I've been a successful type 1 insulin diabetic for 34 years. I started out peeing into a cup to test my blood sugar, but when pricking your finger for blood came along it really helped not only give a more accurate reading, but enen as a small child it was easier than playing with your urine in the bathroom. I like the trend toward more and better technology to make diabetes management easier.

Except for the insulin pump. I dragged my feet as much as possible going on the pump. I didn't want to be attached to the dang thing 24/7 for the rest of my life and I had finally gotten my lifestyle stable so that eating at the required time just came naturally. But I started seeing a new doctor and his office signed me up for a pump through my insurance and then presented it to me and told me that I could not send it back or get any more prescriptions for my old type of insulins or syringes until I learned to use the new pump. Left with no other options, I started using the pump.

On the plus side, the day after I first started using it my company had a required dinner out for the entire office. Without the pump, I would have had to sneak off to the ladies room several times during the meal to inject insulin because they wouldn't tell us what was on the menu beforehand. I saw the pump as a plus, but still wasn't in love with it. I rarely am forced into this situation and its about the only good use for a pump that I have found.

On the minus side, I have gained about 80 pounds which makes my blood sugar levels more fragile and I have bigger and more frequent insulin reactions than ever before. I eat all the time trying to keep one step ahead of my bolus rate. I am a slave to the whole insulin pump ordering industry and spent most of the holidays fighting with Byram Healthcare for a bill that totaled $30 more than if I had just bought them directly without using my insurance. I have had such bad problems with insurance, that I have had to go without the proper supplies to keep the pump going. I have reused reservoirs and insertion points until the numbers wore off of the tubing and the insertion point (and many layers of medical tape) fell out. Keeping up with the supplies is a nightmare and they are never closer than the time it takes to have them shipped from out of state. And my last gripe about the pump is that the last 3 I've had have only lasted about 3 months. Then I get a weird error that the book doesn't handle, I call it in to the manufacturer and go through all the troubleshooting steps only to find out they don't know what's wrong with it either. I got tickets to Obama's acceptance speech in August, but my stupid pump died the day before and I considered not going because I knew I'd have bad blood sugar control problems. Me, missing history because of a dang insulin pump. This is my life.

If you work well with your pump, more power to you. I can see it would work well for many people. But am I the only one who has big issues with it? Anybody found an affordable way to keep a reasonable amount of pump supplies on hand? I'd be interested in hearing other stories about this.