Tandem X2 and Basal-IQ

abdomen is where I wear all my dex sites. I put pump sites in my chest, legs and arms.

I do abdomen also for g5. works like a charm. sites are on the other side of abdomen. I never do any other locations.

I still maintain it is more about reliability. I think the accuracy is more dependent on have a WORKING G6 sensor.
Most people say that WHEN it works, it works great. (Not all, but most.)

Now, to me, my personal opinion, this sounds a lot more like a reliability issue than a true accuracy issue.

I have STELLAR results from my G5 with XDRIP. I have gotten even lazier. I will do an initial calibration (I usually take 3 or more finger sticks to get a better picture of my BG, and not rely on an inaccurate meter.) After that, I might do one or two more, then I donā€™t calibrate any more. I have went two weeks without calibrating my G5 using xdrip! And it is darn close if/when I actually check it.

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this morning, my G5 was 1 point different than a meter reading. Iā€™d call that ā€œstellarā€ also. :slight_smile:

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@Big_Ed, have you used an extended bolus and have Basal-IQ activate? How, do you work around that scenario?

Wow, Anthony thatā€™s an excellent question and would love to hear the answer myself (donā€™t have the t:slim yet, but planning on it)

If you set an extended bolus and basal IQ activates because you start to turn downward on your trend your extended bolus will get canceled and there will be a message on the screen that will nag you with an alert to tell you how much of your bolus was delivered. I do a lot of extended boluses because I run Fiasp in my pump and also mix fiasp with Novolog in my pump. I find that with Fiasp the Basal IQ is more effective than Novolog or Humalog by itself because the insulin rate of decay is faster and it does not hang out in your system as long.

@Tim35 was saying that they turn off the basal-IQ when doing extended boluses if they think it will affect it.
I donā€™t have the G6 yet, but I do have the Basal-IQ enabled. It is just a couple quick buttons to turn it off and on (just have to remember to turn it BACK ON.)

Can you elaborate on that? This could be read in a couple of different ways. I assume only one of these possible meanings is what you are doing.
:slight_smile:

I still have the G5 setup, but I did get the pump updated to run the Basal-IQ.
So now I can see the settings on my pump, and see how easy it is to enable/disable the Basal-IQ.
I am on Xdrip now because I had to replace the batteries in my G5 transmitter. So I cannot integrate the G5 with the pump anyways.

If using the extended bolus for food then yes. That is probably the more typical usage.

However we also find the Basal-IQ super convenient for correcting high BG as well. We can do an extended bolus over a number of hours. When the BG is coming down and predicted to be 80 within 30 minutes than any remaining extended gets cancelled. Really works excellent for us.

With the Basal-IQ update on the pump, will the pump integrate with the G5 at all?

ie - What happens if you put the G5 transmitter number into the X2 when the Basal-IQ update is installed?

Unfortunately my transmitter expired MANY months ago. I have replaced the batteries in my last transmitter twice since then.
So, no luck (and I HAVE tried!)

My G6 experience has been mixed. I can figure out if it varies by lot or site or what. I have found itā€™s important to have the actually insertion site be clean: alcohol only, no skin prep. I skin prep the surrounding area then alcohol the area where the needle will go in now.

When it is on it is remarkably on. Within 5 points of my meter for 20 days at a time with no calibrations (I restart the good ones). The bad ones will be way off and I can kind of calibrate them to meh off with 2 exceptions then Dexcom has replaced.

So far about 2/3rds seem to be good but the bed one third is very discouraging.

Thatā€™s awful that you canā€™t count on the G6. IF 1/3 are not working well it would make it darn difficult to rely on the system. Iā€™d want to keep double checking with a meter and that, for me, would make the G6 useless. I had a similar issue with Enlitesā€“so often inaccurate, Iā€™d check no less than 18 x a day. Sometimes more than 22.

This makes me want to wear both my G5 with Xdrip, and G6 with the tandem pump at the same time to see how they compare.
I see the VA is set to finally fill my prescription for the G6 (they never even did my last G5 refill, which I put in for about 7 months ago I think. )

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Thatā€™s cool that the VA is getting u the G6. Is that totally covered? I never think about my VA benefits because of a number of factors that Iā€™ll not bore everyone with., :slight_smile: Medicare has been pretty good to me, along with UHC Plan F.

The VA paid 100% for my pump and the dexcom transmitters.
I have a small copay on the G5/6 sensors, and for pump cartridges and infusion sets.
The VA is great for prescriptions, once you actually GET THEM. They are easy to refill, cost very little, etc.
The hard part is going through their system to get them in the first place.

That is ONE of the issues I had when I went to orientation for my benefits.

I check twice a day the first day or two to see how itā€™s doing. By then I know if itā€™s good or not. Then I check once every other day or so to make sure itā€™s still on point.