Before I started with CGM and pump I was having worrisome nocturnal hypo.
Those technologies did not solve my problem, learning what they needed to work well and geting thst information did. What the tech does is pay closer attention and give me a bigger buffer zone, but it only saves me time and effort because I made some minor changes and gave iut good numbers.
Every system follows one basic rule. It doesn’t matter how good the tech is, how it works or what it tries to do, GIGO. Garbage in. garbage out.
I’ve been watching what CIQ does intently since starting it and have not seen any evidence of “skyrocketing BG” after a suspension ends. (imo, If you do, then start by setting the CGM alert levels to more within range and the rise/fall alerts more sensitive. Thse annoying alerts should motivate you to change behavior to reduce them and give more time to react appropriately… )
BUT, I never trust technology to do what I can’t do pretty well without it, using similar, reliable information. it’s a good thing that I did because practically from the start I had problems with sites. I used a CGM without a pump for more than a month to get my diet under halfway decent control before I started with a Tandem t:slim. During that time the CGM was untrustworthy about 30% of the time as I mined my body for unspoiled sites.
Since both Tandems algorithms depend on good approximations of BG data, ICR and basal rate profile. I was changing insulin from Novolin to Novolog, so I had to determine those numbers a lot closer than my endo’s generic guesstimate.
I chose to not start with CIQ because it would have made determing my numbers more difficult as it constantly adjusted the basal delivery rate. Instead I started using BIQ for its alerting of nocturnal drops, and turned it off as I did my testing.
For a few weeks I followed the directions in “Think like a Pancreas” with the pump in manual mode to get really good estimates for my basal profile ICR, and CF. I had gotten to zero time below range for almost a month. I was only getting night time alarms well above true 80 mg/dL - from compression.
It helped that I’m older, a make, very careful about my diet, I’m aware of my food intake.and my new ICR is around 1:9. I used Xdrip+ to progressively alarm as I approached and passed out of range. That helped me quickly adjust the ICR to a reasonable approximation. Everyone is different, but not that different. Younger women would have a periodic monthly metabolic change. Adolescents would have growth spurts. The first is a cyclcal change and the other has a trend. These would require time to track but are not totally random.
An unplanned, erratic lifestyle would have too many variables to identify useful correlations and patterns. It’s impossible to manage randomness well… A person with those should be satisfied with an improvement in TIR using CIQ.
imo, Someone who is already using Lantus and a “fast” analog and getting reasonable result should have an easier time doing what I did, because their total basal and average ICR should already be pretty close. Mine were way off from decades of injecting Novolins.
After I had good numbers, with Basal IQ only at night, it rarely ever suspended, During the day it only suspended when I anticipated it, and its only issue was if it dumped the balance of an undelivered extended bolus. CIQ supposedly doesn’t have that problem. Now having ALL my parameters tuned, without CIQ, I expect to stay in range +90%.
Now, the only times I would expect CIQ to suspend delivery would be at night from compression, after meal dosing from a low level but before a delayed meal taking effect, and following unplanned heavy exertion. Because I’m not dependent on the pump, but use it as a convenient assistant, those times should be rare. All the subsequent rises should be expected and moderate.
There’s a saying that I’ve adopted but I try to live my life by . it’s that doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result is willful ignorance.