Humalog U-200 and Omnilooping?

I’m getting abut 1 to 1.5 days out of my omnipod using Omnilooping. I have some U200 pens and was wondering what I would change if I wanted to use them to get to the 3 days use and use less pods?

I suggest asking Insulet; they’ve been touting this for coming on four years now:

https://diatribe.org/insulet-omnipod-dash-system-to-add-touchscreen-and-bluetooth

(The second bullet point on that page, but they media-blasted the work with Lilley the year before.)

If you run U100 for 1 to 1.5 days then U200 in the same device will run 2 to 3 days, but to make that happen you have to carefully go through every setting and divide, or multiply, by two, and you have to get it right. There’s no setting in the Dash PDM that I can see for setting the insulin strength, though I would guess there is a secret setting for doing so.

There’s no magic; it is just a wireless subcutaneous fluid delivery system. They train their own non-diabetic employees using saline solutions and the pod doesn’t stop working. I am slightly weirded out that it takes them 4 years not to get approval for U200 or U500 insulin.

Oh: update, here’s the FUD thread:

Also way old, but you’ve seen that one already.

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I have thought about trying that, but the only problem is that I am so conditioned to think of a unit as a certain amount I need. Using something twice as strong could potentially cause me a problem if I make a mistake. I would need to remember to take 1/2 as much every time.

It is a problem. A mistake might really suck.

If you use the calculators for everything - like it tells you how much to use for meals and corrections and you follow it - you can set your formulas to be the correct amount. That might be okay.

But since I do everything in my head, I have not been willing to risk it.

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As it happens, starting the beginning of the year, my insurance will now treat Humalog U200 as a speciality drug and pay for it in full. So I’m going to make the switch to U200 in my Tandem Tslim. I have been using Novolog U100 but have to do a set change every 24 to 36 hours and the cost of the pump supplies has been killing me. Looking forward to seeing how things work out.

I tried U500 in a Medtronic pump around 10 years ago and it was a disaster. The reaction time was way too slow. My blood sugar would go up into the 400’s after eating and then 2 hours later would go down in the 40-50 range. My health care team freaked out and took me off it immediately. My doctor said that U200 doesn’t suffer from this reaction time problem.

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How interesting: I had no idea U200 and U500 differed in this way!

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Indeed, but worse, having to do anything in our heads is prone to disaster. Is there anyone on this forum who has never forgotten to do a bolus? If there is I’m going to call them a liar :grinning: Arithmetic is the worst, last time I did it in my head was about this time last year and I withheld way too much tax$.

Oh well, they let us set the insulin action time, but they don’t let us set the strength. A real, honest, working, UI would just need to scan the bar code on the vial (or pen) and set everything right.

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Seeing YOU say this makes the little voice in my head louder. I was worried about a screwup and the fact it could go quickly south and become a disaster. You’re willing to try most things - being unwilling to try this makes me say NO WAY.

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Thanks everyone. Well, since switching to Caremark, Humalog in all its forms is not covered. Novo products only.

Now I’m thinking about FIASP. Any advise?

How does Novolog compare to Humalog if I didn’t do fiasp in our omniloops?

I did that, a month or so back, for exactly the same reason. I had the same questions. So far as I was able to work out Humalog and Novolog are equivalent; some people preferred one, some the other. I didn’t try Novolog, I just switched to Fiasp.

I really can’t tell the difference between Fiasp and Humalog but the time has been dominated by the challenge of increased dropouts with the new Dexcom G6 transmitter I put in 37 days ago. It is an “8G” series transmitter and xDrip+ has become so prone to dropouts that I’ve had to run both the Dexcom transmitter and xDrip+ in parallel. Any minor difference in Fiasp vs Humalog is undetectable for me at the present.

I use Humalog U 200 in my Omnipod. My endo originally prescribed it because she thought I would have to change my pod every 2 days instead of every 3 days. It turned out I didn’t end up needing it but I stayed with it as I liked it anyway. Omnipod doesn’t say anything when I mention I used the U 200, I don’t think they want to comment as it wasn’t approved. If you mention you use the U 200 in your pump to Humalog they throw a fit. From what I understand the U 500 is very slow acting and not recommended.

The U 200 you have to change the programming because it’s double strength so some things are doubled and others halved, it can be confusing. When I first used the U 200 I was happy to have my endo’s NP who were both type 1’s help with changing the programming. They prescribed it all the time and were used to it. I am used to it now but my current endo confused the prescription to volume needed and the pharmacy got confused even more and tried to half that when I talked to them lol. The pharmacy when I talked to them before had been very good about understanding it before, I think I got a new young pharmacist on the phone this last time around. I use about 25 units by volume or about 50 units of insulin a day in it.

Well, my insurance went through and I have the U200. I go and get trained next Monday where they will adjust my pump settings for this new insulin. I’m hoping everything works out because right now I’m changing my reservoir on a daily basis.

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@churcr I have been very successful with the U200 and really like it. Prebolus timing has been the key.

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Glad to hear you have had luck with U200. The U500 was very dependent on pre-bolus timing but the times were too much. You had to bolus like an hour before you ate. Really hoping that U200 is more rapid acting.