Which pump?

[leee68]

My doctor has suggested that I go on the pump. He likes the Minimed Paradign, but after internet searching I find there are a few of them. How do you decide which one is best for you? I am also having problems finding cost for each unit and on-going cost, such as supplies, so I can decide if I can afford one.
Any help would be appreciated.

tks,

[slcason]

I think the best way to decide which pump to use is to contact the manufacturer and see if they have a local sales rep who can show you their product. Most of these reps if they are available will be happy to meet with you and demonstrate their products.

I use an Animas 2020 before that I used the Animas IR1000 both of these pumps seem to be solid to me. I had some problems with my IR1000 and Animas shipped me a replacement next day.

I think both the Animas and Minimed pumps are good. If you go to www.diabetesnet.com there is a comparison table you can review that has most of the major manufacturers pump offerings. The web sites are also available there.

Basically you have to decide which features on the various pumps best fit your life style choices.

If you don't have health insurance this therapy can be very expensive.

Costs for infusion sets and cartridges will probably be the major expense. The costs for my pump supplies run about $800 to $900 per quarter before insurance. That is roughly $3000 to $3500 per year. How much you have to pay out of pocket depends upon your insurance plan. My plan covers 80% of these costs. So my out of pocket is only about $700 per year for supplies.

Most of the pumps I have seen retail for about $6000. Again your out of pocket depends upon insurance.

I think the pump manufacturer could give you a more exact estimate of costs than I have here but this is my experience.

Have fun in your search.

[vjanke]

Well, in answer to your question about which one to choose... I have been on Medtronic's (Minimed) insulin pumps for about 8 years. After some technology issues with my Paradigm 512, I lost faith and switched to OmniPod. Boy, wish I'd never done that. My 512 was almost out of warranty and I had some power supply and error issues. That was after almost 4 years on it. It had been reliable and easy to use up until it started to wear out. It is technology and that will happen. Medtronic is ALWAYS extremely responsive when my pump failed. But, I was frustrated. So, I switched. In only two months I've had 5 pod failures. Two of which were without warning and for no apparent reason. It is also large (relatively) and pulled right off my body while I was exercising. Of course all of these things happened with a full load of very expensive insulin. When I called the last time, I was told they would reimburse me with written request and copy of the receipt for any insulin purchased out of pocket. That indicated to me it was not an unusual problem... You need to decide what is best for you, personally, but I am in the process of switching back, to an upgraded version of the Medtronic pump!

The OmniPod system is relatively inexpensive. It runs about $1000 for the initial set up which includes the pods. But cost is relative if you're throwing away 100 - 200 units of insulin a few times per month. The Pods themselves are about half what the Minimed supplies cost, but again, if one fails on you, you have to throw it out and start again. The Minimed costs about the same as Animas quoted above.

[sabhow]

The best thing to do is search for a comparison chart. There are several online. See which features you want, need, can live without. I was on a medtronic minimed for 10 years and just switched to Cozmo a month ago and LOVE IT! I have used several different minimed pumps and liked them all. each one had different features that were nice and their customer service was good. Until the past few months I ran into several alarm issues with the pump and they were relucatant to ship me a new one. I started comparing pumps. Animas I emailed first, they sent me info in the mail about 3-4 weeks after my email. I didn't care for the delay. Cozmo had rep call me the next day, answered all my questions via email and came to my work to talk to me. Features were still my thing and I chose them due to their pump being waterproof and their hypomanager and a few other features. Basically, each pump is going to offer you different bells and whistles however they all should do the same thing overall. I would recommend calling or emailing al lthe companies and ask for information and see which one you feel more comfortable with. Hope this helps

[Confuzzled]

I don't know if it is available to you or not, but I sat down wth the CDE and looked at all of them that my doctors office were training on at the time.
They were the Cosmo, MM722, Animas 2020, Omni Pod, Disentronic, and one other one I don't recall.
After going through lots of research and stuff online I expected to be ordering the Cosmo when I went to se the CDE. In the end though, since pretty much all of them had very similar functionality and any would have been adequate as far as function, I choose the Animas because of its screen and low profile, then I found out the new Animas is the One Touch Ping which has the one feature I was leaning towards the Cosmo for, integrated meter.
It really helps to have them all in front of you to compare them.

[pumpkin 1]

My sister recently went on an insulin pump. We were shocked with the choices on the market these days. She was looking for a user friendly pump. She met with a cde who showed numerous pumps. There were some pumps that seemed too confusing. She opted for the Amigo pump. She has been on now for 2 months. Its amazing to see her energy return. Two children later and pushing 40 she feels awsome!!

[thegirl]

leee68-- What did you end up getting?

For all-- I'm a 39 y/0 woman with Type 1 fro 21 years. Finally getting serious about the pump, and looking for advice. I'm fairly sedentery and about 30# overweight. (Although I hope to make some positive lifestyle changes now.) Never had particularly good control for more than a couple of months. I think that the pump would help. I've looked at the MM and Omnipod. I know I don't want the omni due to size. I knocked the sample off the first day just getting dressed. I'm curious about using CGM with the pump, but don't know if the technology is yet good enough to merit the investment. I'm also curious about any comments from any pump users. What do you like about your pump vs what do you not like?

Thanks

[books]

I was a Minimed user since the 508...and loved it then.

The "upgrade" to the Paradigm has not been pleasant, as there are alarm issues that will cause my sugar to shoot over 300 at least 2-3 times a week (The pump will only alarm if there is 100% blockage. If I have a site problem and the pump is only delivering 10% of the insulin, the pump will NOT alarm!). I have tried multiple infusion sets, been visited by their local pump trainer multiple times, called their help line dozens and dozens of times (I call enough that there are several of the reps who know me by name!), and have gone off pump therapy altogether because of the Paradigm crudiness.

The current infusion set lineup for Minimed is frustrating. The infusion sets are expensive and unreliable. They are designed so that if there is a site problem you have to use a completely new infusion set rather than being able to replace the one part that is messed up (That costs a few hundred dollars a month...just in scrapped infusion sets!). Perhaps they will upgrade again and go back to being like the 508?

Bottom line: Avoid the current Minimed product line at all costs.

[thegirl]

leee68-

I am going with the one touch ping, by Animus. It and the Cosmo are very similar, but the screen on the ping is easier to read and I like the fact that the BGM acts as a remote for the pump, so I won't have to go fishing for the pump if I have it stashed away and I'm dressed up....If I were serious about CGM right now, I'd probably choose the minimed. I'm just not convinced that CGM would offer me much for benefit compared to the finger sticks... We'll see.