Diabetes Pharmacist : Diabetes Pharmacist Blog : Focus Express Mail Pharmacy : Insulin Pumps, Diabetes Supplies and Information

Who should be on an Insulin Pump? How old do you have to be to be on an Insulin Pump? How will my life change if I get an Insulin Pump?

All of these questions, and others,  are answered by this excerpt from Dr. Steve Edelman, MD as well as a video from Focus Express Mail Pharmacy. Thank you both for your contribution.

Dr Edelman says the following,"In my opinion, you are an insulin pump candidate if you are a reliable person who tests your blood glucose values regularly. You do not have to be a rocket scientist or a doctor to achieve success with an insulin pump.

I recommend pump therapy to people who are consistently experiencing poor glucose control or frequent hypoglycemic episodes despite an appropriate insulin injection regimen. I also offer pump therapy to individuals who have adequate glucose control but are tethered to a rigid daily schedule that reduces their quality of life. I do not recommend starting pump therapy during pregnancy; it should be started before conception to allow for adjustment and blood glucose regulation.

Click here for more information about insulin pumps and pump supplies.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

We get asked all the time. "How Does an Insulin Pump Work?" So, rather than reinvent the wheel, here's a synopsis as found on the ADA (American Diabetes Association) website as well as a video from Focus Express Mail Pharmacy. Our thanks to them both!

"An insulin pump can help you manage your diabetes. By using an insulin pump, you can match your insulin to your lifestyle, rather than getting an insulin injection and matching your life to how the insulin is working. When you work closely with your diabetes care team, insulin pumps can help you keep your blood glucose levels within your target ranges.  People of all ages with type 1 diabetes use insulin pumps and people with type 2 diabetes have started to use them as well.
How do insulin pumps work?

Insulin pumps deliver rapid- or short-acting insulin 24 hours a day through a catheter placed under the skin. Your insulin doses are separated into:

• Basal rates
• Bolus doses to cover carbohydrate in meals
• Correction or supplemental doses

Basal insulin is delivered continuously over 24 hours, and keeps your blood glucose levels in range between meals and overnight. Often, you program different amounts of insulin at different times of the day and night.

When you eat, you use buttons on the insulin pump to give additional insulin called a bolus. You take a bolus to cover the carbohydrate in each meal or snack. If you eat more than you planned, you can simply program a larger bolus of insulin to cover it.

You also take a bolus to treat high blood glucose levels. If you have high blood glucose levels before you eat, you give a correction or supplemental bolus of insulin to bring it back to your target range."

For more information  insulin pumps or insulin pump supplies, contact  Focus Express Mail Pharmacy.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Coming soon to a pharmacy near you: AFREZZA, a new fast-acting form of inhaled insulin. According to recent studies, AFREZZA , will provide "glycemic control similar to standard insulin treatments with less risk of hypoglycemia and weight gain." Still waiting for FDA approval,  it also appears that AFREZZA will have a  lower risk of causing lung problems than Exubera, the first inhalable insulin on the market.

"AFREZZA is an ultra-rapid-acting insulin, and clinical studies have shown us that it has the potential to change diabetes therapy, because in the body, AFREZZA looks like the insulin that's normally in a person's body," said Andrea Leone-Bay, vice president of pharmaceutical development for MannKind Corp., manufacturer of AFREZZA.

It is intended for use at mealtimes to control rapid rises in blood sugar that occur after meals in people with diabetes. The idea of an inhaled insulin appeals to diabetics who must use insulin every time they eat.

For information on diabetes supplies or insulin pumps, click here!

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

Insulin, a  hormone that is produced by the pancreas in the body, helps the body utilize glucose properly. Proper amounts of insulin prevent  hyperglycemia and the complications of diabetes.

However, new research has shown that high amounts of insulin may be harmful. Researchers  have found that women with the highest levels of insulin were 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer than women who had the lowest insulin levels.
 

Among these women, the influence of insulin on breast cancer risk was quite high," says lead author Marc Gunter, Ph.D. of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine at Yeshiva University, New York City and assistant professor of epidemiology and population health. "Women with the highest insulin levels in their blood were more than two times more likely to develop breast cancer than women with the lowest insulin levels." Moreover, "when we controlled for insulin, the association between obesity and breast cancer became much weaker," Dr. Gunter says. "This means that a large component of that obesity-cancer relationship may be mediated by insulin levels

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A new European study suggests that intensive insulin therapy may reduce the risk of death, infection and the length of intensive care stays for seriously ill children,

Abnormally high blood sugar (hyperglycemia) often occurs in critically ill infants and children, and increases their risk of secondary infections and death.

"Targeting of blood glucose concentrations to age-adjusted normal fasting concentrations improved short-term outcome of patients in pediatric intensive care units. The effect on long-term survival, morbidity, and neurocognitive development needs to be investigated,"Dr. Greet Van den Berghe, of University Hospital Gasthuisberg and Catholic University Leuven, Belgium, and colleagues wrote in a journal news release.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

A study recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine, followed 3,277 newly diagnosed Type 2 diabetes patients who were asked to tightly manage their blood sugar either through diet restrictions or drugs.

The results show that the group taking insulin had a 15 percent lower risk of heart attack and a 13 percent lower risk of death compared with the group who used diet. The early, intensive approach to blood sugar control amounted to a head start. The researchers call this the "Legacy Effect."

 "These results emphasize the importance of detecting and treating diabetes at the earliest opportunity and the major benefits that can be obtained with good blood glucose control."  said Professor Rury Holman, of Oxford University, who led the study.

Intensive and not-so-intensive approaches to blood pressure were also compared among the diabetes patients in the study. When the study ended, the patients who took the intensive approach were less likely to have died from diabetes, had a stroke or developed diabetes-related complications.

It's not news that controlling blood sugar and blood pressure are musts for managing type 2 diabetes. But the new findings show that doing so promptly and intensively will lead to a lower likelihood of a heart attack as well as a healthier cardiovascular system.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

In a study by Chinese scientists, treating Type 2 diabetes early and aggressively with insulin therapy was able to push the disease into remission.The premise behind the therapy is that by giving the failing beta cells of the pancreas a chance to rest, one might interrupt a cycle of decline and allow for some recovery. The beta cells produce the insulin the body needs to keep blood sugar levels in check; it is the inability of those cells to meet the body's insulin needs that triggers Type 2 diabetes

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

 Natreon Inc., a nutraceutical industry’s leading supplier of botanical extract ingredients announced today the incorporation of Puredel Ltd., (Puredel), a company aimed at developing 
Ossulin™, an oral insulin which has shown promising results in preliminary animal and human studies.. More...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link

As seen on MedGadget. com, the European Space Agency is reporting that technology originally developed for its space program has now been used to create the insulin pump of the future: one that you can wear on your wrist!.German student Nicole Schmiedel has come up with a design for a fashionable looking "wristwatch" that contains an innovative ultra-light insulin pump to help people with type 1 diabetes. For more, click here...

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks
• Share Link