Tandem t:slim X2 Insulin Pump

The pump itself.

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I switched from pens to a pump many years ago and the transition took a few days but im glad I did it. The ability to discretely give myself a bolus was worth it all by itself. Now that the pumps are integrated with CGMs, I personally feel like it is very much worth it.

On another note, I take my pump off while working out so that it doesn’t get in the way. My BG drops while exercising so I don’t need insulin anyway. (My workouts are rarely longer than 45 minutes.)

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Interesting idea about pump vacation. Didn’t know you could do that. Thanks for sharing.

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No problem at all. When my son was under 18, his pediatric endo actually required the pump vacation to make sure the kids stay on top of MDI for when the pump fails. He just likes the approach and so each summer he goes back to MDI until he feels the “draw of the pump” pull him back.

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So, went for my first bike ride. Had my Tandem clipped to the waist of my leggings. It somehow fell and somehow didn’t rip the site out. I have no clue how the stayed stayed on, but clearly I need to find a different method for biking.

Otherwise, control is fantastic. It is just I’m so active and I don’t know how to fit that part in. I honestly don’t know how kids don’t constantly rip sites out!? Or maybe they do ha ha

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I use a SPIbelt.
There are many others like it, so you can find what works for you.

https://spibelt.com/

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It didn’t take long for me to figure out clips would not work for me. I knocked it off more times than not. Mine is always safely in a pocket. I know probably easier for men than women.

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Omg. I bought the diabetic spi belt. I totally forgot :see_no_evil:

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I have an old Singer sewing machine. Time to make some pockets!! Ha ha

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Athleta makes yoga/fitness pants with pockets.

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I’ll check them out!

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I routinely spray stuff with ethanol to keep it clean. Ethanol is safe to ingest (in small quantities) so I don’t much worry about where I put it. If you live in Oregon you get it from the (state) liquor store - just go in and ask for “190 proof grain alcohol”, other states it might be more difficult, it’s actually illegal in some countries. Most plastics are safe with any alcohol and all the metals you will encounter are too, so if it’s not going to get inside you or on your skin things like "iso-"propanol (“rubbing alcohol” in the states, propan-2-ol more correctly, labchem calls it 2-propanol) are fine.

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This is based on the Omnipod, but I assume Tandem and Medtronics are the same. If the bolus calculator knows the BG and has a target BG it will subtract the amount of insulin necessary to bring you up to the target if you are below it.

I use this (i.e. I have the feature switched on) all the time, but because of the delays in the CGM between the CGM BG and my actual BG it’s pretty hit or miss. Correction calculations for high BG, where the numbers are a lot bigger and the margin (= time to correct) for error greater, work a lot better. A lot of the time when I’m low and eating I will do it myself, in my head; I use the bolus calculator to give me a number without revealing my BG then subtract a small amount. The main thing here is the thing you already know - the CGM shows a trend so we know if we are going down or up.

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New Question: with my Omnipod, if I was trending low, I could still enter the carbs and it would say 0 for the bolus recommendation, then I’d say enter so that the carb intake was included in the data. The tandem I can go so far as to get the recommendation, but can’t enter the bolus for 0 to retain the carb info. Seems ridiculous since the Tandem is the one that will use this info for the algorithm, no? So how will it not be “confused” when my blood sugar starts to rise seemingly on its own without carb? Am I missing something??

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CIQ doesn’t use or consider carbs.

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But, I am supposed to enter the carbs I eat. I can’t when it doesn’t give me the ability to due to being too low to give a bolus. Seems odd.

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This is unfortunate, and I hope they change it.

When I get a low alert, and eat carbs, I often then go high since it has already reduced/suspended basal. Telling it I eat carbs should then know my BG is going up, and it can stop the reduced/zero basal!!! So I end up bolusing for some of the carbs, basically to make up for the lowered basal.

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Uggh. I know! I was 4.7 and had a 5g carb lunch, but I couldn’t pre-bolus or bolus at all. Then, when I saw it going up, I decided to eat my 6g snack. It let me bolus AND added correction. Now I’m 10, when I’ve been between 4.7 and 5.8 the entire day. So annoying! How is this going to be better? Do I need to change my I:C ratio to be more aggressive to account for this??

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I think it is Xdrip that uses the concept of consumed carbs and remaining carbs(accounting for digestion of Carbs). Something like that would be great, but I suspect getting through a clinical trial would be difficult??

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You can always bolus, just don’t use the calculator. I do all the time.

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