devices and I would highly recommend one to anyone who 1) can afford it (our insurance covered the full cost of the device plus most of the cost of the supplies) and 2) is on multiple daily injection therapy. It improved my life vastly when I switched to the pump from 4x daily shots.
If you have further specific questions about my personal experience, feel free to ask. I don’t want to write a whole book here.
The alarm goes off at the worst times.
My wife was performing the wedding ceremony for her cousin & new husband.
Just as they got going, the alarm starting ringing… much to the amusement of the guests, and the distress (humorous though) of the bride, bridesmaids, and officiant, as they all tried to navigate the multiple layers of dress to reach it to silence.
The rest of the ceremony went very well, and is a great story for their wedding.
I have no more knowledge about them, other than the CIL (cousin in law) loves hers. It’s made great differences in her health/wellbeing.