The Healthy Person

What Is An Insulin Pump?

An Insulin Pump is a medical device used to help manage diabetes. It is used to administer the insulin in the treatment of diabetes mellitus or type1diabetes. The advantages of using a Insulin Pump rather than other methods of administration allows you to match your insulin to your lifestyle, rather than trying to match your life to how the insulin is working after having an insulin injection.

Your blood glucose levels are more likely to be kept within your target ranges by utilizing a pump and working closely with your diabetes care team. People of all age groups with type 1 diabetes are seeing the benefits of using an Insulin Pump and it is starting to play a greater role with sufferers of type 2 diabetes as well.

An Insulin Pump can be worn unobtrusively.

Advantages Of Using An Insulin Pump

An Insulin Pump allows the replacement of slow-acting insulin by delivering rapid- or short-acting insulin 24 hours a day.  The medication is delivered through a catheter placed under the skin and doses are separated into:
•    Basal rates – with insulin delivered continuously over 24 hours, a program to keep blood glucose levels in range overnight and between meals. Differing amounts can be programmed into the Insulin Pump for varying times of the day and night.
•    Bolus doses – cover carbohydrate in food eaten
•    Correction or supplemental doses to correct a high blood glucose level.

An Insulin Pump Is Simple To Use

Delivery of insulin by an Insulin Pump instead of injections has significant advantages in the management of diabetes. These include but are not restricted to:
•    Elimination of individual insulin injections
•    pumps more accurately deliver insulin than injections
•    A1C is often improve
•    blood glucose levels are controlled more readily resulting in fewer large swings in readings
•    diabetes management is made easier as if you feel like eating or your glucose level is high, you figure out how much insulin you need and adjust your doses with the push of a few buttons on the pump
•    much more flexibility about when and what you eat
•    improved quality of life
•    reduced severe low blood glucose episodes
•    eliminates the unpredictable effects of some intermediate- or long-acting insulin
•    allow exercise without having to load up by eating large amounts of carbohydrate beforehand

Are There Negatives To Using An Insulin Pump?

There have also been a few disadvantages reported including:
•    possible weight gain
•    diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) if the catheter comes out and hence no insulin is received for hours
•    can be expensive especially in the initial set up
•    as you are attached to a pump most of the time, this can be bothersome
•    requires a full day in the outpatient center or a hospital stay maybe to be implanted and trained

While there are pluses and minuses to using an Insulin Pump, most users agree the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

Once diagnosed with diabetes your main goal will be to keep your blood glucose (sugar) levels under control so you can achieve a reasonably complication-free life.  Although most people know this, it can be hard to balance the day-to-day demands of diabetes with life’s other challenges. It has become much easier to achieve good diabetes management with the use of an Insulin Pump.

You can find more information on Diabetes and Insulin Pumps here:- http://tinyurl.com/rytknw

Find out what Wikipedia has to say on the subject :-  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insulin_pump