Hello, for the past year, I’ve been on the Medtronic 770 G insulin pump with smart guard. As of recent, my doctor put me on Ozempic; since that time I’ve had to come off the pump to daily injections. Due to obviously not eating enough to keep my blood sugar up. I was told by a Medtronic trainer that I should be OK because the pump would not let me bottom out using smart guard. I got so frustrated I just gave up. Was I doing something wrong?
Was the lowest basal setting not low enough or did you not change your basal rate when you went on Ozempic? You should be able to set your pump basal low enough that you don’t have to eat to feed your basal.
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That sounds like bad advice. Call your endo for better info to reset programmed basals.
I was told that no matter what my basal settings are, the pump in smart guard mode would ignore.
Maybe I don’t understand “Smart Guard”?
I don’t know what the lowest basal that can be set on a Medtronic pump but my Tandem pump just shuts off insulin delivery, so it shouldn’t really matter. I have my work basal set at .2 for the whole day with no problems.
I use Victoza which has also helped reduce my appetite but it’s not like I don’t eat any more. But my meal sizes have decreased.
I do think another chat with your medical team could help clear up these questions. Good luck finding a treatment plan that works for you!
I’m assuming smart guard is like basal-IQ, which means that it will suspend your basal when it predicts you’re going low. But you want to start with more or less the right basal level. If your basal keeps pushing you low and smart guard keeps on cycling your basal off and on again that doesn’t seem ideal. Yes, smart guard would offer you some protection from severe lows, but no system is perfect and you don’t want to be feeding or fighting your basal.
The Medtronic algorithm uses your TDD (total daily dose) from previous days as a guide. It will probably sort itself out eventually, when it realizes you don’t need as much insulin, but it doesn’t sound like a good idea to keep using it if it’s making you go low.
If you are able to come up with good manual mode settings you can stay in manual mode for awhile. THen go back into auto mode where it should now base it’s calculations on your current usage.
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How are you doing on syringe insulin now?