Thank you so much for the tips! My daughter is going to be starting her first pod next week so I'm trying to learn all the tricks. It makes me laugh-people keep saying how great it is that she'll have all her insulin automatic. It couldn't be further from the truth. 😂 This is complicated stuff!
Marissa Neve. I’m here for the same reason: learning before my kid starts a pump. I laugh at the same thing: almost every time someone learns that my kid has diabetes I hear, “Oh, well there are pumps, right?” Or some variation. As if a pump is basically a cure. 🙄 😆 That said, the closed loops seem to be a huge step forward. Especially with all the tips people are kind enough to post online. 🤞
@@bestany5517 good luck to both of you! The pump helps as compared to taking injections, but diabetes requires constant attention regardless of the tools we use!
I am jealous of your carb ratios, T1 for 15 years and I am at 1-10. I appreciate your videos on the omnipod 5, just started mine yesterday and trying to stay on top of what to expect
Hi. Love the videos. Could you do a video about how to place OP5 and dexcom g6 and keeping them in line of sight despite the differing schedules for changes? I’m on 3rd pod and want to put dexcom in other arm, but OP5 is on almost side hip/lower back of what will be the other side if I locate dexcom on my favorite site (using arms)? Pulling my hair out as to how to do this and don’t know why I am making this so hard. Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks if you can.
I have almost the exact same mental struggle, and I honestly thought I was the only one, so thank you for sharing the comment. This is a really good idea and I'll post a video about it either today or tomorrow. One thing to note right off the bat - you get an 8 hour buffer with the OP5. So once it expires, as long as you still have insulin left in it, you can keep wearing it for a few more hours rather than changing it right away. This has helped me, because my dexcom always expires the day after a pod change, and so I wind up trying to wear the OP5 as long as I can, and then change my dexcom a few hours earlier than I normally would. Not ideal, but there are a few other solutions as well that I'll try to mention in the video.
@@dougfabrizio2794 Thanks so much! I had one good day, and keep tweaking to more aggressive settings. I am very well managed on shots, so stressful having blood sugars be high all night. I am now on 5th pod, but was up hours past bedtime sleepily forcing corrections based on cgm. So that and today being my one day a week off exercise is making this erratic. I am wondering if I should just put it in manual for an hour or 30 min. To see if it will pick up those more precise basal segments (I made six for how my body works and my days are very regular and probably micromanaged - I am just so anal about this because I love to be healthy - number 1 priority), and I have been tweaking them every few days, but the one good day gave me hope of living well and letting the pump work. Fingers crossed that today is an anomaly. My trainer now wants me to talk to endo team and they will probably be surprised that I am using more insulin on the pump than mdi, so am trying to get this worked out before that process. Anyway, thanks for all the insight on how the algorithm is probably working. I am getting more micro automated boluses now, but only eat 40-45 carbs each of 3 meals and no snacks and my boluses remain over 60% of total insulin. It trying to kind of flatline and move slowly drives me nuts when it is high, but it lets me rise fairly fast. Anyway, sorry that got long. Very frustrating to be so regulated in food and exercise and habits and then push over 200 last night. Yet, still hopeful! And your experiences are very helpful. Since you are in amstudy, I feel you are very mindful of everything, as I am, so gives me confidence. I am at my 2 year mark with this and honeymoon was over about a year in for me. Thanks again!
@@quadgirl1011 Good luck with it all! Just to say it again - it is completely normal to require more insulin on the OP5 than on MDI. Every single person that I've spoken to directly or heard from on other podcats / youtube channels has had that experience as well. Keep doing what you're doing - correcting early and often - the pump will keep getting better with each pod change. With that said, I still do corrections a lot, but to me it's not a big deal, because I now trust the calculator to give me appropriate amounts when that needs to happen. Relatedly - have you studied the topics of insulin sensitivity and resistance as well? In addition to exercise, there are all sorts of things to eat / drink / take as supplements which can help that as well.
Hi. I enjoy your videos. I was wondering if you”bolus” during exercise if you need to eat a glucose tablet - sort of to let the system know you needed it? Or even in activity mode would it suggest an insulin amount and deliver it and then make you go low again? And related, if you were just going to have glucose during exercise, and had started 150 or higher, why bother with activity mode since it will pause anyway? Last, I am new to the pump, but am waking higher than I want and it lets it stay “high” while I sleep (I can’t make corrections while sleeping) - woke to 148 this morning. Any suggestions for that? Maybe adjust basal info in manual mode? Also - to report a weird thing: yesterday I ate breakfast 8 minutes after my breakfast time ratio expired at 7:00 and bolused, but then realized the amt. of insulin seemed wrong. I then cancelled it and it cancelled and recorded that in my history. I made a change in the time range for breakfast, then re-bolused. Now, today in my history’s total carb count it was over my norm by 42! I check history, it shows the cancellation, but it kept it in my total carb count from yesterday (I only eat meals, no snacks, and only have glucose tabs if low on exercise, so very regulated on 116-126 carbs a day. Any idea why the algorithm would allow this error in actual amount of insulin delivered? Okay, sorry - a final question since we seem to manage the same way (exercise, manage with schedule and accurate data management) and I am only 2 years into this type 1, I changed my ratios for meals and they keep me down the 2.5 hours I set the insulin duration to, but especially after supper, these drift high while sleeping (daytime I can make myself be busy and drop it), so not sure changing ratios again won’t make me go low such that it pauses, but maybe that would be okay? I am finishing my second pod today and am using only 14.2 units per day, but was using anywhere from 19-22 units on mdi, depending on number of carbs consumed at breakfast. Thanks for all you do! I was able to have a great start because of helpful videos and understanding enough to be confident in making tweaks each day or so.
I am new at this, today I woke up at 230 used the carb and CGM and used that number. However I never got below two hundred all day. Should be adding insulin if I don’t see a drop. I am a DAV and don’t get to exercise. TY for your response
"What are some tips or best practices for ensuring reliable communication between the Omnipod 5 and Dexcom CGM when placing them on different parts of the body to optimize their performance?"
Definitely keeping them in line of site is important. For me, I'll do dexcom on my arm, and OP5 on the same leg. If I didnt' do leg, I'd do on the same side of my abs or arm. I've tried placing them on opposite sides, and it just didn't work. With that said, I know some people will do right quad / left quad for example - but in that case they're still basically line of sight. The other thing I've noticed about the dexcom itself, is that if I'm out, I tend to have better results by carrying my phone on the same side as my dexcom. So again for example, if my dexcom is on my right arm, I tend to carry my phone in my right pocket. I have no idea if that's a thing or not, but I absolutely notice disconnects if I don't do that, which then impacts the OP5.
hi hi! Thank you for all the work you put into your videos- I'm learning a lot. My 14 year old son will move to O5 as soon as it's available in the UK. I have a big question- hoping you may be able to shed some light on it. Is everyday sort of the same for you when it comes to basal needs? Are your weekdays not very different from your weekend? I have no idea how O5 will manage/ learn that my son needs less basal at school ie 5 days a week and more during the weekend??
Hi! This is a really good point - weeks can have a ton of differences among weekdays vs. weekends. At first I was running into a similar problem - I had much higher basal needs on weekends, so I was constantly having to correct all day long, and it was frustrating. Eventually though the system did learn this general pattern as well - and my experience has been that dialing in the correction factors really helped with any adjustments that might be needed on those days too. So long story short - I think if you get your settings good, then for the first few weeks you may just need to do more corrections than you would on weekdays, but eventually it will get pretty darn good. Good luck!
The things I would suggest looking into are her correction factor, it may not be strong enough during those overnight hours. And as you increase the total daily insulin the system will get more aggressive overall.
I'm fascinated that you're acknowledging that you have different carb/insulin ratios by time of day. I've been T1D for 26 years. I meticulously counted carbs and divided by a ratio for the first ten years or so, but then somewhere I decided it's not a linear relationship. For years now, I've been more qualitative about it. Significantly more carbs means more insulin is needed and vice versa, but it doesn't line up perfectly for me, which since insulin is a catalyst, it makes sense that it wouldn't be a stoichiometric ratio. I realize this is heresy though, and whenever an Endo asks me for my carb ratio I just make something up that's vaguely close to what they want to hear. I've only ever done MDI, but now i'm really interested in the Omnipod 5. When you input a bolus, can you just put in the number of insulin units or does the interface require you to put the number of carbs? If it requires a carb number, I can just back-calculate it to get to the number of insulin units I really want, but hoping I won't have to.
This is a really cool response, thanks for sharing. And yes - you can completely ignore the bolus calculator and enter exactly the amount of insulin you would like for any meal, or for any correction. I think in general though it's helpful to keep tweaking your insulin to carb ratios, so that when you press the bolus button, it's aligned with what you would do anyway. This way, the algorithm really learns what you need and it'll be less effort in the future. Good luck if you try the OP5. I had never tried a pump before doing this, and was MDI myself, and while it's not perfect, I cannot believe how much it has improved my quality of life.
@@dougfabrizio2794 Yeah, my last A1c was 6.1 and my time in range is always over 70, so I'm not going to win any awards, but my control is definitely "good enough" as it is. I'm most interested in the automatic basal rate adjustments over night. My lifestyle is pretty consistent, but some nights I drift low and some nights I drift high. It would be really nice to not have to fight that constantly. I'm seeing my Endo tomorrow. Now if they would just hurry up with the iOS compatibility, that would be the icing on the cake for me, but I'll deal with the separate device in the meantime.
@@530mnorman I'm looking forward to it coming to iOS as well. And sleep - yes it's so much better on OP5. There are times that I'm a bit higher than I want, but *knock on wood* never drifting lower than I would want, and that's incredibly valuable. Great A1C you have, keep it up
Thank you so much for the tips! My daughter is going to be starting her first pod next week so I'm trying to learn all the tricks. It makes me laugh-people keep saying how great it is that she'll have all her insulin automatic. It couldn't be further from the truth. 😂 This is complicated stuff!
Marissa Neve. I’m here for the same reason: learning before my kid starts a pump. I laugh at the same thing: almost every time someone learns that my kid has diabetes I hear, “Oh, well there are pumps, right?” Or some variation. As if a pump is basically a cure. 🙄 😆
That said, the closed loops seem to be a huge step forward. Especially with all the tips people are kind enough to post online. 🤞
@@bestany5517 good luck to both of you! The pump helps as compared to taking injections, but diabetes requires constant attention regardless of the tools we use!
@@dougfabrizio2794 Thank you for posting what you're learning along the way!
I am jealous of your carb ratios, T1 for 15 years and I am at 1-10. I appreciate your videos on the omnipod 5, just started mine yesterday and trying to stay on top of what to expect
I am jealous of you 😂 I’m 16 and am at 1-4
Thanks. So informative.
Hi. Love the videos. Could you do a video about how to place OP5 and dexcom g6 and keeping them in line of sight despite the differing schedules for changes? I’m on 3rd pod and want to put dexcom in other arm, but OP5 is on almost side hip/lower back of what will be the other side if I locate dexcom on my favorite site (using arms)? Pulling my hair out as to how to do this and don’t know why I am making this so hard. Any tips will be appreciated. Thanks if you can.
I have almost the exact same mental struggle, and I honestly thought I was the only one, so thank you for sharing the comment. This is a really good idea and I'll post a video about it either today or tomorrow. One thing to note right off the bat - you get an 8 hour buffer with the OP5. So once it expires, as long as you still have insulin left in it, you can keep wearing it for a few more hours rather than changing it right away. This has helped me, because my dexcom always expires the day after a pod change, and so I wind up trying to wear the OP5 as long as I can, and then change my dexcom a few hours earlier than I normally would. Not ideal, but there are a few other solutions as well that I'll try to mention in the video.
@@dougfabrizio2794 Thanks so much! I had one good day, and keep tweaking to more aggressive settings. I am very well managed on shots, so stressful having blood sugars be high all night. I am now on 5th pod, but was up hours past bedtime sleepily forcing corrections based on cgm. So that and today being my one day a week off exercise is making this erratic. I am wondering if I should just put it in manual for an hour or 30 min. To see if it will pick up those more precise basal segments (I made six for how my body works and my days are very regular and probably micromanaged - I am just so anal about this because I love to be healthy - number 1 priority), and I have been tweaking them every few days, but the one good day gave me hope of living well and letting the pump work. Fingers crossed that today is an anomaly. My trainer now wants me to talk to endo team and they will probably be surprised that I am using more insulin on the pump than mdi, so am trying to get this worked out before that process. Anyway, thanks for all the insight on how the algorithm is probably working. I am getting more micro automated boluses now, but only eat 40-45 carbs each of 3 meals and no snacks and my boluses remain over 60% of total insulin. It trying to kind of flatline and move slowly drives me nuts when it is high, but it lets me rise fairly fast. Anyway, sorry that got long. Very frustrating to be so regulated in food and exercise and habits and then push over 200 last night. Yet, still hopeful! And your experiences are very helpful. Since you are in amstudy, I feel you are very mindful of everything, as I am, so gives me confidence. I am at my 2 year mark with this and honeymoon was over about a year in for me. Thanks again!
@@quadgirl1011 Good luck with it all! Just to say it again - it is completely normal to require more insulin on the OP5 than on MDI. Every single person that I've spoken to directly or heard from on other podcats / youtube channels has had that experience as well. Keep doing what you're doing - correcting early and often - the pump will keep getting better with each pod change. With that said, I still do corrections a lot, but to me it's not a big deal, because I now trust the calculator to give me appropriate amounts when that needs to happen. Relatedly - have you studied the topics of insulin sensitivity and resistance as well? In addition to exercise, there are all sorts of things to eat / drink / take as supplements which can help that as well.
Thank so much! I feel empowered with that info.!
Hi. I enjoy your videos. I was wondering if you”bolus” during exercise if you need to eat a glucose tablet - sort of to let the system know you needed it? Or even in activity mode would it suggest an insulin amount and deliver it and then make you go low again? And related, if you were just going to have glucose during exercise, and had started 150 or higher, why bother with activity mode since it will pause anyway? Last, I am new to the pump, but am waking higher than I want and it lets it stay “high” while I sleep (I can’t make corrections while sleeping) - woke to 148 this morning. Any suggestions for that? Maybe adjust basal info in manual mode? Also - to report a weird thing: yesterday I ate breakfast 8 minutes after my breakfast time ratio expired at 7:00 and bolused, but then realized the amt. of insulin seemed wrong. I then cancelled it and it cancelled and recorded that in my history. I made a change in the time range for breakfast, then re-bolused. Now, today in my history’s total carb count it was over my norm by 42! I check history, it shows the cancellation, but it kept it in my total carb count from yesterday (I only eat meals, no snacks, and only have glucose tabs if low on exercise, so very regulated on 116-126 carbs a day. Any idea why the algorithm would allow this error in actual amount of insulin delivered? Okay, sorry - a final question since we seem to manage the same way (exercise, manage with schedule and accurate data management) and I am only 2 years into this type 1, I changed my ratios for meals and they keep me down the 2.5 hours I set the insulin duration to, but especially after supper, these drift high while sleeping (daytime I can make myself be busy and drop it), so not sure changing ratios again won’t make me go low such that it pauses, but maybe that would be okay? I am finishing my second pod today and am using only 14.2 units per day, but was using anywhere from 19-22 units on mdi, depending on number of carbs consumed at breakfast. Thanks for all you do! I was able to have a great start because of helpful videos and understanding enough to be confident in making tweaks each day or so.
What is your time in range on OM5? What are your pump settings?
I am new at this, today I woke up at 230 used the carb and CGM and used that number. However I never got below two hundred all day. Should be adding insulin if I don’t see a drop. I am a DAV and don’t get to exercise. TY for your response
I would definitely correct until it began coming down
"What are some tips or best practices for ensuring reliable communication between the Omnipod 5 and Dexcom CGM when placing them on different parts of the body to optimize their performance?"
Definitely keeping them in line of site is important. For me, I'll do dexcom on my arm, and OP5 on the same leg. If I didnt' do leg, I'd do on the same side of my abs or arm. I've tried placing them on opposite sides, and it just didn't work. With that said, I know some people will do right quad / left quad for example - but in that case they're still basically line of sight. The other thing I've noticed about the dexcom itself, is that if I'm out, I tend to have better results by carrying my phone on the same side as my dexcom. So again for example, if my dexcom is on my right arm, I tend to carry my phone in my right pocket. I have no idea if that's a thing or not, but I absolutely notice disconnects if I don't do that, which then impacts the OP5.
hi hi! Thank you for all the work you put into your videos- I'm learning a lot. My 14 year old son will move to O5 as soon as it's available in the UK. I have a big question- hoping you may be able to shed some light on it. Is everyday sort of the same for you when it comes to basal needs? Are your weekdays not very different from your weekend?
I have no idea how O5 will manage/ learn that my son needs less basal at school ie 5 days a week and more during the weekend??
Hi! This is a really good point - weeks can have a ton of differences among weekdays vs. weekends. At first I was running into a similar problem - I had much higher basal needs on weekends, so I was constantly having to correct all day long, and it was frustrating. Eventually though the system did learn this general pattern as well - and my experience has been that dialing in the correction factors really helped with any adjustments that might be needed on those days too. So long story short - I think if you get your settings good, then for the first few weeks you may just need to do more corrections than you would on weekdays, but eventually it will get pretty darn good. Good luck!
I need help optimising my Omnipod 5 system
My daughter has been sitting at 140-150 when her target glucose is 110. How can I bring her down to 90-100 at night?
The things I would suggest looking into are her correction factor, it may not be strong enough during those overnight hours. And as you increase the total daily insulin the system will get more aggressive overall.
What about „reversed correction“ on or off?
I have that on
@@dougfabrizio2794
in this video recommandation for the first run is OFF
ruclips.net/video/-nZwH83nchU/видео.html
Damn shame my android s22 is not compatible.. I wish there was a hack like the dexcom..
I'm fascinated that you're acknowledging that you have different carb/insulin ratios by time of day. I've been T1D for 26 years. I meticulously counted carbs and divided by a ratio for the first ten years or so, but then somewhere I decided it's not a linear relationship. For years now, I've been more qualitative about it. Significantly more carbs means more insulin is needed and vice versa, but it doesn't line up perfectly for me, which since insulin is a catalyst, it makes sense that it wouldn't be a stoichiometric ratio. I realize this is heresy though, and whenever an Endo asks me for my carb ratio I just make something up that's vaguely close to what they want to hear. I've only ever done MDI, but now i'm really interested in the Omnipod 5. When you input a bolus, can you just put in the number of insulin units or does the interface require you to put the number of carbs? If it requires a carb number, I can just back-calculate it to get to the number of insulin units I really want, but hoping I won't have to.
This is a really cool response, thanks for sharing. And yes - you can completely ignore the bolus calculator and enter exactly the amount of insulin you would like for any meal, or for any correction. I think in general though it's helpful to keep tweaking your insulin to carb ratios, so that when you press the bolus button, it's aligned with what you would do anyway. This way, the algorithm really learns what you need and it'll be less effort in the future. Good luck if you try the OP5. I had never tried a pump before doing this, and was MDI myself, and while it's not perfect, I cannot believe how much it has improved my quality of life.
@@dougfabrizio2794 Yeah, my last A1c was 6.1 and my time in range is always over 70, so I'm not going to win any awards, but my control is definitely "good enough" as it is. I'm most interested in the automatic basal rate adjustments over night. My lifestyle is pretty consistent, but some nights I drift low and some nights I drift high. It would be really nice to not have to fight that constantly. I'm seeing my Endo tomorrow. Now if they would just hurry up with the iOS compatibility, that would be the icing on the cake for me, but I'll deal with the separate device in the meantime.
@@530mnorman I'm looking forward to it coming to iOS as well. And sleep - yes it's so much better on OP5. There are times that I'm a bit higher than I want, but *knock on wood* never drifting lower than I would want, and that's incredibly valuable. Great A1C you have, keep it up
So, anyone feel nausea, and have a lack of appetite when first starting a pump?