Which insulin pump is right for you?

Gina Capone is Feeling good! Living With It Founder of diabetestalkfest.com, dxd with Type 1 at age 25. I am the founder of Send Message Subscribe: Gina Capone

Tuesday, March 24, 2009
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When I first got my insulin pump 7 years ago, the only pump company I had ever heard of was Medtronic Minimed. Back then I didn’t do as much research about products because I was new and didn't really have the experience I do now, and just trusted my diabetes care team to help me make the right...

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Thanks!
Jeff
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 06:16 PM

Even though we have been pumping for about 5 years, this info is great to have, and we thank you for this comparison.

re: Thanks!
Gina Capone
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 at 06:19 PM

No problem! Glad I can help. Actually, as I was researching through I didn't know about half of these features myself! I have been a Minimed user for 7 years!

Insulin Pump
Toadey
Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 11:43 AM

In 2007 September my A1C was 9.9 in December 2007 I received my New Medtronic Insulin Pump I was very overwhelmed at the time , but with good teaching ( which they provide) by the end of January 2008 my A1C was 6.7 yeah!!!!!!!it's been 18 months now and I feel great A1C is 6.6 and I'm eating better, the thing is with an Insulin pump you are a little bit more able to eat out, and If you don't know the carbohydrates you WAG (wild ass guess.) and you soon learn what values of the food that your eating, and if you really have to have the piece of cake well you add more Insulin after you guessed the carbohydrates.

Also my husband has an Insulin and he wares a Sensor which tells him if his blood sugar goes to low or to high ,which before had we purchased the sensor. I woke up to find him in a coma 2 am one Sunday morning with a blood sugar reading of below 20 if he had been waring this device it would ring out alarm bell and woke him up or me, and saved a trip to the ER room.

Smith's Medical leaving "pump business"
Nolan Kienitz
Monday, March 30, 2009 at 07:59 AM

And two days after your posting we get word that Smith's Medical is getting out of the insulin pump business. After 20-years of wearing pumps the Deltec Cozmo was the best for my situation. It is rather sad. Now I may have to acutally consider Medtronic, but their overall attitude has always been less than friendly ... as compared to the companies from my other pumps.

Oh well ... it is what it is !!!

Animas
jill
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 09:02 PM

I have been wearing Cozmo for 5 years and it is out of warranty and I can't get another one. does anyone have experience with the Animas pump? I like the visibility of the screen, the size, and the "ping". not a big fan of minimed. that was my first pump but they are larger and the overall customer service not great. any insights to minimed vs. animas? thanks!

Jill

re: Animas
Gina Capone
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 at 10:15 PM

Jill,

My friend wears an animas ping. I will have comment on here for you to tell you how she likes it.

re: Animas
Anonymous
Wednesday, April 01, 2009 at 12:24 AM

I've been wearing a Ping for about a month. I was using an Animas 1200 for four plus years previously. I really like both of them. My complaints with the Ping are:

The batteries don't last nearly as long in the Ping as in the 1200. I was getting about four months from a battery in the 1200. The Ping uses them more than twice as fast.

The display is flashy, but unnecessary. The LCD display worked just fine. It didn't need improvement, and I'm sure it is the cause of the shortened battery life.

I don't use and don't need the meter remote. I suppose it would be great for little kids and women who hide their meters in their unmentionables. I'm looooong past childhood, and being a guy I don't wear a bra.

The Ping is about a quarter of an inch longer that the previous models. It doesn't seem like much, but I sure notice. One of the main reasons I first chose the 1200 was its small size. Kinda too bad to give some of that up.

Those are all minor issues. I had a hard time choosing between Animas and Deltec. I never really considered Minimed much. Now there's no question for me. Animas is the only one I'd want, but of course Minimed has its passionate advocates as does each pump. But I do love my Ping!

re: re: Animas
Anonymous
Thursday, April 02, 2009 at 10:00 AM

Hi "anonymous" and thank you so much for your info. I have worn Deltec for years and was so disappointed to hear they will not replace my pump. When I looked at the animas it seemed like there were also a lot of button pushes to deliver insulin e.g you put in blood glucose levels, it calculates dosage, but then you have to manually use the arrows to actually deliver it as opposed to just pushing "deliver". is this a hassle for you? that was my main concern.

interesting about the batteries. are they standard batteries? I seem to remember them being lithium....

your comment about the bra cracked me up! (-:

thanks again,

Jill

Animas pumps
Steve G
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 05:10 PM

I have been a diabetic for 50+ years and an Animas user since 2001. There is a great "comparison" page at the Animas site which, though probably slanted has some real advantages for the Ping. battery life, basal and bolus increment minimums, underwater operation (I've walked into 2 pools for a total of about 20 minutes and no harm, no foul).

I am on a 1250 and am investigating a change. I had a Medtronic rep at my house recently. I gotta have CGM, but the pump itself really seemed lacking to me. Smaller screen, smaller font, no food data base or logging. Animas has some auto-insert sets too.

For the user who said the new Ping screen was not helpful, i gotta tell you I have lost one eye (pre-pump bad behavior) and the other eye is not so good with contrast issues. I have seen the Ping and I think I could read its screen even without my reading glasses! I am also hoping the One Toch combo will help me with data entry (it's cumbersome to add meals in the 1250). I currently am experimenting with Diabetes Pilot on my iPhone. Pretty comprehensive with a few things to work out.