I have used the t:slim for the past year which for the most part I love however with my super active lifestyle the tubing has really been frustrating. I am in the process of getting the Omnipod but there is one thing I really need your guys’ help with.
I am still in my honeymoon phase meaning I still make a tiny bit of my own insulin. Right now, overnight (from about 11PM-7AM), I do not require any insulin - I ALWAYS come down and stay steady around 90-130 on my own without my pump attached. If I do stay connected to my t:slim overnight for whatever reason, my t:slim’s basal rate is set to 0.0 so I don’t get any insulin/go low which is super great.
If I get the Omnipod, I have been made aware that it does not allow you set a 0.0 basal rate as part of your daily basal settings like I have on my t:slim. The lowest basal rate is 0.05u/hr. If I did this basal rate overnight I would go low (I obviously would not have the option to “disconnect” from the omnipod as I would with my tubed pump).
So basically I am trying to figure out the easiest way to deal with this:
Option 1) “suspend delivery” on the omnipod lets you suspend insulin for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 2 hours. HOWEVER, the omnipod apparently beeps every 15 MINUTES when the insulin is suspended and then alarms when the suspension period is over to tell you to resume. This would NOT be an option overnight as I am sure you can all imagine the beeping would be unbearable and plus, the maximum insulin suspension time period is 2 hours. So I’d be waking up all night to deal with this. So option 1 of “suspend” is just not really an option at all.
Option 2) This option is where I really need clarity from someone who knows the omnipod well. Would I be able to set a temporary basal every night to -100% or 0 or OFF (don’t know omnipod’s terminology for this?) for 8ish hours? This would be ideal for me. Is there a way to do an automatic temporary basal of 0.0 that turns on at 11PM and ends at 8AM? I know the occlusion risks and am not worried about that - I am really just wondering if there is an easy/automatic way to turn off/not get any basal overnight.
My son had a similar issue when he first started pumping, ten years ago. We used the temp basal feature, and turned it to “off” for several hours at night. Your settings need to be for temp basal units rather than percentage. You can set the temp basal for up to 12 hours and insulin will automatically resume at the end of whatever period you set.
Using the suspend feature is definitely less desirable for the reasons you stated and also that you must turn the pump back on, it will not resume regardless of the period you set.
The drawback is that you have to remember and be awake to set the temp basal. For Caleb this was at 1am every morning.
Lorraine is correct that it will NOT stop the suspend feature unless you tell it to. You will not receive insulin until you resume the pump. Option 1 is otherwise correct, I would put the receiver in another room (so you don’t hear it beap) and remember to turn it back on in the am. But, 0.05 is a pretty low dose, its possible that you don’t go low. You could try if your comfortable. Eat a snack before bed. If you go the ‘suspend’ method, then be prepared to change the AAA batteries every 3 days or so. They will drain quickly from the beeping. Perhaps you could take the batteries out of the receiver before bed. Anybody know??? I’m pretty sure the POD functions independent of the receiver.
I believe you can set a Temp Basal to decrease 100% (it turns the label to “OFF”) for up to 12 hrs. But I don’t see a way to set up that Temp to turn on automatically every night. If Customer Service has no solutions you might want to propose they consider it for the future upgrades. I bug them regularly with ideas. I’m a retired software weenie… I can’t help it…
Omg - thats amazing thank you! So this would be something I would have to do manually every night before bed. Not ideal but thank you now I know what temporary basals look like on the omnipod. Also once the “12 hour” period is up does it turn back on by itself? Or do you have to accept to resume once its over? On my t:slim now it just goes back to the programmed basal on its own. Thanks again!
