Pros and Cons of an Insulin Pump

My husband and both children all have Type 1 Diabetes, and all use insulin pumps. My husband has used pump therapy for 15+ years and my kids have been using pump therapy for more than 5 years.
AZneomom gave you such great info that I hardly know what to add!

First off, insulin pumps do not react, whether over or under, to blood sugar readings. My family uses blood glucose meters that send the BG reading to the pump, but the pump user controls the amount of insulin being delivered. The pump is far more accurate in insulin delivery than injections. The pump can deliver as little as .0425 units of insulin, it's that precise!

Pros:
Precise insulin delivery resulting in better control over blood glucose.
Lower A1c
Less extreme lows and highs- very helpful for nighttime!
Instead of multiple injections each day, an injection every 3 days to insert a new site.
Can temporarily adjust insulin dose for days that you are more or less active than usual.
Not having to carry syringes and insulin wherever you go, or having to excuse yourself to give an injection before meals.
Much, much more! The pump has changed our lives for the better!!!

Cons:
Expense (still worth it to us!)
Kinks in the line or cannula (still worth it!)

What does your doctor recommend? You can't get a pump, or supplies, without a prescription. If you have a pump, it should be used consistently and changed every 3 days. Sites should be properly rotated to avoid buildup of scar tissue. Insulin pumps are a wonderful thing for people dealing with T1D, but they are a discipline. If you are not doing very well with checking your sugars and taking insulin, a pump won't fix that. I'm not trying to be h*** o* you at all! I'm so glad you are doing better at managing your condition. You are WORTH taking good care of your health! :)

Talk to your endocrinologist and set up a meeting with a Diabetes Nurse Educator. They can walk you through it all, train you in using a pump and even let you try an infusion set. Be warned......they can hurt! My littlest was 3 when she got her pump and I really worried about it hurting too much, but she was more than willing to endure an insertion every 3 days instead of multiple injections each day.

Best of luck to you! :)

My husband is now on the pump and has been for about 4 years. We have been married for 10 years and together for longer. I can tell you life for me has been SO much easier with him on the pump. Before he was I would have to call the paramedics a few times a year because he would get too low. I have only had to call them once in the past 4 years. His sugars and A1C have been so much better and he doesn't fluctuate as bad as when he was doing the shots. In doing so he knows what actually feeling normal is like and can catch his sugars more on his own now than before. He does have the glucose meter but he doesn't use it because it was too big on his skin and he is a police officer so the vest would rub on it and it didn't work but I know that it is an option for monitoring your sugars. I would do it. We were hesitant for years and years and I wish we would have done it sooner. The only cons he has is its attached to you but its easily removed for stuff as swimming (or relations). Too many pros to mention.

My husband is Type I, aka T1D. I know there is at least one other mom on here with a T1D hubby, hopefully she will weigh in :)
One of the posters below may be mischaracterizing the pump, which is very common. The pump does NOT "react" at all. The pump releases a very low base level of insulin, similar to some of the delayed-release injections of the past but much more accurate. The pump can be turned off so it does not deliver the basal level if, for example, you are going to work out and burn sugar for a while. For each meal or other sugar intake, you input your grams of carbs, the pump suggests a bolus dose, and you confirm before it gives you that dose. You still have control over dosing, it is not an artificial pancreas that reacts to the presence of blood sugar, it is a drip that goes faster or slower as you instruct. I will tell you that I LOVE the pump. My husband has not had ANY wacky low-blood sugar episodes in the 3 years he has had the pump. He has had some highs, but they are rare and usually only high 200's, which is bad but no scary-bad if only once or twice a year. They are expensive, prohibitively so if you don't have insurance or your insurance won't cover them. They do glitch out pretty frequently. It is really annoying to wake up to a high-pitch beeping in the middle of the night because the pump has an occlusion (aka a tiny bubble and/or bend in the line). Sometimes he will fill the pump with insulin, put it on, get poked, and just an hour later get an error signal. He then has to pull the pump off, pull out as much insulin as possible, re-attach, get re-poked... annoying. But overall, it is definitely the way I would recommend going. I wish we had done it years ago. Best of luck, take care of yourself!

Pump is a win win for all!

I don't have any personal experience, but check out this forum:
http://www.diabetesforum.com/insulin-pumps/
It's bound to get you way more information than a parenting forum. Good luck with whatever method you choose!

I have a friend who is diabetic (type 1) and he won't risk using a pump because he worries that it may not be reactive enough or it may be over-reactive to the blood sugar readings.

One amazing thing that he has discovered (he has been diabetic since childhood, and he is in his 30's now) is that ever since he has eliminated gluten from his diet two years ago, he uses about 75% less insulin than he did before. You might want to google gluten and diabetes to do a little research for yourself. Good luck!