Insulin pumps can help people with diabetes conveniently manage their blood sugar. These small, wearable devices deliver doses of insulin at specific times and are an alternative to multiple daily injections. There are several types of insulin pumps on the market, each with unique features.
An insulin pump is a wearable medical device that supplies a continuous flow of rapid-acting insulin underneath your skin. Most pumps are small, computerized devices that are roughly the size of a juice box or a deck of cards.
Insulin pumps are an alternative to multiple daily injection (MDI) insulin therapy (syringe or pen injections) for people with diabetes who require insulin to manage the condition.
The technology for insulin pumps is rapidly evolving. All pumps available in the United States today integrate with CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) technology and offer the ability to automatically adjust your insulin needs based on your current glucose levels.
How does an insulin pump work?
An insulin pump mimics how your pancreas would naturally release insulin. It delivers insulin in one of two ways:
- Small and continuous insulin doses: This is called basal insulin. You’ll likely have multiple basal rates in certain hour increments throughout the day. This is because your body requires different amounts of background insulin throughout a 24-hour period. For example, most people tend to require more background insulin in the morning hours than the evening hours due to natural morning surges in cortisol, which raises your blood sugar. You’ll need to change these basal rates over time as your body and routines change. You’ll work with your healthcare provider to adjust them as needed. All pumps have the ability to automatically adjust basal doses based on your glucose levels from a connected CGM. Most pumps also have a manual setting that allows the pump to deliver basal rates programmed by the user and their healthcare provider.
- Manual surges of insulin when eating and to correct high blood sugar: This is called a bolus. The pump uses the information you enter about your carbohydrate intake and blood sugar level to calculate how much bolus insulin you need. Most pumps recommend a dose to you, which you then confirm or adjust before they deliver the insulin.
Each type and brand of pump has various settings and technology. Examples include:
- Integration with CGM technology to automatically increase, decrease or stop insulin release based on your glucose level.
- Options to manually increase or decrease your basal rate for a certain amount of time.
- Alarms to alert you of a low battery or low reservoir, for example.
- Alarms to alert you if your glucose level is out of range if your CGM communicates with your pump.
- Connectivity to phone apps and other smart devices.
