What is your target range on your pump?

That would be nice if Dex would allow you to pick what you want for the range. Alot of people act like I am nuts having it at 120 but I figure the sooner I can treat a high, then I won’t be going to an even higher number.

You’re absolutely right Kelly. I found it takes 20 minutes for my Novolog to kick in, so at a slow incline I can catch a high at 120 and keep it from going over 130 in theory.

You aren’t nuts, but any means! Setting the high range to 120 seemed to help folks over in the Flatliners group, quite a bit.

It takes 20 minutes for my Apidra to kick in also. I did a one week trial of the Dex before getting it and when the sales guy was setting the alarms, he kept asking me what I wanted the high set at. When I would say 120, he thought I meant that as the low. I finally told him I had my Navigator set at 70 & 140 (that was the lowest you could set the Navigator high) and he realized I did not mean 120 as a low.

90 +/- 10

I think 2-3 years ago I would have thought the same. A low of 120 is perfect! Now, however I think of 120 as a high, like you. Its interesting to me how that has changed since I see my numbers lower than 120 a lot more often than I ever have before. Intesring though that the sales guy couldn’t get his head around the concept. lol.

I probably would have thought the same 3 years ago also. There was another guy that was being trained that day - he had actually bought the Dex. He showed up with his FedEx box not even opened. He wanted his high set at 200. The sales guy was probably used to more people like that than people wanting the high at 120.

right now I’m at a target range of between 80-150. It may change once I can change my dexcom range lower than 300. Right now I am still new to the pump. So right now its at 150.

You’ll get it down, it takes time and has a tremendous learning curve. Both Kelly and I have been at this for 25+ years. As I understand it, its only been recently that we have both come under super tight control (see posts above re 3 years ago). Just take it a day at a time and try to learn what effects your BGs. All we can do is try.

I agree with Onesaint Amy, just take one step at a time and you will get there.

90 +/- 10

I have two target ranges. 7a to 10p target is 100 +/- 0 and 10p to 7a 120 +/- 0. I have been on a pump and cgm now for 11 months so I’m fairly new at this. I first started with 120 +/- 10 and 140 +/- 20 respectively. My Dex range is 70 to 150. I started out on that with the high end of 200. As my control has increased, I’ve ben gradually lowering my ranges. My A1c in the same 11 months has gone from 9.2 to 6.5. So, I’m on my way but just not there yet.

When I first started out with the pump, Amy, I confused the BG Target setting with what my goals were. The number is really just what the pump will recommend to correct to. So you might want to make it a lesser range. It took me awhile to see the difference. So let’s say you are high, at 180. If you set your target to 120, it will then tell you how much insulin you need to lower your blood sugar from 180 to 120. If you give it such a wide range it won’t give you a precise amount to correct. When I am either too high or too low before a meal I’ll “add bg” so it will give me a correction. But if I’m in range, I’ll skip that step and just use the carbs.

This is how I was taught also. For example if your bg goal range is 80 to 110 (quoting ACE guidelines) and you put that into the pump as your target then you’ll never actually end up between 80 and 110 as the pump will only correct to your high or your low. By setting a target of 100 or somewhere right in the middle of your goal range you’re more likely to actually end up in goal range.

This is one thing I really like about the Animas as you are in effect setting both a target and a goal range if you use the +/- settings with the target. With Minimed it will only correct lows to your low target and highs to your high target.

i have always been brittle so my Endo has me set the pump to 120-140. I can drop Quickly in no time. I have been on the pump for 11 yrs and it’s pretty much been set like this the whole time. My A1c’s are great so i believe this is a good fit for me. It may take a little while, but you will find what works for you.

when I started on the dexcom I had it between 80-150…that went up to 200 then 260 then its set to 300. I am hoping to bring that 300 on the dexcom down. But my pump has it set as a target goal of 150

That is pretty tight! My pump target is 95 although I will sometimes manually shave that back to about 90 if I’m not too far off target and haven’t been having problems with lows.

Maurie

My pump doesn’t have a target range, it just has one number. I have it set at 5.5 mmol/L (100 mg/dl).

Maurie, ours are not that different! When I had the +/- 10 that put me close to your number. I changed mine after Claire said not having it helps ward off discrepancies. I also changed it from 85 to 83 after reading Alan’s post.

Kelly - They aren’t that different but the theory of small numbers works both ways. A mere 15 points - margin of error on a test around 90 - is the difference between 60 and 45. I tend to dip early and then climb so I’m trying very hard to give myself some space. 5-10 points makes a difference these days since I’ve started to get more lows in the 40s although that’s not the case this week when I can barely hold under 120.

I remember when I first told a good CDE that I was targeting in the 90s and she said - “Please don’t target under 100”.

Maurie

Mine is 100-120 and my last A1c was 6.0 with an avg of 121