Pump Yourself Up

I finally received my new Minimed Paradigm insulin pump package today! (Whew, that was a tongue twister!) For those of you who are unaware of what an insulin pump exactly is, a pump is an alternate way of receiving insulin from an automated machine instead of the use of syringes. My very first insulin pump was from the company called Deltec. However, in the past year, they went out of business. Luckily for me, I am able to renew my pump and choose another every four years. The insulin pumps are very expensive, but thankfully my insurance covers most of the charges. I chose the pink Minimed this time (my previous pump was aqua blue). Weirdly enough, I really dislike the color pink, but it was the least boring color out of all the Minimed insulin pumps. You would suspect that they would have a wider range of colors to choose from considering the majority of their customers are young people like me. Oh well.

If you’re a diabetic and still debating on whether or not to become a pumper, I highly recommend you at least go through a pumper trial. When I was first introduced to the pump, I had absolutely no desire to use it. The pump looked bulky and such a hassle to deal with. Now the pump is a part of my life and I am proud to adopt the nick-name my father has every so often referred to me as: “Bionic Woman”.

My new insulin pump and the casing. Cute, huh?

My new Minimed pump even included a manual blood sugar monitor that sends my blood sugar reading directly to my pump. Then my pump asks me if I’d like to correct my blood sugar. Isn’t technology amazing?

Also included is a blood sugar sensor. You wear the sensor 24/7 while it checks your blood sugar every ten seconds and stored the data and trends in your pump. It’s very useful if you like to see the waves and patterns in your daily blood sugars. I have not tried this particular sensor, however I have tried another model similar to the Minimed design. In all honesty I hated the sensor. It was very painful to insert, bulky and inaccurate.  Minimed’s sensor may be completely different, but I will never resort to another sensor experience like that again. I can test my own blood sugar, thank you very much!