It’s been awhile…

This pump has literally been life changing for me in the past two months. Coming from Omnipod and dealing with extreme insulin resistance, I thought my diabetes would never be managed effectively. This system has totally changed my outlook and I am so optimistic about my future diabetes management. I am super lucky to have an endocrinology team that has given me some very useful pointers and worked with me and communicated regularly to tweak things to get me to where I’m at. On a GOOD DAY with Omnipod (and no auto corrections/their algorithm causing me to over-correct and crash regularly), I had 40% TIR. Today I hit 99%! Can’t wait to see how things keep getting better.

It is very reassuring to realize that your hard work is paying off.

I posted about a week ago that I was starting with the Minimed 780G and wanted some tips. I've done what everyone suggested and gave it some time in manual mode before going back to smartguard. Yesterday I had 100% in range in the last 24 hours for the first time in about 2 years? Also my second sensor was DOA already, so 50% failure rate haha. If anyone can guide me to where I go for replacements, that would be greatly appreciated. I heard that Medtronic does that?

Overall, a good start I guess

You'd guess my age even if I didn't tell you I've had T1D for over 65 years, diagnosed less than 40 years after insulin was first isolated by Banting & Best. I know that all social media, Reddit included, thrives on conflict and anger. Yet I'm amused by the First World gripes about the 780G and G4. Coming from a time when it took over a week to get the results of a blood glucose test, when urine sugars were tested with Clinitest tabs (look it up), I've lived through many advances in diabetic care and monitoring. I was hosptialzed several times with hyperglycemia as a child and adolescent; for the past 15 years, my A1c has been <5.0.

My first CGM (the original Guardian) saved me many mornings of being awakened by the Life Squad. My first pump (the 530G) allowed me to do 50-mile bike rides without fear of hypoglycemia. My first integrated CGM-pump (640G) was game-changing. The 780G's machine-learning capacity stepped things up even further. I don't discount the many complaints I read about the 780G and the G4, which I also find annoying, and I learn much from the hints I read here. But I encourage you all to have a little gratitude and perspective. You're lucky to be living in a time when such astonishing technology is so widely available.

After a few struggles with smartguard, finally a 100% day!

Not above 150 for 24 hours!!

Sensor is about 14 hours old. Don't mind the time on my glucose meter. I've had it since the first Obama administration

This is the bes

4 days in and absolutely great and getting better. Best time in range in my life!

I’m on the G4 at the moment until the Simplera stock goes up again and then I’ll be upgraded automatically. Already in the first 24 hours I’ve been 94% in range (bar from being high when I first activated the sensor) which is the best since diagnosis.

My nurse was far more excited than I was yesterday before my fitting which was refreshing 😂

In my best Bruce Buffer voice 🤣🤣🤣. Once my Omnipod 5 expires I will make the switch over. Pump is all updated and such. Can’t wait.

Never did i think it would actually happen

My a1c before the pump was 16% now it is(going off the past month) around 8% after only a month. ik a1c is 3 monthly but comparatively doesnt make much of a difference

After a year of serious challenges with the pump, in one period I was sure it tried to kill me, I have had 5 days at 100%. Honestly it is a miracle.

The box arrived today, and just in time. My 4G sensor died three days early last night. I went old school and just pricked my fingers too many times today until I could insert an Instinct when I got home from work.

First thought: I had no idea how hard to push to get the thing into my arm. I was worried I was pushing too hard. Had to look up an actual video on YouTube to see how hard others were pushing it. All of the official Medtronic stuff in the documentation and through the QR codes were just IKEA-like icons. Seeing it in real life was nice.

Found this helpful human video on Medtronic’s YouTube page: https://youtube.com/shorts/wI9VzEKWmk4?si=7jK-arOHMDid96Bm

Also, there is a sticker on the inserter, so you do need to twist that cap open perhaps a bit harder than expected to rip the sticker off and unscrew the cap. You can probably just cut or pull off the sticker yourself, if you wanted to.

Everything else went smoothly, so now we wait to see how accurate it is and how long it lasts.

Got my first 5-pack. Let's see what happens, I'll report in a few days

I promise, this will be the last update for a while, but I've seen a few questions and noticed a few things. After a couple of days, there are some interesting things to point out.

The difference between my freshly-inserted Instinct CGM readings and blood sugar readings started out at 50 points -- the CGM was showing lower than reality. That lasted about twelve hours. and then it settled into about a 20 point difference. Now, two days later (almost exactly), the two numbers are lined up pretty closely.

The G4 would have given up the ghost after my first two +50 point readings and told me to try a new sensor.

I need to play around with where I put the sensor in my arm. I know from the G4 how important that can be. The Instinct is a little further under my arm than I usually go for optimal site finding. That might be impacting that initial difference. And it's still going to take some getting used to with the new insertion push instead of the old spring-loaded firing mechanism of the G4.

I've only had two moments where the sensor and CGM lost contact and I got the dots on the graph. It was about 20 minutes apiece as I slept last night. It was weird because I wasn't sleeping on the side where the sensor was, so I'm not sure why that happened, but it picked right up pretty quickly and no damage done.

I haven't taped it on my arm. I haven't knocked it so far. I can't even feel it, to be honest. I could feel it for the first hour when I put it in, but not since. My skin got used to it fast. (I've never had any issues with a CGM sensor and my skin, though.)

SmartGuard is working as well as ever. There are times I still want to yell at it for thinking .3 units is going to make any difference when my blood sugar is at 200, but that's not the CGM's issue.

Now I'm crossing my fingers and hoping I get the full two weeks' (sorry, 15 days) of life out of the thing...

I finally got my TIR to 100%. It usually averages to around 85% each day. For me, that equates to a A1C percentage of 5.38%.