Hi everybody.
I have a question about Dexcom and the Tandem t:slim X2 pump with Fiasp insulin.
I had a Diaport which has been removed as it got infected and is now obsolete so my consultant switched me to a closed loop with the Tandem pump and Dexcom G6.
My diabetes is very labile as I don’t absorb subcut insulin very well.
The main problem I have is with the Dexcom G6. It doesn’t work very well for the first 48 hours or the last 24 and sometimes it goes wrong between these times.
It will suddenly start showing my BM climbing very quickly and very high (from say 7mmol/L to 15mmol/L over 30 minutes or so). The pump responds to this by increasing my basal rate & then gives a correction. But actually my BM was fine to start with (my target is 7mmol/L) which means I get a load of unnecessary insulin dumped into me which causes a hypo.
The opposite also happens, when my BM is fine, the CGM will show a fast falling BM to very low levels. The pump responds by suspending my insulin. This causes an unnecessary high BM.
I have talked to Dexcom and pointed out that the CGM is only reliable around 60% of the time and causes hypos. They told me that they take no responsibility for what happens and if in doubt, I should do a fingerstick BM test to verify. A lot of the time I can’t do this as I don’t know what my BM is doing when I am asleep or working. It’s not practical to check it every few minutes.
As a result of all this, I am ending up doing loads of manual corrections with both carbs & insulin, plus around eight fingerstick tests a day for 40% of the time.
As I don’t absorb subcut insulin very well, I assume the CGM doesn’t work very well for the same reason (whatever that is!).
Does anyone else out there have a similar problem? If so, how do they handle it?
I also have problems with lack of flexibility of the pump. For example the target level is set at 6.1mmol/L and can’t be changed. As my diabetes is very labile I try for a target of 7mmol/L but the pump keeps pulling me towards 6.1mmol/L.
If you set the site change reminder to say three days, and then need to change the cannula early, the pump ignores this and still alarms at three days. That’s just bad programming from Tandem as the pump is ‘aware’ you have replaced the cannula and should reset the site change alarm for three days from the date of the last change, not go by the previous one.
Anyway, I wanted to keep this short & to the point but it’s started rambling. Any thoughts anybody?
I have a question about Dexcom and the Tandem t:slim X2 pump with Fiasp insulin.
I had a Diaport which has been removed as it got infected and is now obsolete so my consultant switched me to a closed loop with the Tandem pump and Dexcom G6.
My diabetes is very labile as I don’t absorb subcut insulin very well.
The main problem I have is with the Dexcom G6. It doesn’t work very well for the first 48 hours or the last 24 and sometimes it goes wrong between these times.
It will suddenly start showing my BM climbing very quickly and very high (from say 7mmol/L to 15mmol/L over 30 minutes or so). The pump responds to this by increasing my basal rate & then gives a correction. But actually my BM was fine to start with (my target is 7mmol/L) which means I get a load of unnecessary insulin dumped into me which causes a hypo.
The opposite also happens, when my BM is fine, the CGM will show a fast falling BM to very low levels. The pump responds by suspending my insulin. This causes an unnecessary high BM.
I have talked to Dexcom and pointed out that the CGM is only reliable around 60% of the time and causes hypos. They told me that they take no responsibility for what happens and if in doubt, I should do a fingerstick BM test to verify. A lot of the time I can’t do this as I don’t know what my BM is doing when I am asleep or working. It’s not practical to check it every few minutes.
As a result of all this, I am ending up doing loads of manual corrections with both carbs & insulin, plus around eight fingerstick tests a day for 40% of the time.
As I don’t absorb subcut insulin very well, I assume the CGM doesn’t work very well for the same reason (whatever that is!).
Does anyone else out there have a similar problem? If so, how do they handle it?
I also have problems with lack of flexibility of the pump. For example the target level is set at 6.1mmol/L and can’t be changed. As my diabetes is very labile I try for a target of 7mmol/L but the pump keeps pulling me towards 6.1mmol/L.
If you set the site change reminder to say three days, and then need to change the cannula early, the pump ignores this and still alarms at three days. That’s just bad programming from Tandem as the pump is ‘aware’ you have replaced the cannula and should reset the site change alarm for three days from the date of the last change, not go by the previous one.
Anyway, I wanted to keep this short & to the point but it’s started rambling. Any thoughts anybody?
