As far pros and con's go this is how I see it.
Pumping is good because it is flexible in terms of delivery and make life easy in-terms of calculating the required rate of input. It has the additional benefit that the insulin used is a short acting insulin meaning that if you have slightly over dosed you can back everything off before it gets serious.
The draw back is that you have something attached to you 24/7, and you have handed off the control of the insulin delivery to a machine. To me it is really the first point that gets me, I just don't like the idea of having something hanging off me. I think it has to do with the fact that I am a clumsy person so anything on me is going to get bumped, LOTS, and when that thing is actually protruding from you skin, things are going to get messy. The second point concerns me only a little, but in essence you are relying on a complex machine to work flawlessly 24/7. I concede that the actual failure rate of the machines must by fairly low in order to get approval from the world therapeutic bodies, however it still does exist.
And lastly scarring I am unsure what will produce worse scarring having a cannula or the constant needles of MDI.
A quick note on what my MDI regime is:
Lantus: 9 am and 9 pm, dosage varies, tonight i have not eaten much so I won't have to much excess glucose floating around,I intend to have drink and have just exercised current BG is 5.7 so I have had 7 u, which should equate to a slight rise in BG over night. Tomorrow is 27 degree's, I am working so ~8/9 u depending on what my morning reading is.
Apidra/Novo Rapid: 1 u per 10 gm of carbohydrate when ever I eat +/- any bg rise or fall I am intending, This means on average i will have 4-6 short acting injections through out the day.
At the moment this is what works for me, It has meant me diet has not changed since pre diagnosis and i still have my BG under control. I wonder for how long though and I wonder if at that point a pump will make a difference.
