Question from Ontario, Canada:

There has recently been a foundation established in my county. The purpose of the foundation is to assist people, 21 years of age and under, in our area, who have type 1 diabetes. So far, they have funded the cost of an insulin pump for a two year old boy. I would like to apply for a similar grant for myself. My parents and I plan to write to the foundation as soon as possible. I am in need of funding in general because I only have 2000 dollars worth of drug coverage per year through my University drug plan This does not come close to covering supplies, insulin and test strips in addition to other medication for the year. Beyond that, I am very interested in insulin pump therapy. I wanted your help in providing me with information on why an insulin pump would be beneficial for me.

Here is what I want to tell them:

I am 19 years old. I am on a regimen of Ultralente and Humalog insulin and I take an average of five injections a day. My A1cs have been almost consistently sub-optimal for the past two years. The highest has been 9.3. I have had several bad lows where I was unable to assist myself, and have low blood sugars an average of three times a week. I also experience bad highs, where my blood sugar fluctuates into the 20 to 33.3 mmol/L [360 to 599 mg/dl] range.

I am a university student and my eating and sleep schedule is often erratic. This year was my first time away from home. I am in the concurrent education program. For me, this means I am doing practice teaching over the course of five years. When I was in high school I did co-op in an elementary school and was outright ridiculed for taking an injection at the back of a classroom by an in service teacher. Because of this experience I neglect my highs, and sometimes eat and don’t take Humalog, and a perceived social stigma on my part. I can test very discretely but injections are harder for me.

I worry about getting severely low as a pre-service teacher and I also worry about getting low as an in-service teacher. I plan to teach primary grades.

I think an extended bolus feature would help me control my post meal blood sugars more effectively and I also think I would have better control because I would be in a position to easily correct moderately high blood sugars. Currently, I am on a combination of Ultralente and Humalog because this affords me the most flexibility and Lantus is not yet sold in Canada; members of my diabetes team speculate that this will be the case for close to another year. I have had a number of severe lows in the time I have been on Ultralente. Does this insulin have a track record of causing more lows then other insulins?

Those are all the ideas I have at present. Is there anything you can add?