All about insulin pumps:

When using an insulin pump, instead of having to give lots of injections every day a special plastic needle (cannula) is inserted under the skin that lasts for about 3 days.

This is attached by thin tubing to the insulin pump. The amount of insulin given is programmed into the pump by the young person. They are able to give themselves a background amount of insulin all the time and extra doses or boluses of insulin before meals.

This makes them much less likely to have hypos especially through the night. It also helps them to keep the blood sugar levels from going too high.

Advantages of Insulin Pumps

Only one injection every 3 days.
More precise control of blood sugar levels
Less risk of having a hypo attack
Lower risk of long term complications

The latest generations of insulin pumps have on board computers that can calculate the amount of insulin needed to cope with different meals and blood sugar levels.

Not everybody is suited to or needs to have an insulin pump. It takes a lot of effort to do all the blood sugar testing needed to use the pump properly. People also have to be very good at estimating the carbohydrate or sugar content of their meals to get the best control.

Many people have excellent control of their diabetes with just 2 or more injections a day.

There are now four companies providing insulin pumps in the UK, Medtronic/Minimed an American company, Roche/Disetronic a Swiss company, Animas and Deltec another two American companies.

Roche Dtron and Spirit Pumps

http://www.rochediagnostics.com.au/accu-chek/index.asp?s1=Insulin%20Pumps&s2=Products

Minimed insulin pumps

http://www.medtronic-diabetes.co.uk/home.html

Animas IR1200 and IR2020 Insulin Pumps

Animas® 2020 insulin pump

The website of Animas http://www.animascorp.com/index.aspx

Deltec Cozmo Insulin Pump

http://www.insulinpumptherapy.co.uk/