Wedding Season: Dressed for Diabetes Success

It might seem like a small detail, but I think that when you have an insulin pump, deciding what to wear can become quite a big deal. The insulin pump is connected to you all the time, so it's important to feel comfortable when wearing it. Which includes looking the way you wish to, at special occasions such as weddings.

This week I attended the wedding of one of friends and had trouble deciding what to wear. Thankfully it wasn't because I was concerned about what to wear to hide my pump, it was about what to wear in general, like anyone else, without diabetes.

One of the features of my pump is that the blood glucose monitor that I use to test my glucose levels has a remote bolus feature. This means that there's an option to connect to the pump and tell it to give insulin. So, when I'm wearing a dress, I can hide my pump and don't have to get it out to bolus. My current pump the Medtronic Minimed 640G. However, my previous pump which was an Animas one, had an audio bolus feature instead that enabled you to bolus without getting the pump out. This one worked by pressing a button on the pump and it vibrating back and forth to you, to do a bolus.

Many people I speak to who are thinking about going on a pump see where to put it, as a concern. So I hope this blog will help alleviate some of the anxiety around this part of getting a pump. Also to show that getting a pump requires adaptation, but not complete change. I still feel like me and the way I dress with a pump still allows me to express myself.