I was diagnosed with Type I diabetes when I was seven years old and ever since that time I have fought the ups and downs of a very brittle lifestyle. My physician tried several different options as I was growing up but as I got older and more independent the diabetes got even worse because I lacked the energy to fight it anymore and just did whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. Then into my adulthood and the development of Diabetic Retinopathy, I started trying to take better control of the blood sugars but I still couldn’t get a handle on the levels and was constantly going up and down with the glucose levels. At that point my physician suggested the use of an insulin pump but because I didn’t want something attached to my body at all times, I refused this idea and just kept trying to keep it under the best control that I could, which wasn’t the best but it was livable.
Over two years ago my son was put on an insulin pump as a last option to try to gain some control over the glucose swings he was having and it has done wonders for him and it started making me think, it might not be as bad as I thought. By this time I had a new physician and I went to her and asked her about the insulin pump option and she strongly suggested it, we did a 24 hour glucose monitor for three days to monitor the swings in my glucose levels and started the process of ordering my insulin pump with my insurance company. My physician didn’t even give me an option with the insulin pump, she said the MiniMed Insulin pump was the best pump on the market and that is the only pump that she would prescribe for anyone, so we started the process, and let me tell you that this was a process.
My physician prescribed the MiniMed Paradigm 515 because this pump had what was called a bolus wizard with it that would help in the programming of the pump and ultimately the control level of my blood sugars. My insurance company denied the prescription and we fought with them for over three months in regards to this pump. After three months of writing appeal letters and sending health information to the insurance company they agreed upon the MiniMed 508 insulin pump which was the baseline insulin pump offered by MiniMed, it didn’t include the bolus calculator and only had the insulin capacity for 150 units at a time, where the 515 had the capacity for 300 units.
After getting the insurance company to agree on the 508 pump I called MiniMed and paid $300 out of my own pocket to upgrade the pump to the 515 before they even shipped the 508 to cut down on the ordering time.
MiniMed offers upgrades with all of their insulin pumps even now with my 515 I have the option to upgrade to their newest pump that includes a glucose monitor feature that is implanted and keeps a 24 hour reading of your glucose levels that goes directly to your pump, but because I am comfortable with my current pump I have chosen to not upgrade yet. This option is available to anyone who has a MiniMed Insulin Pump and is available at all times, you will have to pay for the upgrade yourself but it is usually a low cost compared to purchasing a brand new pump and most insurance companies will not pay for more than one pump so this feature that is available through MiniMed could be priceless to a lot of people.
I have been using the MiniMed Paradigm 515 Insulin Pump for over a year now and my control has gone from an A1C level of 14 to 7.4 and continues to improve as we make adjustments.
This pump offers features such as the bolus wizard. This is a feature that you and your physician will program with information such as basal rates, correction factors, and insulin to carbohydrate ratio’s. The pump comes with a Glucose Monitor that you can program the pump to recognize then when testing on this meter it will automatically transfer your glucose reading to the pump, by pressing the wizard button it will tell you your glucose reading, ask you how many grams of carbohydrate is going to be eaten then it will configure how much insulin you need to keep your blood glucose levels at the levels you have told the machine you want your levels at. This feature automatically recognizes that you have programmed in that your blood glucose levels need to be kept between a certain level and it will inject the needed amount of insulin to keep those levels where they need to be.
Other features of this pump include alarms that you can set to remind you when you need to test again, alarms to warn you when the battery is getting low, when the insulin cartridge is getting low, or when there is a block in the tubing and the insulin isn’t injecting like it is supposed to. It has a touch bolus feature that you can use if you want to or you can turn it off. This pump has a feature that you can use a remote control that is recognized the same way that the glucose meter is to make it possible to inject insulin without having to remove the pump to do it, such as if you are wearing a dress and the pump is under the dress, you can program the pump to inject insulin without having to see the pump itself.
There is on-line ability to download the insulin pump and print out charts to help you with monitoring the control levels. There is 24 hour access to a nurse educator that will help you with your programming needs, you can send weekly reports to this person and they will review the information with a doctor and make decisions on how to program the pump so to better control your glucose levels.
This pump has many different features that could be very beneficial in helping you better control your diabetes. I can honestly say that this little machine has completely changed my way of life and quality of life and I wouldn’t change my decision to go on the insulin pump for anything, the only thing I might change would be the idea I had years ago that I didn’t want something connected to my body. The insulin pump can be removed for up to an hour to shower, swim, or do any other activity that you don’t want it connected for and after a short time it really becomes a part of you and you don’t even realize that it is there. I guess I would change something, I would change my own mind and would have gone on the insulin pump a long time ago when my doctor first suggested it, it may have prevented many years of harm that the high glucose levels and low glucose levels caused to my body and would have given me more years of being able to feel better and live a more normal life style.
Please don’t just take my word for it, do your own investigating on the Minimed Insulin pump. The web site for MiniMed is http://www.minimed.com, this website will give you information on MiniMed’s newest pump, the paradigm real time insulin pump that has the ability for continuous blood glucose monitoring sending these reading to the pump and controlling your blood glucose levels in real time.
