I’m sorry to hear you do not have luck with the Enlite. Have you called Medtronic to try to ascertain why the Enlites are not giving you accurate data?
Many times.
Congrats! I know this was a difficult decision. We’ll all be interested to learn about your experiences with this pump!
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Thanks @LoffKat for this great posting. My first question is: Since there are a lot of moving parts to this automode, have you gone from babysitting your diabetes to now babysitting this device? You mentioned about being in the water and the sensor and pump losing a connection, etc. I’m wondering how much of your time is now spent on keeping all the gears moving smoothly without it affecting your life too much.
Thanks!
That great Anthony, congrats! How are you finding sensor accuracy compared to Enlites?
Hardly any time at all. I have so much less To do. Once knew the trick for
the water it’s worked like a charm.
Once the initial effect of WANTING to look at it to see how it’s doing, you
don’t look at it often.
Kate
@LoffKat, How often is the automode asking you to calibrate now? On average how many times a day do you do a manual BG sanity check?
I calibrate more than it asks, around 3-4 times a day (usually 3). I
typically test before I eat as well. My average BG quantity is 8 times a
day over the past 2 weeks. I do find myself testing more than I did
before, but I was not the best diabetic. That being said, a sanity check?
At most once a day. I trust it. It’s managing my diabetes more
effectively than I was ever able to do myself.
Kate
It does not allow you to change those ranges for management, but it does allow you to change those numbers for the pie chart.
My endo was pushing me to get this system but, A: I am not crazy about Medtronic, B: I had just got the new t:slim X2 (though he says they are going to have a program to let you switch to the 670G from other manufacturers… I mean clearly they could sell the pumps for way cheaper, they make most of their money from supplies anyways…but I digress), and C: I really don’t see how such systems could benefit me that much. It takes so long for insulin to start and stop working for me, and depending on the type of food I have to vary how much immediate bolus I take and how much extended, if any. It takes at least an hour usually for insulin to even start working, and then it peaks around 2.5-3 hours with a total working time of about 4-4.5 hours. Unless the insulin had a more immediate action (especially in the case of an “artificial pancreas”), and it could judge how to schedule the bolus depending on each type of food, I don’t think I would see much improvement or ease. Unless there is something I’m missing about how it works.
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Displayname?
Well, one of the biggest learning curves about being on the pump is
learning to let go of micromanaging your diabetes (I was a hugely active
manager of my diabetes) and the let the pump with its algorithm perform its
tasks. The pump, when in Auto Mode, functions very differently from all
other pumps up till this one. I completely understand your concern about
peaks and durations of insulin effectiveness, but they’ve taken that into
account. While in Manual mode the first week while it was learning my
trends, my active insulin time was set to the insulin manufacturer’s
specifications. However, when going into Auto Mode, the Active insulin
setting turns into a Peak Insulin time to accommodate for the continual
micro boluses. Because after all, after the insulin has peaked, it’s not
going to do a whole lot more for you on its way down. I used to have
issues with pizza and bagels on a manual pump. Bagels were awful for me so
I cut them out of my diet because I could never manage how to prevent it.
For me, since going into Auto Mode, I have had a bagel and nothing
happened, the was a slight increase in my food. It is constantly adjusting
your insulin every few minutes to keep you in that target zone. It’s a
very complex algorithm which is always adjusting to keep you in range.
Do you prebolus your meals? I do about 20 minutes because that’s where I
got the best results and my meals are no longer a concern like they used to
be. I’d be happy to discuss this with you more if you want a detailed
description of being on it, the changes and the improvements I’ve had. Of
course, everyone is different, I am happy to provide as much information as
possible to aid you in making that decision.
Kate
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Thanks Kate! I’m more or less committed–I signed on for the 630–>670 deal–but I dithered a lot because I’ve been using Dexcom with my old M-t Paradigm pump, having heard all the not-so-great stuff about the Enlite system. Part of what persuaded me was the assurances that the Guardian 3 Enlites required for the 670 are a whole different animal, but more than that it was seeing real data from the user trials that showed the kind of results you’re describing. So it’s good to hear some reassurance that I won’t be kicking myself when I do the upgrade. Worst case is I go back to just using the pump on manual and revert to G5, the way I’ve been doing till now, but obviously I’m hoping for better than that. FWIW, my experience with Medtronic tech- and customer-support has been the opposite of what I’m seeing on this thread–I’ve always found them quite responsive and eager to help. Not doubting, just YDMV applies here too I guess.
Question: when did you start on the 670? Were you in the trials?
I’ve had a fantastic experience with Medtronic’s customer support as well.
It saddens me a bit that others have not had the same experience. They’ve
always been super responsive with me and always resolve any issue I’ve had
within a very short period of time.Im about to show my age… Mostly LUser
errors (limited user)…lol
I was not part of the trials, but I was part of the Customer Training Phase
prior to release.
My control just keeps getting better! (I had a very long vacation in
Mexico where I messed up my stats…too many Pina Coladas…) But only
range number is climbing up again! I think the Guardian 3 sensors are
GREAT! I am putting together a statistics chart on the GS3 and the
DexcomG5. They’re pretty darn close!
Kate
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Yup–those look like some of the charts I was seeing when I met with my local M-t rep. They also had ones showing BG over Basal delivery, first with traditional basal rates and then with auto-delivery. In the former there were the big square wave basals, 4-5 per day, with BG jittering around on top the way it does. In the latter it was the basal that was jittering around, sometimes spiking up, sometimes zeroing out entirely, while the BG described a much smoother curve above. Like, y’know, a real metabolism. Not perfect of course but a heck of a lot closer than anything we’ve had available thus far. They don’t seem to have put those particular charts online anywhere unfortunately, at least I haven’t been able to find them.
ETA: one caveat for me as for a lot of people is that the minimum BG target for the 670G is 120, which is roughly where I’m at with my current method–low carb and M-t pump with Dexcom CGM, but I’ll have to see what happens when I start on it. I’m running about 6.0-6.1 A1Cs.
Unless I have misread, 120 BG is not the “minimum” target but rather “the” target on the 670G and non-adjustable.
/start sarcasm
One size fits all because obviously everybody’s Diabetes is exactly the same
/end sarcasm
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That may be right–I wasn’t quite sure about it and too lazy to look it up, but I know you can’t set it below 120, which is what I see most people around here complaining about, so that’s what I went with. A 120 average is equivalent to like a 5.8 A1C and I’ve never run an A1c in the 5’s since dx so I’m ok with it.
I had my 670G since Thursday and had my AutoMode training at noon. So now I’m in Auto! Diabetic 52 years, pumping 16, CGM’ing with Medtronic for 9. I’m brittle and trying to keep in range is absolutely exhausting. Temp Basals, Dual Wave boluses, bolus 20 minutes before eating always! Should my dual wave be 2 hours? longer? shorter? What percentage up front? Crap - bg is 265!!!
I’m really hoping and praying this makes my life easier.
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Jane,
Remember to be patient. I was on the 670G for a full week before going on to Auto Mode and it worked well for me. There isn’t a dual wave or square wave bolus in Auto Mode on the 670G (something which was concerning to me at first, but after my first experience with pizza and having since partaken in BAGELS, I’m confident it’s not needed) I have had great success pre meal bolusing 20-30 minutes prior to eating depending upon how quickly the food makes me rise. I’ve gotten great tips from the Facebook 670G Users Please check it out.
Kate
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Thank you- nice suggestions. I requested to join the Facebook group.
Jay
Day 9 in Auto mode. I’m testing this pump and it’s doing better than I ever would or could expect!
The accuracy of the Guardian 3 is substantially better than the Enlites and I thought I had pretty good results with those sensors and the 630g.
I’m loving the fact that I not constantly worried about which temp basal to use, which bolus to choose, how long to run the extended basal etc. etc. etc.
Went for a swim and kept the pump close to the sensor and did the temp target and my bg was 98 when I got out!!! This is near miraculous!!!