Looping and tunneling

Though I’d love to loop, for various reasons I’m not doing it yet. But I wonder if tunneling presents a complication.

Because of tunneling, I have to limit my pod bolus to 3 to 5 units and inject the rest – and therefore my PDM (or future loop app) isn’t aware of that additional insulin for its IOB or dosing calculations. If I were looping, my basal would shoot way up to replace the “non-existent” insulin.

Is there a workaround? According to the recent Omnipod Loop release notes, you can cancel a temp basal but not set your own rate. Is there a way to tell the app you injected X amount of insulin?

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With Omnipod, my guess is you could calculate all new carb ratios, that sort of adjust up or down given the 3 to 5 units, but I don’t think it would work well.
On Medtronic, the option is easy; we unclip our son, give a “phantom” bolus through the pump into the air, and then clip him back in. Works perfectly. That’s what we do whenever Samson needs a shot due to a site failure.
If you’re wedded to Omnipod, how often do you have to use a pen for a bolus injection? I fit’s every single meal almost, then you could just adjust your carb ratio so Loop thinks you need less insulin per gram of carb. Then for snacks where you’re not injecting via pen, you can log extra carbs. That’s a lot of math.

Yes, there is. Simply enter what you injected via Health app (it’s a standard iOS app). Loop picks the insulin dose from Health automatically, and takes it into account. No need to do any complicated workarounds.

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wow! I did not know that! we can save a unit or two of insulin the next time my son has a site failure, haha!

@Beacher I enter Afreeza doses taken while looping by entering units of insulin in Apple Health. Helpful for:

  1. Higher carb meals where Loop recommends > 5 unit bolus. I’ll change the bolus to 5 units, then take Afrezza to cover the difference.
  2. Pod changes
  3. Stubborn highs
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Brilliant – thank you. Good to know it’s so easy.