Saturday, June 7, 2014

If I Could Change Something About my Pump...

I'm usually the type of person who accepts her technology as it is. I don't bother to think about what I'd like in a device, because nobody is asking, and my dream device is never going to materialize. With that being said, I do have a few things Medtronic could tweak.

Appearance. I've been on a Medtronic pump since 2002, and all of my pumps have looked the same. Exhibit A:



Haha, yes, the '90's called and they want their beeper back. I know. This isn't really a huge deal to me, because my pump still does what it needs to do. It's also really, really hard to break. I drop my pump wayyy more than I'd like to admit. I'm also the type of person to trip over absolutely nothing. Its beauty isn't that big of a deal to me, but I can understand why people are moving to the flashier t:slim to avoid talking about their pager. 

Functions. There are a few features that I would really like to see on my pump. For instance, I like that I can set a temporary basal pattern when I'm sick or exercising. What I don't like is that it reminds me every 30 minutes that I'm using a temporary basal pattern. That gets really annoying, and I wish I had the option to turn that off.

 I like that I can have different basal patterns. For instance, my basal pattern A is all of my usual basal settings, but at 120%. This is useful during PMS, stress, and illness. What I'd like to see is a temporary setting for my bolus wizard, so I can also change my correction factor and insulin:carb ratios for a period of time. Otherwise I end up doing math in my head to add additional insulin, or I bolus for way more carbs than I'm actually eating, in hopes of keeping my BG out of the stratosphere. It would be useful right now, as I just had a steroid injection in my foot and my BG keeps heading into the stratosphere....or the ionosphere. 

More Beauty. This last one is just me being completely vain. I'd love to see the Silhouette infusion sets come in the same colors as the Mio! Oh, and while we are at it, I'd like to have the green color that Animas has. And some purple, because purple is the best color ever. I used to use the Mios, and I would order both pink and blue. I had two bathing suits: one with pink and one with blue. I could match my sets to my bathing suits. That was rad. I really prefer using the Silhouettes, but I'd love them even more if they came in more colors! If I'm going to have something taped to my skin for 3 days at a time, it should at least be pretty. :) 


So this post is just me lamenting on what I'd like to see in my pump. What about you? Which pump do you use, and what would you like to see it do (other than function more like a pancreas)? 

1 comment:

  1. I'm using the same pump as you, and I also have a few things on my "wish-list" when it comes to temporary basals (I use them a lot). First, I'd like some sort of alert when the temp. basal is OVER and it's returning to its normal settings. Often, I set a low temp basal for heavy physical activity, but the activity runs longer than expected and the temp basal reverts back to normal -- resulting in a low. The second thing is that I wish that, in setting it, it did not wrap-around from 0% to 200% (or vice-versa). Seeing as it starts right at the middle at 100%, there is never any reason to need that wraparound, but there are plenty of times in which I WANTED to give myself zero and accidentally set it to double. Fortunately I noticed and fixed it, but it's just a danger waiting to happen, with no conceivable benefit.

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