When I had to quit Looping I decided to go with Inpen because it did ½ units. I spoke with two different Reps from Medtronic asking about getting the pen. Both times I told them I was using the Dexcom G7 both times they both said nothing. Guess their commission was too great to give up When I got the pen after trying tediously to connect the G7 I found out it’s not compatible.
Question: Does any one know if the Novopen Echo Plus is available in the U.S.? It’s compatible with the G7.
Endocrinologist Rant: I will try & be short in June I start with new Endo-Doc.
Starting with Pen prescription she ordered the pen after me asking & begging for a month, maybe 6 weeks, It took so long I was running out of insulin so I ask for a 30 day supply of Novolog Flex-Pens, She order a 90 day supply. I picked up the 30 day supply because I knew I was heading for the Inpen. She finally ordered the Inpen, 1 with 11 refills for the year. Hello they last a year. Now I need insulin cartridges so I gave her the NDC number for a 90 day supply. Yep she ignored what I ask for & ordered flex-pens, not once but twice. Finally got it right. My Endo & her staff always point their finger at the Pharmacy saying it’s their fault (does your Endo do that?) prior to this one of her staff told me I should find another pharmacy to order from, not her place to say but she did say it. My Endo office has trouble with everywhere I get Meds. Try to point out my Pods order was going to be wrong & I was trying to politely point it out so I would get them in time. She ordered the pods anyway & yes it was a problem. She told me there was noting wrong with her math she just couldn’t understand her math wouldn’t work because Pods come in boxes of 5…Stick a fork in me I am done. On to the next Endocrinologist to try & teach them not try & put me in their one size fits all D box. PS: If your Endo doesn’t do a D foot exam kick them to the curb. Mine never did in the 5 years I’ve been seeing her. << speaking to myself here>>
Ok on to Satin err I mean Apple:
In January 2024 I tried to prepare for rebuilding my Loop app. I started by trying to run several credit cards & a debit card on the Apple Developers site. No luck my cards would not work so I contacted Apple about the Licensing. I had already done all the agreements signing including giving over my personal information including bank account & routing numbers as well as filling out their tax form. All the overreach of your privacy stuff. Apple contacted me & said my card did get run because of my bank. I called my bank & they took off all security. They did however say there was no attempt by Apple to run my cards. I tried to run my cards again & re-contacted Apple no luck from the Rep so I asked for a Supervision. Finally got a Supervision who told me the same thing & told me to try & run tomorrow. He did extend my License another 15 days. He gave me all his direct contact information. I tried the next day & it failed. Tried several times to contact the Supervisor to no avail. A week after that I was contacted by another Supervisor who pretty much put me through the same hoops. By now it had been 3-4 weeks & the day my Tresiba showed up my License unexpectedly expired before my original due date.
They simply didn’t care. I was not some reseller going to make them money so I wasn’t important enough to take care of. Just some little user trying to get an app into their phone.
Edit: I forgot to mention the Apple Store had no problem running my same credit card a month ago for a $4 app. Go figure
Edit: Also for Dexcom or others apps. would it be so hard to add rise to then give insulin reminder. I.E. you have a low to say 60 & you want to give some insulin at 100 couldn’t there be a reminder to do that when you reach a number you set. I set a timer but some times that doesn’t work. Just a thought.
So Question:
Apple Developer License Users how do you pay for your License? They don’t take Apple Gift card for payment but maybe Apple Pay?
@SobeiT Yes, NovoPen Echo is available in the US. I did the same thing due to 1/2 unit dosing, but decided a pump was in my future. The pen works with cartridges, so if you’re getting one, make sure the cartridges get ordered at the same time. I was disappointed with the split body of the pen for loading cartridges, seemed a little flimsy to me, relatively easy to break apart.
Ref your Apple Developer account, it sounds like you went further than necessary. To build Loop, iAPS, and Trio, you do need an account, but unless you’re developing and selling other apps, there’s no reason to submit tax documents and the like. All you need is the account that runs $99, do NOT “submit” the apps for Apple review for sale…they won’t pass them anyway!
Also, the reminder you advocate for insulin dosing: Couldn’t you use one of the Dexcom settings to set the alert level you want? It wouldn’t say, “Hey, you want to dose now!”, but would seem to serve the purpose. Alternately, using Loop, iAPS, or Trio, one of their alerts might serve the same purpose.
Lastly, yes I use Apple Pay for my developer account with auto-renewal.
I am currently using the Inpen with Novolog pen fill cartridges. If I go with Novopen Echo I will check the NDC number to make sure my cartridges work.
Having said that I feel like you do about the pump being in my future. Thank you for the Apple Pay information. If I can get over their bad treatment (I must) I will go that route. Just to note Apple made me fill out all that information. I kept telling the rep I was only a user not a seller. I guess their hearing aids work like mine about half the time. Loop Docs instruction was not to submit the apps review, So I stayed away from that.
About the Dexcom settings. They do have a raising fast setting that I can try out but it’s always going to do that & I was thinking of an alert that would give notice once you reach a certain number that the user sets. May be that’s more an Loop/iAPS type thing I could wish for…
Does any one use Autotune for their Loop? That was for me the good, the bad & the ugly. It would have me changing my basal by the hour. I did learn from it especially the time of DP & then I would make the adjustment I felt best.
Also heres a link to a Biolinq Brochure That I saved when I first looked at it. The first page is a little blurry just scroll down.
@SobeiT Interesting, I don’t recall calling or talking with Apple at all, I recall it all being handled on-line via their website I could be wrong though…
Ref Dexcom app: I was thinking more of using the “Alert Schedule” section of the “Alerts” section where you can set alternative levels thinking there was a way to specify a different name; guess you’d have to rely on particular tone.
I tried using Autotune when using Loop, but I gave up on trying to to use it manually. iAPS and Trio, like AAPS, have it built in, but selectable whether to use. iAPS and Trio have an alternative called Autosens (don’t know if AAPS has it). Autosens has both a max and min setting for controlling how much adjustment is allowed.
The Boiling is interesting! Seems relatively small, appearing slightly smaller than G7 or Libre 3. Looks like they have much more than CGM on their minds from the number of sensors portrayed and that makes me question pricing. Of interest is their CEO has remarked of a try for FDA approval this year! Competition seems a good thing to help control prices.
The last several years I did everything online but this year with the credit card issue I had to get customer service involved. That’s when the wheels came off the wagon Would’ve been better if I had found a way to just do it online making some other arrangement for payment.
Re: Dexcom not sure what you meant by alternate schedule are you talking about the second alert profile? I did play with that a little bit but it’s been a long time ago. Will take a look at that again.
Autotune left a lot to be desired. Be interesting to see how autosens works. I’m hoping to get my try.
FDA approval For Biolinq would be a great thing. The more choices we have the better.
Well I am the very tired & not so proud owner of an Apple Developers License but… I am very happy!
It took several hours to stumble my way through it. Windows 10 could still not run my credit card & no apple pay icon showing on their site. On my Macbook it showed the apple pay icon but next to it it says it does not take it.
Finally I went back to my iPhone where I had never been able to even log in to my developers account & without so much as the login credentials was able to renew my License.
So I got that going for me. Now on to the next hurdle.
When I got the pen after trying tediously to connect the G7 I found out it’s not compatible.
but… I am very happy!