"We started a pair of children recently on insulin pumps and they could not understand how it was that their sugar levels were normal all the time! They believed that it had to go wrong sometime and we told them “no it’s not going to.” These were two three year olds and the parents felt they got their child back, as they no longer had huge swings in blood sugar levels which altered their mood. Those on insulin pumps do not want to go back to MDI, which is a testimony to what they think of them." - Henk-Jan Anstoot, MD, PhD, session moderator and a pediatrician
"They are brilliant really! Insulin pumps have given us the chance to mimic as close as we possibly can the function of the beta cells, with a really low dose of background insulin suited to the individual. This, coupled with a lower incremental scale for bolus therapy, means that tighter control can be achieved with a lower risk of hypoglycaemia. If you, under ideal circumstances, can couple an insulin pump with a glucose sensing system, then you have a powerful combination to help people with type 1 better control their blood glucose levels while maintaining a ‘normal’ quality of life. It helps them to incorporate type 1 diabetes into their lives and not the other way around."
-Peter Hindmarsh, Professor of Paediatric Endocrinology
"At the beginning we were as scared as the families were with the new technology! Now it is a lot easier starting people off and we use a structured education programme that culminates in the Pump School. This is a two day course in which aspects of the pump are covered, rules laid down and the child switched to live insulin. We have found it is almost like having the diagnosis being made again, as the pump brings new rules and new techniques to master. People have to carefully consider their decision before they start on an insulin pump. They have to remember that they, or their child, will be wearing the pump 24/7. We therefore encourage the parents and child to wear the pump as a “dummy” run first of all."
"This is a technology that is phenomenally effective. I have over 500 research papers that address different aspects of the physiology of intraperitoneal (IP) insulin versus sub-Q, and the information is incontrovertible. It's just not well known. Part of the reason it's not well known is that early on in the developmental path of this pump, there were some serious technical problems. Short battery life, catheter obstruction, precipitation of the insulin, infection at the implantation site, and a very small supply of pumps: All those things got in the way of doing coherent large scale studies of the technology."
"...But what we do have is a lot of information from animal studies, which are very indicative of the superiority of IP insulin..."
"...There is virtually no research to date on how the use of insulin via insulin pump and multiple insulin injections impacts the everyday lives of patients and family members,’ she says. ‘We just seem to have assumed that it made a difference, but we do not know this to be the case. It is important to understand these effects so that patients can be better prepared for the changes that will take place when they begin taking insulin....''-dr Stratura
"They are brilliant really! Insulin pumps have given us the chance to mimic as close as we possibly can the function of the beta cells, with a really low dose of background insulin suited to the individual. This, coupled with a lower incremental scale for bolus therapy, means that tighter control can be achieved with a lower risk of hypoglycaemia. If you, under ideal circumstances, can couple an insulin pump with a glucose sensing system, then you have a powerful combination to help people with type 1 better control their blood glucose levels while maintaining a ‘normal’ quality of life. It helps them to incorporate type 1 diabetes into their lives and not the other way around."
-Peter Hindmarsh, Professor of Paediatric Endocrinology
"At the beginning we were as scared as the families were with the new technology! Now it is a lot easier starting people off and we use a structured education programme that culminates in the Pump School. This is a two day course in which aspects of the pump are covered, rules laid down and the child switched to live insulin. We have found it is almost like having the diagnosis being made again, as the pump brings new rules and new techniques to master. People have to carefully consider their decision before they start on an insulin pump. They have to remember that they, or their child, will be wearing the pump 24/7. We therefore encourage the parents and child to wear the pump as a “dummy” run first of all."
"This is a technology that is phenomenally effective. I have over 500 research papers that address different aspects of the physiology of intraperitoneal (IP) insulin versus sub-Q, and the information is incontrovertible. It's just not well known. Part of the reason it's not well known is that early on in the developmental path of this pump, there were some serious technical problems. Short battery life, catheter obstruction, precipitation of the insulin, infection at the implantation site, and a very small supply of pumps: All those things got in the way of doing coherent large scale studies of the technology."
"...But what we do have is a lot of information from animal studies, which are very indicative of the superiority of IP insulin..."
"...There is virtually no research to date on how the use of insulin via insulin pump and multiple insulin injections impacts the everyday lives of patients and family members,’ she says. ‘We just seem to have assumed that it made a difference, but we do not know this to be the case. It is important to understand these effects so that patients can be better prepared for the changes that will take place when they begin taking insulin....''-dr Stratura