Insulin Pump Users

Dear Group, I am a long-term lurker in this Group and have been very
impressed by the consistent quality of information and enthusiasm of the
members. I am 48 y.o. and have been diabetic for 40 years. I am a very old
pump user having been on one of 5 different pumps since July 1979, but am
very isolated from other pumpers because, although Canadian, I have lived
most of my life in Japan, where IDDM is uncommon and insulin pumps are
almost unknown. In all my 21 years on the pump I have only been pumpless
for one single day, which was in October 1996 the day when I received a
preemptive kidney transplant in London, Ontario with one of my younger
brothers the generous donor. Thanks to pumping I have been spared the other
complications of DM (have no retinopathy or neuropathy at all) and had a
very easy time after my transplant even in the early months when I was on
prednisone (I am now on Cyclosporine alone with HbA1c’s consistently 6.1%).

I gave up on diabetes specialists/endocrinologists several decades ago
(more…)

HELLTH PLAN - No, that isn’t a misprint; you now belong to an
H.M.O. That stands for "Hell’s Medical Organization." It was
organized by some of Hell’s finest minds: Hitler, Genghis Khan,
and Josef Stalin worked night and day to create a 162-page manual
documenting the exact terms of your coverage, but it all boils
down to three points:

1) You belong to the HMO. We mean that literally - as of now,
the HMO owns you. To insure that you don’t forget your
subscriber number, we will tattoo it to your forehead.

2) You have been assigned a primary care physician. You will not
be told your physician’s name. You may never see your physician.
Your physician is imaginary. If you see any doctor without
express written permission of your imaginary primary care
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I just started the process with my insurance company about a week ago. I
received a call from them today. They did approve the insulin pump, which I
was really amazed that they did so this quick.

They informed me that I was free to choose the MiniMed pump, but recommended
that I look into the Disetronic pumps. I have looked into the other pumps
very little. MiniMed is a name I have heard about almost since I was
diagnosed in the early eighties.

Here is the problem: MiniMed is considered Out of Network Provider. As a
result, they will only pay 60%

Disetronic is In Network, they will pay 80%.

I really think I want the MiniMed, but do not want to pay twice as much.
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But what do you do about the 20 units in the hub at the luer lock and the 20
units in 42" of tubing?
Jan

> That is the nice thing about the bent needle; you can stick the needle
into the bottle, and then use the syringe to push the insulin back into the
bottle….
>
> David

>Just ask for samples, you don’t have to say which pump you are on.

Well, this is cool! I’ll call Disetronic and see how I like the rapids.

Just this morning started on insulin, using the Silhouette — and that
was funny; it was a last-ditch attempt to keep from using up all my
Sof-Set inserts yesterday, and all of a sudden I realized the Silhouette
was pretty darned good. (Although I had to have my husband get the
pieces apart, and this morning the CDE did it…sooner or later I’ll HAVE
to do it myself!)

It’s such fun (after just two hours) feeling like a real insulin pump
user…the guy who did the training with me was interested in this group,
so we may hear from new-member Rich one of these days. I got a kick out
of feeling like The Veteran, telling him about this terrific chat loop.
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Mine is about 35
Jan

I am getting a bit agitated about this Medicare legislation. Here is a
copy of an email I sent to the Senator who sponsored the thing.

David

You guys, this digest is like a lifeline! I’m printing out the whole
thing to keep me going over the weekend…

>I messed up the tape at first, too. I was so frustrated and ticked off.

Okay, so it’s not just me….big relief! Today I finally extracted the
Sof-Set needle (or whatever the thing that sticks in is called) because
it was hurting like crazy, and it seemed pointless to put up with it when
I don’t NEED the saline. But I’ve got to re-insert another one tonight,
and practice a bunch more inserts over the weekend.

>let the tape lie sticky side up // remove the two end pieces.

This’ll help…the tape is such a mess, and I sure don’t have it figured
out yet. The MiniMed instructions don’t cover this at ALL — in fact,
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I write poems and have one called *Designed by Non-Users*. That covers a lot
of territory i.e. curvy roads in an industrial park for semis to maneuver,
etc., etc. That is exactly what it is. Let one of those politicians have a
child with IDDM and you can be sure they will take notice then. Sitting
around a table making a decision for someone else may look good on paper,
but….

But how old is your pump i.e. we have a van for less than a year, but it is
4 years old. Did you get a used one? If you have had it for less than a
year, how did you get it in the first place? Most people don’t get them
until insurance approves through the doctor’s Rx — sort of like having
surgery. It sometimes takes a few months to work that out. I’m puzzled now.
Did you pay for yours yourself, or how did you get it not knowing
who/what/how it is paid for?