I was really frustrated with a high (over 300, 3 hours after dinner) last night and did a stupid number of correction boluses. I figured if I went low, my CGM would alert me overnight. Some time around 1:30am my CGM lost signal and disconnected from my pump (Medtronic) and I did not wake up to the alarm. This tends to happen if my pump is on the opposite side of my body from my CGM.
At 3:15am I woke up feeling weird and decided to check: 31! So glad my body woke me up. Feeling so stupid about my over-correction when it was the number one thing my endo told me not to do last time I saw her. I went 3 months not doing it, and the one time I do it is 2 weeks before I see the endo again, so of course it’s going to be a discussion point.
I have been thinking about getting the mySentry Remote sensor display. Does anyone have it? Does it connect to the pump’s data only? Will it connect to the CGM if it loses signal with the pump? I’m thinking it will be a good idea so I hear the weak/lost signal alerts anyway.
Just thought I’d mention that I spoke to Medtronic about the MySentry device and they won’t even quote me a price (it’s not covered by insurance) because I have an incompatible pump. I have the 530G and it only works with the Revel. They are in the works to release one for the 530G but they could not give me a ballpark figure on that either. I am curious about how much others have paid for the system.
The My Sentry does work with the 530G pump, it has not been “Approved” for use with the 530G pump.
This means Medtronic needs to do study (probably in progress) to prove it is safe and effective when used that way.
So if it were to be used, it would be an “off label” use, which might give pause to insurance carriers wishing to save money.
The list price is like $2500 and insurance companies pay between $1500 and $2500.
Speaking on this topic, the user group of Medtronic pumps in general needs to apply pressure to get custom alarms, or at least alarms and alerts that can be 1. heard by most users in a noisy room or while sleeping, and 2. Allow vibrate AND / OR sound, not just “vibrate OR sound”, and 3. Provide a volume adjustment of at least low, medium and high, where the current setting is considered “very low”.
I personally used the mySentry, we were some of the first to get it.
I’m going to brutally honest, we didn’t get on very well with it! It sounds nice and dandy, but we found it had a lot of issues.
For one, the connection to the pump is iffy. If it’s going to be in another room (like mine was, it stayed in my parent’s room), then the room has to be right next door. Any where else for us didn’t work. Also, randomly throughout the night, my pump kept disconnecting when I was lying on it (I sometimes sleep on my side).
One really annoying things is that you have to make sure to silence it in the morning, or it will complain of lost connection all day long. And it is LOUD. But remember to unsilence it before bed.
Now I haven’t used it in awhile (I grew an allergy to my pump so I stopped using it all together) so I can’t say this for definite, but if my memory serves me correctly, you had to clear one alarm before another would pop up. So if it’s alerting about low insulin levels, and then you go low, it won’t alert the low before you clear the low insulin alert. (Double check that, I’m not definite)
This may also sound weird, but I did actually manage to silence it in my sleep a few times because the silence “button” is on the top and it’s a touch button so you don’t have to “press” it, just tap it. I slapped it a few times in my sleep, but that takes some serious talent so i wouldnt worry
HOWEVER - it does have some ups!
if the power cable comes disconnect it, it does bleep for a little, not long, just a few seconds, but still.
the big screen my mum loved because she could just turn over and see the number in the morning, which gave her a lot of peace of mind
the alarms can get really loud, however i am a really deep sleeper and still did not wake up to them (I have to be touched to be woken up, I admit it’s pretty weird)
the home screen clearly displays the battery life, insulin remaining, sensor time remaining, and connection strength on the home screen (which is nice since the pump doesnt!)
BTW - I think our insurance, or we I’m not sure the boss handles that (my mum!), paid roughly $2000
to answer your other question, no. The mySentry is connected to the pump, so if the pump looses connection with the CGM, the mySentry does aswell. It connects to the CGM and pump data but by connecting to the pump (if that makes any sense?)
That is very frustrating! I have the 530G and i find the sensors are not great…in the sense that they often get moved and the sensor stops working.
Granted, the older sensor hurt more to put in, but I never really had an issue with them except they hurt. The Enlite is easy to use, but any slight movement, for me, creates a problem with the sensor reading and I may lose 3 days use which is not acceptable to me.
The old sensors were good for 3 days, but would last for 6. Now I get shorted on sensors as a result of what i would call a poor design of the Enlight. I did find the the old sensors do work with the 530G meter - so I have been mixing it up with some success.
