Medtronic Paradigm insulin pump: changing the site

[n4mjg1]

all those pump cost waaaay too much, i don't think my ins would not cover !

[THEDARKSOLDER2]

@n4mjg1 Thank God i live in kuwait and Special thanks to kuwait Government Because they give us the insulin pump for free to any one who have Diabetes

[GoblinBigears]

Medtroic is awsome

[Christheatheist1]

I'm getting a pump in October. Is this type of pump best?

[syv1000]

im getting a pump very soon but i going tho classes and dont know why i gotta go 2 for

[TheGymnasticschick]

i have that same pump! great video! (:

[AlexEttelis]

I'm getting an insulin pump in about two months after 13 years of injections and what i don't like about pumps is that you have a device that is connected to you all the time and doesn't allow you to get stupid and those tubing and infusion >_> but these are things I'll have to get used to and the advantages beat the disadvantages by far. and I've got one question; if you must be connected to the pump all the time what do you do when you go to sleep? you could hit something accidentally over ni

[cemcalex]

@AlexEttelis Congrats on getting an insulin pump!! I think since you were on shots for so long, the transition will take some time, but I KNOW you will be so happy you switched. I was only on two shots for 2 months before getting on the pump, so I never had time to really get used to them.

As for sleeping, I like clip it (I use the small clip not the holster thing) onto my pajama pants or my underwear (not to give you TMI). You can sleep on the site with no issues. Now, obviously it...

[AlexEttelis]

@cemcalex Thanks for the quick response, and i meant accidentally hitting a button on the pump itself and causing some sort of unwanted insulin and such.

[cemcalex]

@AlexEttelis That won't happen. It makes too much pressure to activate the buttons, nothing to worry about there!

[cemcalex]

@AlexEttelis hurt to roll over onto the pump, so i leave it clipped on my back b/c I don't sleep on my back. You can clip it where-ever is comfortable for you. And trust, it will come a day that you can't feel the pump at all! I always do a "pump check" in the car when i go out of town or something b/c I truly can't recognize the weight sometimes so I have to touch my jean pocket to make sure it's there! :)

[AlexEttelis]

@cemcalex Hey, I'm happy to say I have installed the insulin pump yesterday and so far I'm very out of balance but I have been told it is expected to be at first but I'm very pleased with it and the general idea of insulin pumps. I wanted to ask you a question, If i want to go to the beach what can I do? I heard I could disconnect the pump for 2 hours and less but when I'm at the beach I'm usually more than that

[cemcalex]

@AlexEttelis Humm, good question about the beach. I don't live near a beach so I've never had that issue. I do like to lay out by the pool and when I want to take a dip, i just disconnect and connect the little "stopper" (it's plastic and each infusion set comes with one), but that's usually only for about 30 minutes. Once you get a hang of your bolus and basal rates, you can probably just do a small bolus every 30 min to an hour that you are disconnected.

[cemcalex]

Meaning, if you get, say, 1 unit/hour on your basal for that hour of the day, you could check your BS 1 hour after disconnecting and bolus the amount of basal that you missed (1 unit). It's not perfect, but it would probably fix the high that you would be starting to get from being disconnected. Hope that helps, I'd ask your doctor too, he/she might have some tips!

[AudreyTerry25]

thanks. video what great help me out more...

[weardo2]

lol i have the same color and type of pump..my skin is rejecting it right now but were trying 2 find a way.

[DebbieTheriault]

I get my pump on Wednesday...your video helped me greatly...thank you for taking the time to make it for people like me. very kind of you!!

[dejahthoris]

very informative. was always scared of pumps but it looks ok to me! my child uses mdi.

[kobebryant9981]

2 questions:

•Is it a pain to remove the adhesive every 3 days?

•Do former sites leave marks or scars?

I'm probably going to get a pump this spring, so I'm just doing some research.

[cemcalex]

@kobebryant9981 Hi! No, it doesn't hurt at all to remove it after 3 days. It's kind of like removing a very old bandaid, if that makes sense. There isn't much adhesive left at that point, so it doesn't hurt to remove it.

Sometimes, I have a small pink mark where the actually cannula has been in my stomach when I remove it, but that always goes away in a couple days. It's a small inconvience to deal with compared to all the positives of pumping.

Hope that helps!

[kobebryant9981]

@cemcalex Thank you! You've made me feel much better about switching to a pump.

[lewietrewie]

I have the same pump! :O same colour and size, ect.

[d103cc]

you never change the pump. You change the infusion set, I thought the right terminology would help new pumpers. happy new year I hope this is the last year we have to suffer from this disease.

[cemcalex]

@d103cc The title of the video is how to change out a "site" (another less formal word for infusion set), I think that's more than informative about the video is about. After having diabetes for more than 10 years, I have developed a lot of shorthand for things that I have to talk about daily. For example, I call my OneTouch meter my "checker," not my "blood glucose monitor," so I suppose some of my shorthand made it into this very quickly shot, informal video. 

[cemcalex]

@d103cc I made this video especially for a friend on Facebook who wanted a visual explanation of how a pump worked, so i quickly made it for her. I never thought I would have 5,000+ views, although I'm very happy my video has helped other people. If someone thought by my description that I meant you literally change a "pump" every 3 days, they probably need a lot more guidance than my short video. Thanks for the advice, though.

[Firewhirrrl]

Thank you. I got my husband the pump for Christmas, and now I have a better understanding of how the mechanics work.

What I didn't already know is:

1. How small the patch is.

2. You can get the amount from the wizard, but still override.

again, thank you.

Happy holidays.

[cemcalex]

@Firewhirrrl I'm so glad my video helped you and your husband. Good luck with pumping, and my advice would be to just be patient during the crossover from shots to pumping. It takes some time to get all the balas rates and bolus ratios correct, but it's well worth it.

Happy holidays to you as well.

[mikeyn]

very helpful. thanks alot.

[MrsAnni5497]

Hello! I am a Girl from Germany and I'm 13 years old and I also have everything what you have, the blue pump and more. I was diagnosed when I was 11. I find the illness okay, but if I did not have to have them I would be happy. And you?

[cemcalex]

@MrsAnni5497 Hi. Yes, although I know that diabetes is a part of my life, and has been for 10 years, I would love not to have the disease. Life would be much, much simpler. Hopefully, a cure will be found soon.

[MrsAnni5497]

@cemcalex

Yes already, it a lot is not so easy any more, but one is able to do life with it and I have resigned myself to it. Now so it is to be lived quite okay with it.

I hope you understand my English

[cemcalex]

@MrsAnni5497 I completely understand your English. I agree that we all can still live good, fun lives with diabetes with the help of technology like the pump. :)

[TEadventures]

@cemcalex That's the same thing I hoped 24 years ago. There is too much money to be lost if a cure is announced. Perfect example INGAP on islet dot org.

[vEtOnTeC]

do you know that the medicine and technology race is 1/10 for technology ? medicine has done just the pancreas transplanting,technology ? everything that you are using: pens,glucometers etc...

soon i will have the pump,i have gone to a summer camp of diabetes in macedonia(my country) and im lucky that without the pump i know how to use it so when i will have the pump it will be easier for me...guys put more videos about insulin pumps everyone should understand that pumps are awsome !

[loungo1567]

on average how many of units of insulin do you use every 3 days with the pump? Do you use 100 units of insulin in 3 days? Thanks

[cemcalex]

@loungo1567 Hi. On average, I use about 50 units per day. Since the reservoir holds 180 units (I accidentally said 108 in the video), I can go a little over 3 days without changing out everything. I hope that helps!

[loungo1567]

@cemcalex thanks

[lyscaps]

hey this is awesome, im gettin my pump in ten days and this has really helped!!! good stuff mate, i like it!!

[comedygir]

ok im getting a pump nxt week and if u take 2 types of insulin like humalog and lantus does the humalog stay in the pump and you take a shot of lantus at night or what?

[cemcalex]

@comedygir Hi. I'm sure your doctor will explain this to you, but (from my knowledge), having an insulin pump eliminates the need for taking any long-acting insulin (like your lantus you take a night). Since the pump delivers a small amount of insulin to you all thru the day and night (called the basal rate), you don't need to take long acting insulin to work while you sleep. The short acting insulin will job that job b/c you will be wearing your pump all the time. I hope that makes sense! :)

[vEtOnTeC]

@comedygir no your doctor will change your therapy to just 1 insulin...

[rosamariazamora]

Excellent! Thank you!

[01crossfade]

do ur doctors pick ur type of infusion sets or do u!!!!!!

[cemcalex]

@01crossfade Hi. Yes, I chose my own infusion set. For a while I used the Siluette (sp?) set, but after a year or two I changed over to the quick-set after I saw it on someone else I know who has a pump. I prefer the quickset b/c of the ease of insertion. Hope that helps.

[chrisowen3375]

@01crossfade u do, if they tell u that is wrong u pick the 1 that is the most comfurtable for u!!

[audevourahn]

Thank you for this! I just got my pump fedex'd to me yesterday. I've read the manual, and I'm very excited! I was quite worried about how the needle and whatnot would feel going in. I've been nervous about it, so I'm really glad about what you've shown. My mind is put to rest!

[cemcalex]

@audevourahn I'm so glad my video was helpful to you. The automatic inserter really takes all the pain and guess work out of putting in an infusion set. Good luck, and I know you'll be so happy with your pump!

[orangesv650]

cool...thanks for the video...tomorrow I have to change infusion sets and reservoir for the first time. video was quite helpful. jon

[cemcalex]

@orangesv650 I'm glad it was helpful. I would have "actually" changed the infusion set in the video but I had just changed out the day before.

Good luck with your new pump, and I promise it will get easier and easier as you go. I can do it in about 2 minutes with one eye closed at this point, ha! :)