I will be switching to the Tandem Slim X2 soon. My questions is what changes did you have to make to switch. Will I be able to keep the basal programs. Will I have to make any adjustments. I read that if you go from Animas to X2 you need to set a longer DÍA? How true is that and what other things do I need to be aware of?
There are two important things that you will have to adjust to when you go from Animas to Tandem. First, when you fill a cartridge, tubing, or cannula, you pause insulin delivery. Somehow with Animas, you never have to “Resume Insulin;” it happens automatically. With Tandem I kept forgetting to be patient enough to go through all of the screens to resume insulin and thus eventually would get an alarm 10+ minutes later that insulin is still suspended. I finally adjusted after a couple of weeks but 2-1/2 years later still periodically make that mistake.
The other issue I had was that I was used to Animas’ quick delivery of bolus insulin (and I used the Animas slow setting.) I occasionally bolus for breakfast while getting dressed. So with Animas I programmed the bolus and it immediately delivered. With Tandem, insulin takes forever to deliver and it doesn’t even start delivering for a while. This is part of the micro-bolus technology and is supposed to be a good thing. Well when I was getting dressed, I would program my Tandem bolus and then without thinking, disconnect the pump to change from my PJ’s to my day clothes. More than once, I would hear the bolus deliver as my pump was disconnected. I had no way of knowing how much, if any of the bolus was delivered into my body. So once again, it was just something different I had to adjust to.
I don’t think that I changed the duration of insulin on my pump going from Animas to Tandem. But it is nice to have more precision than a 30-minute change.
Good luck with the transition.
Thank you.
Beyond getting use to the new software, the main adjustment for me was the completely different pumping mechanism. The flow rate is lower than Animas so boluses take longer (that’s something I wanted). The way to fill a cartridge is very different; again attributable to the pump. Once the learning curve was over it became second nature.
I did have to make minor adjustments to my basal profile. I suspect there are small differences in pump accuracy at low flow rates. I started with the same profile I used for my Animas pump and made the fine adjustments from there.
Do you plan on using Basal-IQ?
I would like to give it a try but only after I pin point my basal rates. I have 5 different ones set on my Animas Ping and they are dialed in pretty perfect right now. I’m dreading dealing with having to make adjustments since everything is so perfect now.
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