I keep glucose tabs or jelly beans in a RX container, under my pillow. No need to get up to treat a low.
What do you normally use to treat?
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Skittles by the bed, skittles in the kitchen, skittles with me when Iâm away from the house. One carb each; easy to calculate how many to take, donât melt, donât leak (Iâve had juice boxes and even cans leak)
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Honestly it depends on what I am doing. I keep pineapple juice close to my bed. My thing is I have absolutely no energy sometimes. So I literally feel like I canât get up to treat my lows. I have multiple autoimmune diseases and my energy level has gotten worse and worse over the years.
I would rather an insulin pump reduce my insulin and prevent the lows then have to treat.
See that is what I am afraid of. I currently have the Medtronic Revel. I gave up on the low suspend 3 months after receiving my pump. Medtronics sensors were not as accurate for me and the alarms drove me nuts. My Dexcom is spot on for me so I went back and just use it separately. My body is really sensitive to insulin too. So if I use more than 4 units at a time I will have a low. But I also can go high very easily.
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Soft peppermints for me. 5 grams each, but if Iâm running low thatâs minimum intake. Individually wrapped, too. Easier to get at Christmas, but sometimes available other times, in 2-3 lb. packages. I keep some in a baggy in my purse, in a bowl in the kitchen, in the drawer of my bedside table.
Of course, I also do this with glasses, too. Since I had cataract surgery, Iâm single vision, and can buy glasses off the shelf at the dollar store. 
I understand everyoneâs frustration with the phrase âArtificial Pancreasâ but I was just using the wording that everyone has in its articles and information. I even think the JDRF uses this phrase when referring to these updated pumps. Honestly though I would not want a pump with Glucagon and Insulin. I think with me that could cause a lot of issues. I have rebound highs sometimes so my body seems to be putting out something like Glucagon. Iâm not sure.
The thought of being able to use a pump that adjusts accordingly to your CGM is definitely a great thing though. So I canât wait to try one out.
Kristy, I wasnât complaining about you putting that term in the thread title. I was complaining in general, about the over-usage of a FAKE TERM. Donât take my issue with the term personally. PLEASE. I understand why u wrote that, because thatâs how the media bandies about the term.
No worries. Most of the information I have seen lately uses that wording. I understand the frustration. A lot of people who donât have Type 1 have all kinds of false information. I had a relative ask me (question) recently about eating bread. Lol. They thought diabetics shouldnât / couldnât eat bread. They were just confused that I was eating a piece of it. The funny thing is I normally donât eat too much bread. Also, people love to say that I canât have things without even asking me first. I just laugh it off at this point.
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We cant make a determination of coverage based on company. BCBS is statewide (i.e. BCBS of AZ, IL, etc), and even within the same company different policies often provide different coverage. Just because your BCBSIL policy covers something doesnt mean my BCBSAZ policy will. You just have to call to find out exactly.
*note: I work for BCBS of AZ).
I agree that words do matter. I also agree that the current generation of devices (without glucagon) do not deserve to be referred to as a âpancreasâ of any type. Theyâre next-gen âsmart pumpsâ.
Having said that, the term âartificial pancreasâ is a recently invented term, and as such it means whatever people eventually agree that it means. Based on the conversation here, it sounds like that definition is up for debate now.
Additionally, the FDA does not define an âartificial pancreasâ (which sounds like a synthesized organ transplant). They define an âartificial pancreas device systemâ which, again, is an invented term with an invented definition. It is surprising that while they define the pancreas as a multi-hormoal organ, they define the âartificial pancreas device systemâ as being mono-hormonal.
And technically, the pancreas is far more complicated than a two hormone organ; as far as I know there are no plans to bring to market a tri-chamber insulin/glucagon/amylin pump.
So honestly, any definition for an âartificial pancreas device systemâ is going to come up short when compared to an actual, functioning organ so my suggestion is to have the conversation and also try to relax until 2022, when the glucagon-enabled iLet is projected to be on the market.
I heard that term in the late 1990âs if not earlier, so not sure how ârecentâ the term is.
In what context was the term used in the late 1990s (or earlier)?
EDIT: sort of answering my own question here.
Not sure exactly when the term itself was coined, but efforts have been made to create a âclosed loopâ (a.k.a âartificial pancreasâ) system since the 1960s, though this was intravenously administered and unsuitable for outpatient use.
Perhaps you began hearing the term when Minimed released the first CGM sensors in the late 1990s? It would make sense they began the conversation by being first to market, and subsequently overpromising and underdelivering. That seems to be their standard operating practice.
Hereâs how I know it was in the 90âs. I got my pump in 1996. I soon heard about artificial pancreas. Iâm not going on an internet expedition to prove my point. Cheers. (Hype is a nasty thing when it promises medical advances that donât come soon, or even in oneâs lifetime)
Dave, Iâm not challenging you. Iâm also not here to give you work that you donât want to do. Youâve brought up a thought-provoking point thatâs made me curious, and Iâm investigating. Thatâs all. This response is for everyone to discuss, so please only reply If you choose to because it makes you happy to do so. Lord knows thereâs plenty in the world now to make us upset, and a friendly diabetes forum discussion is the last place one should feel put upon.
For the broader readership (and Dave, if it interests you), when did the term (accurately or not) âartificial pancreasâ come into the lexicon? Anecdotally Dave says the late 90s and I agree that it could have well been popularized at that time because it fits the profile that Medtronic would oversell their technology because the timing works out with the release of their 1st gen of CGM sensors, and thatâs what Medtronic regularly does. But it does look like thereâs an interesting history before that. I seem to recall at a TCOYD conference in San Diego that Dr. Edelman shows pics of 1970s diabetes tech and there was a story about a type 1 guy who was perfectly controlled, but had to be stuck in a hospital bed for it to happen. The efforts have been to create an outpatient automated closed-loop system ever since, and it looks like technology is finally catching up with the therapy ideas that have been circulating for a long time.
Closed-loop, artificial pancreas, colloquially it implies varying degrees of the same technology. Yeah, I wish the words were more precise, too. Personally, it doesnât bother me what you call it⌠Just donât call it late for dinner (because I might go hypoglycemic⌠Though not with a dual chamber glucagon-added pump)
and it all boils down to one fact: there is no âartificial pancreasââŚyet. Hyperbole, especially when directed to an audience such as us is especially cruel. I curse reporters who write headlines promising a cure is either here, or just around the corner. And then there is the cinnamon thing. good grief.