Sarah (a.k.a. Sugabetic ) has lived with type 1 diabetes since 1988, when she was only 4 years old. Since then she’,s managed her diabetes with multiple daily injections, the Disetronic H-Tron+ (which has since been discontinued), the OmniPod, the Animas Ping, the Medtronic Revel, and now, the t:slim. If anyone knows how to compare pumps, Miss Sugabetic definitely does. Here, she’,s answered a few questions about her t:slim experience so far.
GINGER: So, you’,ve been a t:slim pumper now for 1 month. It’,s the newest and coolest pump around. What was your first impression during your first week of the pump?
SARAH: My first impression was “,Finally! A pump that fits me !”, My very first pump, the Disetronic H-Tron+, was awesome. I wore it until it quit 6 years later. Since then, I’,ve been searching for the perfect “,pump”, for me. While all pumps that are on the market have great features, some features fit people more than others.
GINGER: In your opinion, what stands out the most that makes the t:slim different than Animas, Medtronic, Omnipod, etc.?
SARAH: There are a few things. One you can set “,profiles”, and not just separate basal rate profiles. Just like now, I have two profiles: Normal and Period. Two weeks out of the month I’,m on “,normal”, and the other two I’,m on “,Period”, due to the hormonal shifts that happen around a female’,s menstrual cycle. In those profiles, I can separately adjust basal rates, carb ratios, correction factors, etc. for EACH time slot. And to change from one to the other, it’,s just a few taps and ALL of the factors are changed to what I have programmed. No going here and there to change everything. Second, is the delivery system. No longer am I in the direct line of the cartridge’,s contents. If anything were to malfuction, I could only be given 0.3 units TOTAL of insulin, not the full cartridge. And third, having the Insulin On Board right there when you wake the pump up is GREAT because you make a fast decision in anything just by pressing ONE button ONCE. And fourth, the touch screen. It’,s nice. Bolusing or making changes in the pump is so easy, simple and FAST.
GINGER: Is there anything about the t:slim that has disappointed you? Are you missing any aspects of the other pumps that aren’,t on the t:slim?
SARAH: The only thing I REALLY miss about my other pumps is the ability to upload my data. They are working on getting clearance from the FDA any day now, but having gone a month without being able to do my weekly upload and review is a total bummer. (Read: I’,m a horrible logger!)
But on a more serious note, the one thing that disappointed me about the t:slim is the reverse calculation. It works the same as the Animas Ping but with one exception: it only reverse corrects if you’,re below 70 mg/dL. For a lot of people, even being 80 mg/dL is low, so having a pump that would allow you to set the reverse correction to kick in maybe around 90 mg/dL or 100 mg/dL would be better, especially for those who have hypoglycemia unawareness.
GINGER: Do you think there are certain people who would NOT like the t:slim for specific aspects of its design and capabilities? Certain people for whom it just wouldn’,t fit well?
SARAH: People who need lots of reminders or alerts but also quick bolus. I didn’,t know until I tried to do a quick-bolus that I couldn’,t because I had an alert that hadn’,t been cleared. So, I ended up having to take the pump out of my pocket any way to clear it then bolus.
Also, people who are commonly not around or have access to electrical outlets (people who are avid campers, for instance) unless you’,re going to have some sort of backup way to charge your pump. Granted, you can charge it maybe 2 to 3 times per week and be fine, but it is recommended to “,top off”, the battery every day.
And it may not be a good fit for people who take long pump breaks. Taking one month is fine if you charge it fully and then place it into sleep mode, but if you’,re someone who takes breaks for months on end or even a year off, then it may not be the pump for you.
GINGER: If you could offer t:slim’,s creators (Tandem) one piece of advice, what would it be?
SARAH: Always work to improve the pump and listen to their customers–,the people who actually use the pump every day…,and CHANGE THE REVERSE CORRECTION! Hahaha! In every other aspect, they’,ve made this pump more user-friendly than others I’,ve used and that’,s mostly due to people like me and other pumpers giving them feedback.
GINGER: Thanks for sharing your experience so far, Sarah!
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