[big_chungus]

I have a friend who has to regularly go to Europe to replace her implantable pump. It's not approved in America because the bureaucrats haven't gotten around to it. So long as there's no false advertising, let people try treatments that work for them, even if there's risk. Said friend has enough money that she's okay, but most others aren't so lucky.

[StacyRoberts]

I dated someone with an external pump. It came off one day and caused so many problems. Just slid from sitting on the couch to the floor watching tv and the cushion caught the pump and broke it off.

I immediately thought that type of failure should be recoverable without a hospital visit and surgery and tried to figure out why it wasn't.

My mind immediately set to making it so and was held back by the fear I could go to prison for practicing medicine without a license.

"I love you. I wish I could fix you. I could fix you."

"I know you could. I wish you could."

[ng12]

There are some other options. I use a pump (OmniPod) that is entirely attached to my body. There's a small plastic pod that's taped to the skin and operated wirelessly.

My chief complaint is that the FDA is overly restrictive. They force manufacturers to make the products expire earlier to head off concerns about them working less efficiently near the end of the cycle. Diabetes is a disease who's treatment is entirely about guesstimating but the FDA does not take that into account when approving devices.

[ntdb]

[T1D who used an external Medtronic pump for years here]

Normally that kind of failure would be quickly recoverable without a hospital visit/surgery, I’m sorry that this one was not.