Insulin pumps are complicated medical instruments, and their improper use can be dangerous to your health or even lethal, so it is important for the manuals and user guides to be accessible. All the pumps come with print manuals, but only the Animas pump has a large-print manual available on request, and none has a braille manual. The pumps all have manuals or user guides in electronic format, but these guides are all in PDF file formats and were not designed to be accessible to screen-reader software. However, we found no problem reading the manuals with screen-magnification software. All the pumps are programmed and controlled using a menu-navigation system that is not accessible. None of the pumps has speech output, and although the pumps emit some beeps and tones to confirm some actions, the majority of this audio output is not meaningful enough to be useful.
Insulin reservoirs need to be refilled and replaced periodically, and the ease and accessibility of doing so varies from pump to pump. Also, if the plunger is pulled back too far, it pops out of the reservoir, and insulin can be spilled or contaminated. This process is easier and more accessible with the MiniMed 511 and 512 pumps because they have reservoir filling guides that stop the plunger at the correct fill level. Disetronic has eliminated this reservoir-filling process altogether by providing prefilled reservoir cartridges for both pumps.
See the different types of patch insulin pumps availableon the NHS which can also be bought. You’ll need to change the whole device when the pump alerts you, not just the infusion set and location. You only need one type of insulin known as fast-acting insulin for your insulin pump. Many insulin pumps have smart features and can be compatible with smartphones or CGMs. Insulin pumps may play a vital role for those with diabetes who need to administer insulin.
If this is your first time dating someone with diabetes, then I want to share some tips that will help make dating them easier for both of us. Discover the relationship between diabetes and heart disease, understand the risks, and learn how to manage both conditions effectively for better health outcomes. The type of insulin pump that is right for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. It’s important to make sure that your pump doesn’t get too warm or too cold when you’re in the shower or bath or while swimming. Exposure to heat or cold can reduce the quality of the insulin. The ideal temperature for your insulin pump may vary by brand.
Help and support with your insulin pump
These treatments include weight-loss surgeryfor certain people with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, or pancreatic islet transplantationfor some people with type 1 diabetes. An insulin pen looks like https://hookupgenius.com a writing pen but has a needle for its point. Some insulin pens come filled with insulin and are disposable. Others have room for an insulin cartridge that you insert and replace after use.
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The information presented on the display screens is often too small for most people with low vision to read, and the contrast is poor. Besides presenting menu-navigation and programming information, the displays also present important warnings and alarms, but the majority of that information is also not accessible. Although the beeps and tones that accompany the warnings and alarms alert you that something is wrong, these signals alone do not tell you what exactly is wrong or what to do about it. So, a person who is blind or has low vision would have to get sighted assistance quickly to find out exactly what is wrong and to correct the problem. We’d love to keep you updated about our work to cure, treat and prevent type 1 diabetes, and how we support people with type 1. We’d also like to let you know how you can help by donating, volunteering or campaigning.
This allows the user to program the device to deliver insulin as needed. Taking insulinor other diabetes medicines is often part of treating diabetes. In addition to making healthy food and beverage choices, getting physical activity, getting enough sleep, and managing stress, medicines can help you manage the disease. Your input could help us in our efforts to convince the manufacturers to design more accessible diabetes-management devices. On the positive side, all the pumps except the SOOIL pump have audio bolus features that provide an accessible way for a person to give himself or herself a bolus of insulin.
You can also give yourself doses of insulin through the pump at mealtimes. Our key objectives include making these insights easy to understand, making the data available in real time, and providing the information in a flexible format with mobile or web apps. In addition, we are working to integrate health-related information from third-party sources and to use our data to support current and future products under development. Insulin pumps can vary by the amount of insulin they hold and how you refill them—either with a prefilled cartridge or by hand.
The AID system will, however, automatically adjust basal insulin rates according to blood sugar readings twenty four hours a day. The tubing connects to the pump, which can be worn on a waistband, on a belt, in a pouch, or in a pocket. With a traditional insulin pump, a small, flexible tube called a catheter is inserted with the help of a tiny needle through the skin into the fatty tissue underneath. This is usually in the belly, hip, thigh, buttock, or upper arm. Insulin pumps are programmed to deliver small amounts of rapid-acting insulin every few minutes, which acts as basal (baseline or “background”) insulin. We know diabetes can be a balancing act so try things out and see what works for you.
Although none of the pumps can be programmed and operated entirely nonvisually, the MiniMed 511 and 512 pumps provide a bit more accessibility than do the others on the market. The reservoir-filling guides, insertion devices, and accessible priming feature on the 511 and 512 make these pumps the easiest and most accessible to get insulin flowing into your body. The audio bolus, easy-to-identify buttons, and easy battery replacement are other positive features of the MiniMed 511 and 512. The Disetronic pumps also have some accessible features, and they are the only pumps with prefilled reservoir cartridges, but they are no longer on the market because of FDA violations.