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Insight Pump - active insulin

S

SweetSquirrel

Newbie
Messages
4
Location
United Kingdom
Hi, how/where do you check how much insulin is active on your handset? I've gone to the bolus menu to check but, the active insulin numbers are not correct e.g. I boloused 3 units then I checked the active insulin and the number came up as -0.09!!

Thanks
 
hi beth
cant help specifically as I am not on an insight pump

when did you bolus the 3u ?
are you doing extra testing to prevent a hypo or a hyper ??

really hope you are ok ??
himtoo
 
only way I have found out is to do a bloodtest
 
You can 'pretend ' you are giving a bouls, check how much active insulin and then cancel the bolus. I think its the only way to check active insulin (without testing). Active insulin is displayed under No bG Test on the screen just before confirming bolus.To be honest I'm really confused how its calculated on insight pump. Even to the point I suspect it doesn't work properly. I get lots of weird values of active insulin
If you test and the number is negative it suggests you have too much active insulin (in relation to your blood tests) . For example if you have 2 u active insulin and your reading is 4.9 it will show something like -1.2u which suggests you should eat something to cover this 1.2u (its not always true though as you could have eaten something slow realising and your blood levels will rise later on).
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had a chat with my rep about this at a workshop the other week - I think the number top left is the amount of corrective insulin still on board from the last bolus, but is not related to bolused insulin for carbs.

The -0.9 is I think the 'reverse correction' figure - so I'm assuming that the number it is trying to correct to is greater than the 5mmol/l shown on Ewelina's picture (mine corrects me to 6, as my target is set to 5-7). So to get you to (for instance 6) your target you are being shown you need negative insulin (which if you were bolusing for carbs would be subtracted from the total dose), not shown here as carb input is zero.

The above may well be missing something - as perhaps am I - but I think that was how it was explained to me.

 
Its probably right what you said regarding corrective insulin and it would explain many odd numbers I get there. The problem is that I bolus a lot straight from the pump (as faster than handset) and it must be recorded as correction even if its not. I had no correction yesterday evening and I dont know where that .47 came from

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
There is a certain amount of mystery as to how the back-end programming works - ie I don't really 'get' it all - I've had some real moments trying to work it all out! And I still don't fully understand is.

I tend to use the handset almost exclusively - in fact I haven't yet ever bolused from the pump!

Just read the email notification from Roche, received yesterday (oops!) about cartridge leakage. Although I haven't had a problem with this.... that I've noticed, that is..... it might explain the slight smell of insulin that is detectable around my pump, and which I've had right from the start. I thought it was just to be expected!

Have not had a problem with ever getting what I'm assuming is the right amount of insulin, so I guess that's okay. Have you noticed an issue, @ewelina and @Gaz-M and @SweetSquirrel and @Type1Lad (and others?). Leaks, or if not leaks, a smell of insulin around the pump (not cannula)?

 
I have never had issues with leaking insulin or insulin smells except if I over prime the tubing.
 
No I havent noticed anything.
I wonder if I contacted roche would they be able to send me some explanation on how insulin on board is calculated.
If its just correcive insulin @Snapsy how do we know insulin on board? Im confused now

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
I'm totally confused now too!!! Had 3.35 units a while ago for lunch! I'll watch with interest for other replies!
 
no not had a problem like this with a leaky cartridge
 

If this is the same as the way the Combo delivers insulin, any bolus that is delivered from the pump without using the wizard, will be shown as a correction dose because there will be no carb entered alongside it. It will reduce against any bg levels that are entered during the time that it is active for. The Insight and the Combo are very reliant on the bg meter to calculate correctly
 
It must be the same on combo and Insight then. Is there any way to check how much IOB is there? Not only from corrections
 
Don't think so unfortunately but there is nothing to stop you using an online app as the bolus wizard which will also show up the IOB and then whatever the calculation is, just enter it as a normal bolus and keep an eye on the app as it shows the iob. You could keep entering the Libre readings into the app so that the iob tracks correctly. I sometimes use PredictBGL app as it will also tell you how much carb you may need to eat if bg looks as though it is going to fall below the blood glucose targets entered which is handy.​
 
ewelina said:
If its just correcive insulin @Snapsy how do we know insulin on board?
Click to expand...
I don't think we actually do! I think it's all in the invisible working-out of the bolus calculator. At the pump workshop I did recently the rep was talking about 'onset time' and 'meal rise' and 'snack size' and the bearing they have on the back-end in its calculations for any correction doses between one and four hours after bolusing (eg it allows for the expectation of a 'meal rise' of 2.8mmol/l so any corrections (in my case) within this time frame are made to a target of 8.8mmol/l rather than my standard correction target of 6mmol/l.
(Edited to say there is a taper on this calculation so it's a curve on a graph rather than a fixed 2.8 figure for the whole time period - so after 2hrs it's 2.8 greater than my target, but after 4hrs it's tapered to nothing, meaning that your target aimed for by the calculator is for me to be 6 after 4hrs, and the calculator does this).

Because it's all worked out for me, as I'm using the handset for testing and for bolus calculating, I don't need to know myself what my active insulin is (including bolus insulin, I mean) in terms of doing any working out myself.

However, I do see the potential merit of having an actual figure in the display for active insulin, especially if I were using other means of testing or wanting to do my own calculations rather than relying on the bolus calculator (not blindly, but in an educated fashion - ie I know all my ratios and how to carb count and work out how much reduces me by how much - it's just that the calculator really, really seems to work for me without many nasty surprises!).

Brain hurts.....!
 
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