Hey there,
first, a little bit of introduction: I’m Luke, 31 years old and having T1 Diabetes since 2002.
I have had been using an insulin pump (Accu Check Insight) for quite some time, when a couple of weeks ago, I woke up in the middle of the night to an error code alarm ringing (something that is apparently very common in Accu Check/Roche pumps and relates to the electronics -E7 error code-, anybody with this problem, too?).
At first, I was really annoyed obviousley, bc. something like that really s***cks, to be honest. Anyway, I did what the protocol tells you to do in those situations: Monitor your blood glucose levels tightly, try to mimic the insulin pump with little insulin shots every other hour and then at some point start using your emergency rations of basal insulin, which you have stored in your fridge for exactly those kinde of situations. In my case, this was Protaphane. For bolus shots, I use NovoRapid.
And here’s my problem in a way: At first, I thought this would just be a short transition until I receive my new insulin pump after a couple of days. The new pump then indeed arrived really quickly, however, by then I had realized how comfortable life can be without a pump. During the first days without the pump, I became aware of all the things that have had annoyed me with the pump the whole time: Always wearing this little “thing” with you, the permanent connection to the body via tube, the problems that this entails for example when you get undressed. The sometimes uncomfortabe sleeping positions, and so on.
Now I really can’t imagine going back to the pump. However, my head tells me the that this would be the “sensible” thing to do, in particuar with a lifestyle such as mine. I have quite a stressful high-intensity job. I do a lot of exercise. Then I always had this problem with high fasting blood glucose levels in the morning, a problem, which probably many T1 Diabetics know, and which brought me to the pump in the first place. All of this can be better accomodated with a pump, I know that.
On the other hand: Even before the pump, my blood glucose levels were always quite good (apart from this fasting blood glucose problem), so it would probably not a catastrophe either going back to insulin pens altogether.
So, does anybody has experiences with going back to pens and shots after years of pump therapy? What kind of basal insulin do you use and how do tackle the problems with high fasting blood glucose levels without a pump? How do you feel with shots again?
Sorry for my lengthy post here, I have just written down all the things on my mind.
Before I forget: Before starting with a pump, I used Lantus (then Toujeo) as basal insulin and Humalog (Insulin Lispro) for bolus shots. I sometimes thought of switching to other basal insulins, such as Levemir/Determir or Tresiba before.
All the best
Luke
