Received letter, good or bad news?

MISTY10 said:

I thought the insulin suspend would work if you tested bloods via the contour as it sends the results to the pump (as the only other person in Cornwall advised me). I thought this reading would be enough to suspend or have I got this wrong ?!

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I am probably about a year away from being able to read comments about the 640G from people who live in the same country that I do. So clearly I am only speculating. But I have used Medtronic/MiniMed pumps since 1997 so, rightly or wrongly, I have a tendency to think I know how the company's designs will tend to work.

I doubt the 640G pump suspends as a reaction to a meter BG reading transmitted to the pump. Why? Well simply because it would be assumed that the person wearing the pump is actively involved at that point and could decide for themselves how they wish to treat a low BG.

The intent behind what Medtronic marketing has dubbed "Threshold Suspend" is to stop or at least mitigate an upcoming hypo which the pump user is essentially oblivious to. This implies that the hypo is detected from the glucose sensor results, not a BG meter result.

The most common example of where this might be useful is overnight while sleeping. But some have found it helpful in other contexts such as while presenting to a group or while driving or whatever. If the hypo is mild enough that suspending the basal can deal with it, then folks don't necessarily need to stop to test and treat while in the middle of doing something else. They can let the pump "handle it" if they are comfortable with that.

The other nice thing about the 640G and the reason I view it as superior to its predecessor, the Veo (aka 530G in the US), is that when the CGM reports your glucose levels have risen, the pump restarts the basal.

Implicit in all of this is that the Medtronic CGM is working well enough for you that the pump can predict and try to cope with your lows and can reliably detect when your glucose has recovered.

It's essentially a simplistic approach, but the reports I have read have so far been favorable. I wonder how long it will be before this approach is duplicated in the pumps which use Dexcom sensors? The soonest I'll be likely to be able to give it a try is sometime in the spring of 2017. My current pump warranty does not expire until then. (In the U.S. the expiration of the pump warranty period is typically the time the "powers that be" will pay for migrating to a new pump.)

Gaz-M said:

True Tim but that is my opinion which we all have and that is why I posted the 3 sites as all the pumps have benefits for each persons needs. Also Filling the cartrides takes time to get the bubbles out so each pump is different for the individuals needs in life

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I think that because you haven't yet got a pump, you are reading more into air bubbles than you should. Air bubbles won't cause any real problem if they are tiny as they will pass through the tube and into the set causing very little change if any, to bg levels. The large bubble probably will but by keeping an eye on the bubble as it moves to the end of the tube and then unclipping the tube from the set and priming the bubble out through the needle clip, is all that needs to be done. The other way, is to position the pump vertical or diagonal with the tube joining the cartridge at the bottom and then any air bubble will just rise to the other end and the cartridge can be removed from pump when it gets down to the last 3 or 4 units so that the bubble doesn't enter the tube.

On advice from @iHs, I've found that the main air bubble after filling usually primes out and then I keep my pump vertical with the air bubble at the piston end. This also doesn't cause any issues.

Oops sorry it's sideways !!
Basically the glossy leaflet does indicate I could be wrong about insulin suspension from the pump.
However ..... Is does send your results across so you don't have to plug it into the pump, and you can do a limited Billy's delivery from the blood test meter too.
Cheers

Blooming autotext Billy's should read Bollus!!!

the blood meter you get with it sends across the blood results to the pump ( I,m unsure of this ) so if you have a low reading it may or may not ( as I say I,m unsure as I,m not on a pump yet ) that may suspend the insulin delivery, but I would ask or have someone using the 640 to verify this, so you don't over Billy

MISTY10 said:

Hi
I am yet to see the Medtronic rep (I've been put off the insight so for me it's animas vibe or mini med), I thought the insulin suspend would work if you tested bloods via the contour as it sends the results to the pump (as the only other person in Cornwall advised me). I thought this reading would be enough to suspend or have I got this wrong ?! Thank you
(This is my first post on forums).

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Here's a link to the 640G getting started manual. The Smartguard feature is part of the CGM system (page 35 onwards), not the blood testing component. It needs to know the velocity of your interstitial glucose to understand whether you are heading low and suspend insulin.

I have a 640g without cgm. I use the contour next - it sends bgl results to pump but does not suspend if you have a low reading, you can bolus from meter but it doesn't use the bolus wizard so wouldn't be much use to me.