Posts Tagged ‘Animas’

Desang Kit Bags : Abbott Freestyle Insulinx

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Abbott, Accu-Chek, Animas, Bayer, C8Medisensors, Cellnovo, Desang, Diabetes, eyes, Fitbit, Glooko, iBGStar, insulin, Lifescan, Medtronic, Menarini, Mendor, retinopathy, Roche, Sanofi on December 16, 2012| 2 Comments »

Thanks to Sue at Desang Kit Bags for this update.

This is a brief email to alert you to the new accessibility to the FreeStyle InsuLinx meter from Abbott. When originally launched, you could only get one directly from your diabetes nurse as it needs to be programmed around your own personal treatment programme. An access code was required to put this information in which HCPs had access to. However, now the meters are available direct from Abbott.

The FreeStyle InsuLinx meter comes in a ‘pre-easy’ mode so you can use all the main tools. The code is only needed if and when you want to turn on the bolus Calculator tool, and the code can be given by your HCP at their discretion.

You can add your own image into the phone as well as add various other personalized settings. It’s PC and Mac-compatible and comes with FreeStyle Auto-Assist software. The meter’s touch screen is icon-driven, so you press the relevant icon to get into that part of the set-up. There’s only one button, which acts as the home button, just like a mobile phone.

To find out more, click on a pic, or go to
www.freestyle-insulinx.co.uk

Best wishes,

Sue

Sue Marshall,

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Diabetes stress & News,

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Accu-Chek, Animas, Bayer, Blood Sugar, C8Medisensors, Cellnovo, CGM, Diabetes, eyes, Fitbit, Glooko, Hba1c, Hypo, iBGStar, insulin, Lifescan, Medtronic, Menarini, Mendor, retinopathy, Roche, Sanofi, stress on October 22, 2012| 1 Comment »

I have recently been away on holiday with my family in the UK to the coast which was great and my 3 year old son & 18 month old daughter had a great time 🙂

One thing I have noticed is what a huge difference that stress makes to your blood sugar levels, I am not saying my children were naughty but certainly kept us busy :-).

I found my blood sugar levels were all over the place and first thought it was either the change of day to day activities or different food but I am certain it was stress. Since returning home and going back to work my levels have stabilised, not that I was happy to be back at work as it was great spending time with my little monkeys ha ha.

Has anyone heard from any Diabetes companies that have any new exciting products due for release soon? I am still waiting for a release date for the Cellnovo pump which seems to be taking forever.

Thanks for visiting and I look forward to reading your comments soon.

Andrew

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Glooko.

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, Uncategorized, tagged Accu-Chek, Animas, Bayer, C8Medisensors, Cellnovo, Diabetes, eyes, Fitbit, Glooko, iBGStar, insulin, Lifescan, Medtronic, Menarini, Mendor, retinopathy, Roche, Sanofi on September 19, 2012| 1 Comment »

Glooko’s mission.

Glooko’s mission is to help people with diabetes live life while effortlessly managing their diabetes. It is quickly becoming a global epidemic with far-reaching social, health and economic implications. Furthermore, the unfortunate reality is that diabetes permeates every aspect of an individual’s life and affects them psychologically, physically, and financially. Living with the disease is incredibly burdensome and takes a tremendous amount of motivation, commitment and effort to manage successfully.
It has been proven that people can gain better control of their diabetes and become better self-managers when they understand and visualize the effects of their actions. When they use tools that are integrated into their daily lives, they can be encouraged to have more productive conversations with their care circle and modify their lifestyles. We believe that the most effective tools are simple to use and mobile – available anytime, anywhere.

Glooko’s Solution

Glooko’s breakthrough solution consists of the Glooko MeterSync Cable and the Glooko Logbook app. To use, simply plug the Glooko MeterSync Cable into most standard self-monitoring blood glucose meters and sync to a variety of iOS devices to create a digital logbook of readings. It’s easy to review daily blood sugar levels, annotate them and share the results with a physician.

Save time and eliminate errors. Quickly download blood glucose readings from one or more meters directly into one logbook. Get rid of the difficult pen-and-paper approach and avoid the urdens of manual entry with other apps. It’s easy to learn – you can get started in just seconds!

Add notes and context. Enter pre- and post-meal tags and notes about carb intake, activity or insulin doses as they happen, so you can see how the things you do affect your blood sugar levels. You also get access to a comprehensive food database with nutritional facts to help you count carbs and add additional information to your notes.

Track trends and share data. Review patterns in your blood sugar readings related to the time of day or in chronological order. Automatically create a logbook of your readings or a spreadsheet for you to generate charts and email or fax summaries to your healthcare team with just a touch.

Pricing and Compatibility

The Glooko Logbook app is free and available on the iTunes App Store.

The Glooko MeterSync Cable and Glooko IR Adapter can be purchased in Europe for £32.50 and £12.25, respectively.

The Glooko IR Adapter can be purchased in the U.S. through Amazon for $14.95 and in Canada through Well.ca for $18.99 (including shipping and handling), and in UK/Europe for £12.25. (If you have an ACCU-CHEK^®meter, you will need to purchase both the Glooko MeterSync Cable and the Glooko IR Adapter.)

Compatible meters: ACCU-CHEK^® Aviva, ACCU-CHEK^® Aviva Nano, ACCU-CHEK^® Compact Plus, ACCU-CHEK^® Nano, Bayer’s Breeze®2, Bayer’s Contour®, FreeStyle Freedom Lite®, FreeStyle Lite®, OneTouch® Ultra®2, OneTouch® UltraLink®, and OneTouch® UltraMini®

Compatible iOS devices: iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPod touch (3^rd & 4^th generation).

What Customers are Saying

Glooko Logbook debuted in November 2011, and has since been hailed by users and bloggers for its ease-of-use and ability to provide context to daily data collected by people with diabetes.

To read first-hand what customers are saying you can take a look at Amazon, Apple iTunes, Facebook and Twitter. Below is a sampling:

Amazon reviews – majority 5-star ratings

5.0 out of 5 stars: Super easy way to document and share critical information the glooko metersync cable is incredible! i have been trying to upload blood sugar data for years with no success (always some technical difficulty). within 5 minutes of receiving the Glooko cable I had over 500 blood sugar readings stored on my ipod and a printable/emailable log on my computer for myself and my health care providers. I cannot wait to share this with them so that they can share it with other diabetics. A must have for iPhone/iPod users with diabetes!!!

Apple iTunes – rated 4+
5 out of 5 stars: Glooko Cable and app are worth the price I received my cable in December and started seeing my blood levels in a different way. No writing, no paper logs. Sync your meter once a week or every time you test. The app works well with airprint or email the log as an attachment to yourself or caregivers.

Future Plans

Glooko plans to support more blood glucose meters and smartphones as well as create future products that allow charting and graphing as we pursue FDA clearance.

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Omnipod Insulin Patch Pump

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Accu-Chek, Animas, Bayer, C8Medisensors, Cellnovo, Diabetes, eyes, Fitbit, Glooko, iBGStar, insulin, Lifescan, Medtronic, Menarini, Mendor, Omnipod, retinopathy, Roche, Sanofi on September 14, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Hi,

Firstly yes it is the weekend and it has been a long week so I am very happy it is Friday night.

I have been using my Animas 202 & recently the Vibe for just over 4 years which I have been very happy with and had no issues whatsoever. I also enjoyed my trial with the Animas CGM and with the Medtronic Enlite sensor that have both performed very well but the main issue with CGM is the lack of PCT funding in the UK but I am sure this will change one day.

I have just had my annual Diabetes Check Up at my local hospital and of course had my HBA1C checked which ended up being 7.2 (sorry still getting used to the new measurements) so I was very pleased indeed as this has certainly reduced since I have been using an Insulin Pump.

Whilst I was having my check up I asked my consultant about patch pumps namely the Omnipod which I know very little about to be honest. My consultant actually had an Omnipod with him which I had a good look at and was pleasantly surprised as I didn’t realise the hand held device had a built in BG meter. The actual Omnipod did look fairly large though and I was a little concerned as to whether it would stay on your skin if bashed or brushed as it does look bulky, however I believe there is a new smaller pod and hand held in the pipeline but I have no idea of when these will be released.

Has or does anyone use the Omnipod and what do you think of it compared to a standard tubed insulin pump – also are there accessories for the hand held device as it looks fairly large to fit in your pocket ? I would imagine that the hand held part would need to go in a case that could clip on your belt or go in a hand bag ? How many lancets or test strips does the hand held hold – sorry I don’t know the technical term for the hand held part of the kit ?

I would really appreciate some comments on the Omnipod as I would love to give it a try for a couple of months so I could compare to a tubed pump ?

Many thanks and have a good weekend.

Andrew

W http://www.mypump.co.uk
B http://www.mypumpblog.com
T @MyPump1

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C8 MediSensors New Non Invasive CGM Device – WOW.

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Accu-Chek, Animas, Bayer, C8Medisensors, Cellnovo, Diabetes, eyes, Fitbit, Glooko, iBGStar, insulin, Lifescan, Medtronic, Menarini, Mendor, retinopathy, Roche, Sanofi on September 3, 2012| 2 Comments »

The Power of Light

For decades, researchers, scientists and people living with diabetes have searched for a non-invasive way to continuously measure glucose.

Enter the power of light: C8 MediSensors’ optical glucose monitoring technology is a breakthrough in glucose monitoring science. Completely non-invasive, this new technology promises a new glucose monitoring experience.

As you are probably already aware CGM or continuous Glucose Monitors have been available to us for quite a while now and range from individual devices to combined insulin pumps with built in CGM.

I was very lucky to have received an invite from C8 MediSensors to view their new Non Invasive CGM along with some fellow bloggers from Input, Insulin Independent, Every Day Ups and Downs – A Diabetes Blog all of course are certainly worth reading.

So the day started in London at a Consultancy Company who were great and had everything prepared for us bloggers (Nice sandwiches mmmm) as we can be hard work sometimes ha ha, we were all very excited to see this new CGM device and find out just how it works – not forgetting how much it costs. All the guys were very open and the day in my mind was for us bloggers to provide feedback on what we thought of the CGM which will also be operated using a smartphone app with various functions/log books etc so we all put our pennies worth into this as well.

I have been lucky enough to trial the Medtronic Enlite CGM Sensor and the Animas Vibe CGM Sensor of which both work in conjunction with the Insulin Pump which is great but still not perfect but they are certainly getting there. Both these devices use a wireless CGM sensor that in invasive ie literally goes into your skin that I found a little uncomfortable sometimes but you did get used to it very fast, I also struggled sometimes to find space on my body to insert the sensor as I was also wearing a canular for the insulin pump. All this said the technology on these devices is incredible and gives you a good trend on your blood sugar levels however you will still need to take regular finger prick tests to calibrate the CGM and this is the same for all CGM’s at the moment.

The product itself is a non-invasive optical CGM and is currently classed as a ‘investigational device’, so not yet available for sale anywhere but hopefully this will change very soon – even this year but you all know what red tape is like. C8 MediSensors will hopefully receive European CE mark approval towards the end of this year and plan to launch in the UK and Europe first so that is good news for us.

The Power of Light: Using Raman Spectroscopy to Measure Glucose

Our technique involves shining a monochromatic light source into the skin and detecting the scattered light. The colors generated by Raman scattering are very specific to the exact chemical structure of the molecules in the sample. The molecules’ various shapes, sizes, atoms, and types of chemical bonds will generate unique Raman spectra, a unique Raman “fingerprint” that can be used to non-invasively read and measure glucose.

I managed to find this info video on YouTube which I found very helpful but of course the best info would be found on the C8 MediSensors own website

C8 MediSensor info which I hope you will find useful.

CGM uses an optical light which was taken from Raman spectrometer which in its orignal state would be the size of an oven but the team have managed to minimise this to the size of a matchbox which is truly amazing.
The device needs to go against the skin which needs to be clear of hair or anything that would obstruct the optical light, the device would update you on your smartphone if the light is broken.
There is no separate control for this CGM as it is all done through your smartphone using te C8 MediSensors App which is still being fine tuned to meet our needs, you should be able to view you BG level, log books and lots of other useful info which is still to be confirmed.
At the moment the CGM is designed for use only by adults but I am sure this will change in the future as we never know what is around the corner.
The C8 MediSensor is about the size of a match box and similar in weight to a small mobile phone, there is also a separate battery pack to power the CGM of which both items are worn in a very non sexy looking material band – please remember this is brand new so like everything I am sure the C8 team will be working on revamped accessories etc.
A huge plus point for me is the fact you can put it on and off whenever you want as it is non invasive – even if it is worn a=in a rather large band.
As this device uses optical light it can be affected when you are in very bright areas or even sunshine but the guys have a special material light shield which fits over the CGM to eliminate any sunshine issues – but to be honest you possibly would not want to be wearing this device on the beach, well not yet anyway.
The CGM can store a rolling 4 months worth of data which should be more than enough info for most of us.
Initial calibration is between 45-60 minutes and when placing the CGM Sensor onto your skin it can take 15 minutes to warm u.
COST – well a typical CGM Sensor alone could cost thousands of pounds per year but we were given an indication that the C8 MediSensor will retail at US$4,000 (approx £2,500 at today’s exchange rate). The shelf life would be up to 4 years so this one-off payment should in theory be it – this compared to invasive CGM would be far cheaper in comparison.

I hope the above has answered some of your questions and I must apologise if I have missed anything – please leave me a comment if you have any further questions ?

The Science Inside

Optical glucose monitoring leverages decades of technical innovation in optics, wireless, digital cameras, miniaturization and lessons learned from dozens of attempts at measuring glucose non-invasively. Utilizing a patent-protected process, our design will transmit a painless pulse of light into the skin to detect glucose levels. Paired with Bluetooth technology, the glucose reading will be transmitted wirelessly to an easy-to-use display application on an ordinary Android smartphone.

It was a real pleasure to meet the guys from C8 and Andrew from STWEM who arranged the event, it was quite refreshing to be speaking to a team that was open to the majority of our probing questions and they were free with the info, I hope that we as bloggers have given the team some valuable information to help enhance the device and I hope this will be a continued relationship with C8 – thanks again guys.

A New Experience Awaits

After eight years of research and development, we hope to make optical continuous glucose monitoring a reality for people with diabetes. Currently an investigational device and not available for sale, we plan to pursue regulatory approval and make this new technology available in Europe in 2012.

To stay apprised of product availability, sign up for our regular updates.

Reserve Now

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Diabetes and new Technology.

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Accu-Chek, Animas, Bayer, C8Medisensors, Cellnovo, Diabetes, eyes, Fitbit, Glooko, iBGStar, insulin, Lifescan, Medtronic, Menarini, Mendor, retinopathy, Roche, Sanofi on September 1, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Hi,

As you are possibly aware I have had Type 1 Diabetes all my life which is in fact 40 years – hard to believe I know 🙂

Since I was first diagnosed as a baby the technology has changed so much for products to assist people manage their Diabetes easier, I still remember having large stainless steal with glass syringes that needed to be sterilised each time you used it (Thanks to my Mum) and even checking your Glucose Levels involved urine in a tube which you added a fizzy tablet that changed the colour of the urine – oh my god.

Back to 2012 and some absolutely amazing new products to me which over the next few weeks I hope to have some more in depth Blogs about but some items that have caught my eye have been :

1 Mendor Discreet – All in one BG Meter which is amazing.

2. C8Medisensors – a new non invasive CGM due for release this year all being well, I was lucky to attend a product demo in London a few days ago – WOW. More details to follow.

3. Glooko – this is a cable the attaches to your iPhone in conjunction with an App that allows you to sync your BG results to your phone with lots of other useful add ons. I love it and Blog coming soon.

4. Cellnovo – Insulin Pump, come on guys we have been waiting such a long time for this to be released and I must say this again is technology at its best, I am looking forward to a trial of this patch pump/handset soon.

5. Sanofi – iBGStar BG meter that is tiny and actually can be used on its own or is really created to clip to the bottom of your iPhone to work again in conjunction with an App – Amazing.

Please forgive me if I have missed anything out but these are a few items I have been looking at recently, not forgetting all the Diabetes companies which have literally changed my life such as Medtronic, Animas, Lifescan, Roche, Bayer, Everymed and Sanofi (iBGStar) to mention a few – THANKS TO YOU ALL.

Thanks very much for reading and don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @MyPump1 or info on http://www.mypump.co.uk & http://www.mypumpblog.com.

Have a good weekend
Andrew

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Menarini Diagnostics – Glucomen BG Meters.

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Abbott, Advanced Therapeutics, Animas, Cellnovo, Diabetes, Glooko, Glucomen, iBGStar, Input, insulin, Medtronic, Menarini, my pump, Omnipod, Roche, Sanofi on August 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Hi,

I just wanted to share some info regarding blood glucose meters and a superb company called Menarini Diagnostics who have a range of blood glucose meters called GlucoMen (LX PLUS and GM) which I have been using for a while now and found them easy to use, the customer support team have also been very helpful.

Here is a little bit of company info about Menarini:

Menarini Diagnostics was established in the UK during 1987. The company is now established as one of the fastest growing diagnostics companies in the UK with annual growth in excess of 20%. To date Menarini has already placed more than 700 analysers of various types in the UK market. MDUK are market leaders in the field of diabetes diagnostics, with leading edge systems for HbA1c, blood glucose and continuous glucose monitoring.

Nearly 60% of all HbA1cs in the UK are performed on our lab systems. That’s more than 1 million people relying on MDUK HbA1c systems every year. Over 1 million self tests are performed on GlucoMen blood glucose meters every day across Europe.

MDUK’s goal is to work closely with all Diabetes Specialist Nurses and patients, and continue to do the right things to support the growing number of people who choose to rely on the
GlucoMen LX systems to help manage their diabetes at home.

I have been using the Glucomen LX PLUS for a while now and when I first received the meter it was in a lovely gold box so also a little bit of bling (ha ha), anyway sorry back to my thoughts…..

MDUK’s GlucoMen LX PLUS is a blood glucose meter that incorporates a 2-in-1 blood glucose and ketone testing facility.

The ketone testing is particularly useful for insulin users and those who may wish to test their blood ketone levels.

GlucoMen LX PLUS meter advantages

The GlucoMen LX PLUS is a no coding meter that provides:
** Pain free with a unique lancet introducing comfort zone technology
** Blood test results in 4 seconds
** Coloured covers to personalize your device – hmmm funky.
** 0.3 microlitre sample for easy and comfortable testing
** Meal markers for controlling your diabetes
** The device has a rubber grip, which makes it easy to use and prevents it sliding off surfaces.

Alternative site testing is available for blood glucose tests however ketone testing should be done on the fingers alone.

The GlucoJect Dual S lancing device that comes with the meter has Comfort Zone technology designed to reduce pain when testing, this is one the best lancing devices I have tried.

A number of different coloured skins (10) are available for use with the meter.

More information on GlucoMen LX PLUS along with diabetes education and videos can be found on the company website www.glucomen.co.uk. They also have a facebook page with latest news and updates.

At the end of the day it’s down to your personal choice but this is certainly a meter that is worth trying.

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INPUT Insulin Pump Exhibitions 2012 – Nottingham 14th July 2012

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, Uncategorized, tagged Abbott, Advanced Therapeutics, Animas, Cellnovo, Diabetes, Input, insulin, Medtronic, my pump, Omnipod, Roche on July 9, 2012| 1 Comment »

INPUT Insulin Pump Exhibitions 2012
Any (insulin pump) Question Answered

Have you heard about insulin pumps and wondered how to find out more about them? Do you have questions about what it’s like using a pump? Would you like to see in real life the makes and models of pumps you’ve heard about? Or do you have questions or concerns about NHS funding for pumps? Your chance to chat with pump users and pump company representatives about all these topics (and more) could be just around the corner at an INPUT roadshow!

Current Venues and Dates (further information on venues below). More dates and venues being added soon.

Who: open to all people with diabetes and their family members or carers who want to learn about the principles and practical aspects of pump therapy over a cup of tea or coffee.

We have invited the following companies to exhibit:

Abbott (Freestyle Navigator)
Advanced Therapeutics (Dana & Dexcom)
Animas
Cellnovo
Medtronic
Roche
Ypsomed (OmniPod)

View my Blog about the superb previous Input Roadshow I attended in Luton.

www.mypump.co.uk
www.mypumpblog.com
****

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Input Diabetes Roadshow Event

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, Uncategorized, tagged Advanced Therapeutics, Animas, Cellnovo, Diabetes, Input, insulin pump, Medtronic, Roche on May 2, 2012| 2 Comments »

I decided to attend the Input Roadshow held at Hilton Garden Inn – Luton on Saturday 14th April running from 1.00pm – 4.30pm and it was great to see Lesley and Anna from Input for a catch up.

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many people with Diabetes attend to ask questions and see what Insulin Pumps are currently available. The companies who attended were Animas, Roche, Medtronic, Cellnovo and Advanced Therapeutics all showing off their latest pieces of Diabetes kit.

I arrived at 1.00pm and was greeted by the Input team that put this super event together so well done to the Input team for a great event. My main objective was to say hi to some of my contacts from the Insulin Pump companies and to see what new technology is available.

I am already very familiar with the Medtronic Veo and Animas Vibe which are both superb Insulin Pumps which offer integrated CGM but I didn’t get a chance to chat with the team from Advanced Therapeutics (sorry guys) which I was a little annoyed at but purely because they were busy and I run out of time unfortunately. I did however get to speak with Jill from Animas who I have met a few times and Justin from Medtronic who again I know very well so it was good to have a chat. I wanted to know more about the Accu-Chek Combo pump as i had not seen it before and how it works so spoke with Sue who also gave me a demo of the system which was great as everything you need can be done by the handheld BG Smart Meter very easily, I also like the software which gave some great reports and was easy to understand. Next I spoke with Carol from Cellnovo which is a new pump shortly being released and certainly looks amazing with its iPhone looking handset to the small patch pump, unfortunately I don’t know a huge amount about the Cellnovo pump as it is very new. Cellnovo is basically a patch pump with an amazing smart handset that can do everything from testing your BG with a built in blood glucose meter for test strips to monitoring exercise due to the patch pump having a built in accelerometer – wow.

My next task is to try and convince Cellnovo to let me try their pump so I can physically see how it works day to day as seeing it in your hand is different to sleeping, working or even excersining wearing the patch pump.

All in all a very enjoyable afternoon and superbly organised by Input so well done guys. Check out the Input web site for more info on forthcoming events as it is well worth a visit.

Andrew Borrett

My Pump
My Pump Blog

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Animas Vibe Insulin Pump & CGM trial

Posted in Diabetes, Insulin Pumps, tagged Abbott, Advanced Therapeutics, Animas, Cellnovo, Diabetes, Input, insulin, Medtronic, my pump, Omnipod, Roche on April 5, 2012| 8 Comments »

Hi,

I can’t believe I have already been on an Insulin Pump for 4 years which means my current pumps warranty is up for renewal and at the moment I use an Animas 2020 pump which has been great.

So I am currently using the New Animas Vibe and hope my blog shares some information that you may find useful.

The Animas Vibe insulin pump and CGM system combines state-of
the-art Dexcom G4 Sensing technology with high-performance Animas pumping. That means it gives you the features Animas® pumps are known for, like waterproof durability¥, fine-tuned dosing and a high-contrast, self-illuminating colour display. It’s also designed to streamline the whole CGM experience for you, while giving you a full-colour view of how your glucose is behaving.

Animas Vibe is designed to give you a more complete picture of your glucose*. In addition, its packed with a unique combination of features designed to help you perform at your best.

I didn’t realise that the pump needed to be replaced after 4 years and was a little worried that it may not be funded again but my hospital at High Wycombe are very good and sorted everything out for me very easily. I had been speaking with Caroline and Jill from Animas about renewing my Animas 2020 pump and that I would like to try the Animas Vibe with CGM which they arranged for me.

My day started at High Wycombe Diabetes Centre with Caroline, Jill and Una (DSN) on Monday 30th January 2012, as you can imagine I was very excited indeed. My old pump was really difficult to read the screen which had put me off the Animas pump but what I discovered was that the screen on my old pump had burnt out so needed replacing (That was a relief and of course Animas said they would replace it). We went through the functions of the new Animas Vibe pump which is pretty much the same as the Animas 2020 apart from the fact it has CGM so I already had a head start, I love how easy the Vibe is to use and the fact you have a nice clear colour screen especially when looking at the CGM trend graph as pictured above. The team at Animas and Una were really great and went through everything with me especially on how to use the CGM and inserting it, I am just so frustrated that I can’t get funding from the PCT for CGM.

The actual insertion of the sensor is very easy and didn’t really hurt at all but more of a scratch which I was pleasantly surprised with, the sensors are recommended to be placed on your tummy and not on your back which makes it easier to insert. I did however have an issue with the first sensor which must have hit a blood vessel as a couple of hours later the CGM alarmed to say it was not working, I spoke to Animas who said to change the sensor as when I was with them it looked as though it had possibly hit a small blood vessel. The setting up of the CGM was very easy once the sensor had been inserted and I actually managed easily on my own. The sensor last for 7 days and alarms to let you know once the 7 days has finished, I like the fact you can wear it for 7 days without changing. The second sensor I used went in perfectly and I had no problems at all and again was like a sharp scratch so no pain really.

In regards to the results given by the CGM please remember that the CGM is really to be used to give trends rather than exact blood glucose readings, at the end of the day pricking your finger is still the most accurate. My results compared to finger prick testing were out by quite a way to be honest (not all the time though) but I had been suffering with a nasty chest infection for over a week then travelled to Sweden for a few days, this probably didn’t help with the results so I do hope I get another chance to test the CGM now I am well – we shall see. I have one sensor left as of today Monday 27th Feb and plan to use this after my next Diabetes check up and I will then have used my months trial and can upload my results for my DSN.

So would I use CGM if it was funded by the PCT – yes most definately as it made me feel a lot less worried whilst travelling knowing it would alarm if my BG level was too low.

I hope this helps and hopefully I will get the chance to try some more sensors while I am feeling well but watch this space. Please email or comment if you have any questions at all.

Many thanks

Andrew Borrett
www.mypump.co.uk
www.mypumpblog.com

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