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If you have used a diabetes pump in the past, have you ever switched from pumping back to MDI (Multiple Daily Injections)?
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I’ve mostly been pumping since 1995, took a pump “vacation” two years ago because I had so much scarring from nearly 25 years of infusion sets. I used the InPen for two years and now I’m back to pumping on the Tandem t:slim with Control IQ, using TruSteel. Much happier using fast acting insulin for basal than one shot of long acting.
The email I received was yesterday’s question. It brought me to the site where I could answer today’s question.
same here
Only inject when I’ve left my Omnipod remote home or a few times in the past when multiple pods failed and blood glucose went dangerously high.
Do MDI with correction doses if needed. Lantus and Humalog are the insulins. Why change what works at the senior age of 73. I do have an Abbott Freestyle Libre and scan many times a day and night. My fingers thank me each and every day, even as I type this message!
The comment box worked for me this with my iPhone SE. But not same as Gary, received yesterday’s email and was taken to a different question, presumably today’s. New gripe: why is column for comments so narrow? It’s not even 10 characters requiring an excessive amount of scrolling and there’s all that empty space right and left😾
Typo in my reply re. Gary’s; I meant “NOTED same…” but typed “not”. I regret the error🙀
NO WAY! The insulin pump was an extreme improvement in the quality of my life. I would never voluntarily return to multiple daily injections. My life was out of control on injections. I immediately felt and behaved 1000 percent better with the pump. And, the CGM was another significant improvement.
never have and never will
Been doing this for 16 months now am a novice lol love my omnipod dash but do take a break sometimes. It is uncomfortable minorly. Awesome to ditch both devices short term and shower and sleep comfortably.
I received my Insulin Pump and have been on it sence December 1997. I have had the pump removed from Aug. 2013 and I had gotten a Traumatic Brain Injury August 24, 2013 and restarted in 2015. I love the pump. I have certain times that I don’t like the pump because of items that I have had to change but those item’s that I had changed are not good. All the issues that I have with my Insulin Pump, I will never give up on it. I absolutely love my pump and giving shots I don’t like tjat at all and do not want to use them.
Used MDI for 60 yrs. before getting a pump. Now 6 years later I won’t willingly go back.
Wish there was an “other” choice. I switched from pump to MDI for about 2 years because I was having absorption issues most likely related to scar tissue. That was years ago before one handed insertion devices and I’m back on the pump with using many more varied sites.
It was due to loss of insurance entirely, not just because they didn’t cover my “preferred” pump.
Spent less than 18 hours on MDI in the past 23 years
Once I started pumping in Feb. 1997 I didn’t look back. I have no desire to go back to MDI.
Like others, I have never looked back….. 30 years and counting. In the early years had one pump failure, replaced within 24 hours.
I have had multiple pump failures requiring replacements and have spent up to about 4 days on MDI while waiting, but I have not intentionally gone back to MDI since starting pump therapy in 1996.
Identical with my experience. I even started with a Medtronic pump in 1996. Prior to that I had 35 years of MDI, probably 40,000 to 45,000 injections. The new micro-micro-micro pen needles are soooooooo good, however, that those of you doing MDI don’t realize how good you have it.
I have switched to MDI for a month at a time on a few rare occasions as a pump vacation to give my insertion sites a rest – and have only done so since using Dexcom as my CGM. However, it is unlikely that I would ever go back to living life with T1D without a closed loop pump/cgm system. I like not having to do the carb ratio and insulin onboard math all the time. The Tandem X2 with CIQ keeps my TIR between 80 to 92% (~88%) most of the time.
I put “yes” #1 because I just went to MDI because I had a my tslimx2 go down and had to stop using it until I could get hold of someone at the company so I decided to go MDI for a couple weeks to determine if I wanted to go back to MDI and also further develop and refine my backup plan. I get frustrated with my tslim control iq. I wish I could go back to basal iq on which I did so much better: I am now back on the pump because I rely on the iob algorithm in my daily insulin calculations and also need the ability to give small amounts of insulin to adjust my bg.
The only time I might do an injection will be on one of the days thinks are going wonky with the pump… Otherwise, no. Although I am tired of being attached to the contraption, the amount of control the pump has provided me is the factor that will keep me continuing to use a pump.
I would switch back to MDI, but my doctor told me not to. She did not believe me when I told her my control was better on MDI. I’ve got a different doctor now, and he understands that sometimes MDI is better. We’re working together to try to get the pump settings to work for me, but if he can’t he will let me go back to MDI. So, time will tell!
I tried using the Omnipod for 11 months and then went back to MDI. It malfunctioned often enough that I went over 500 more in that one year than in all the rest of my life. My blood sugars were such a mess that my A1c actually came down but my time in range decreased, too. And on top of all that I was often in physical pain from the pod. The insertion sites almost always became inflamed and painful, a couple times so badly that I had to remove the pod early. And if I wore it on my stomach the corners would often jab into me every time I had to bend over or carry something heavy (I work outdoors, constantly moving, bending, twisting, lifting, carrying, etc.). I actually have a new scar from the corner of a pod cutting into my skin. I started using the Omnipod thinking a pump would give me more flexibility and peace of mind while at work, but instead I was in pain and sick all the time. It wasn’t worth it.
Bubbles, bubbles caused lots of troubles. Figured if I was going to need to take multiple corrections with a syringe to compensate for the bubbles blocking the tubing, I might as well just take my insulin with a pen.
Both my CDE and the Medtronic rep observed my technique (which had been working) and couldn’t figure out why the bubbles kept forming. Pump never did alarm. Instead, I would notice I had been sitting in the 300s and it was still rising despite dialing in several corrections. I will never use a pump again.
Lacking more options, I tend to alternate between pump and MDI every so often. It’s all a question of how I feel.
I went on my first insulin pump 21 years ago and have not switched back. The first pump I had didn’t have many features besides basal and bolus (no bolus wizard!) but it afforded me so much flexiblity even then. Now my pump has more features and does more, and I have no plans to go back to MDI, or even a pump vacation. Though, I do of course realize there have been new insulin’s since 2000 that may offer some of the flexibitly those in 2000 didn’t.
I’d LIKE to use a pump (probably the Omnipod) but my skin cannot tolerate more than 1 adhesive, so I choose the CGM.
Also I now have the InPen that gives me the same lovely data and does the math that the pumps users get. It’s the best thing for my bolus insulin EVER, and requires much less brain power because it tracks everything! ALL MDI-ers should check it out.!!!
I would never go back to MDI unless forced. I was on 5 shots a day and my poor, thin body couldn’t stand being touched because I was a pincushion. Love my pump even with the frustrations of tweaking the technology to match my brittle diabetes (T1D 55 years)