I’m active on half a dozen diabetes forums, and you’re the only person having this issue.
See Reddit - Dive into anything as an example.
My sister switched to Tandem/Dexcom in late December 2019 and has had the same experience.
Dori @wadawabbit, “compression fault” has been a complaint from skinny folks like you and I, that gives false lows when when we lay on the G6 during sleep. For me, this only happens on the first and second day of sensor use. Thankfully!
@Dennis you flatterer you - I like and respect you more and more every time I read your posts. Thank you for the compliment - I can’t claim to be skinny, but am working on taking off a few pounds. Well, several😉. Thank you for brightening my day with a smile. Stay well!
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Hi there
Clearly our mileage varies with so many things T1D and this thread is a good example. In some contrast to what’s been said already, I’d like to offer a different perspective.
As I prepped for my transition from BIQ to CIQ, I understood that CIQ works only as well as my basal rates and various ratios are “correct”. Because, beyond my glucose level, those rates and ratios are the inputs to the algorithm. So the output is only as good as the Input I expected to learn that I would need to tweak some settings. and indeed I have.
BOTTOM LINE
My last A1C with BIQ was 6.9. OK but not where I want it. My average glucose this past 6 weeks is now 133. SugarMate projects an A1C of 6.3.
0% time below 70. THATS incredible for me! 0%
I’m using almost no juice boxes or glucose tabs. And when I treat a ”low”, I need farrrrr fewer carbs than before (because CIQ has already lowered my basal and I’m not that low).
I’ve also shed a coupla pounds - not intended but welcome - because I’m not eating excess carbs to treat lows. 100 calories here and there, day after day after day adds up …
SOME DETAILS
I created a duplicate profile when I started noticing a pattern of extensive lows during the day. Because I had such prolonged lows (1hr +) I determined that my basal setting must be too high. So I tweaked my basals. Prior to CIQ my TOtal daily dose (TDD) was averaging 21-22 units/day. Now that I’ve lowered my basal - for most of the day and night and cover my meals more aggressively ((1:15 instead of 1:20), my TDD average is 18-20. I’m taking more bolus and less basal.
I gotta say that with each tech advance, I am a skeptic that any algorithm could do better than my 50 years of experience. Repeatedly, I’m humbled. CIQ has been no exception.
I’ve read elsewhere that to get the biggest benefit from CIQ, we need to let it do its thing. And for me - to “let it do its thing” required that I make some changes to what I’d been doing for quite a while.
Now, when I skim my basal history from CIQ, I see how often the SW tweaks my basal down OR up and thereby enables me to avoid lows long before BIQ could. And I’m avoid most of the “BG rising rapidly” warnings I’d set on Dex - because CIQ gives me extra basal.
Thx for listening/reading. If even one person can benefit from what I’ve shared that’s worth it. CIQ is surely not for everyone, and I’m delighted I’ve been able to learn from those who succeeded before me.
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Hi @LSchatzberg and thank you for sharing your experience, as I’m going to be upgrading to CIQ in a few weeks. I too have found that weight gain is usually due to a higher than necessary basal rate, which causes me to snack - and as you said those extra calories add up. So I’m looking forward to the system doing some tweaking for me.
I have a couple of weeks to go and it’s time for a basal rate check soon, but I’m wondering if I should do it closer to the change over, which should be near the end of April. What do you recommend? Thank you again, and stay well.
Hey there @wadawabbit (love that name, BTW),
If u think u need to do basal testing “now” that will position you for a better launch once u begin on CIQ.
I did some basal testing again soon after - overnight is easy peasy, of course. That’s where I first noticed I had too much IOB before bedtime.
Like any computer that isn’t a “learning” systems, CIQ always “does what it does” and so any improvement over the initial launch will be the result of us users getting a better handle on what it’s doing and when.
The most profound insights for me has NOT been analyzing when basal turns off, but rather when it’s increased and decreased - by how much and for how long and how “regularly” (most days or just when I do/don’t do XX).
Because my basal is less overall now, I also have less of a cushion when I inevitably get a bad site. So I need to fix things more quickly. I take seriously when X2 tells me that despite its corrections I’m still high - and to check my site, etc. occasionally it happens cuz I bolused too late for my meal, but if I can’t explain it away I troubleshoot further.
Can’t say this is less work, but it’s different and there’s much more benefit to me than I could achieve before it. And much less manual micro-dosing during the day that can lead to stacking and lows …
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I don’t remember the compression lows from G5, but recently came across a post of mine from 2018 describing just that. It’s been a “thing” for us “apparently skinny”. I wonder if it’s also more common among folks who are … ahem … older because our subQ layer begins to lose some of the cherub-like squishiness even if we carry extra weight. Maybe it’s somehow different fat than what Dex needs.
However, it would be sweet if Dex sensors could be programmed it to alert us “you’re too skinny! 
” or at least “check for sensor compression” … It would still wake me up but at least we wouldn’t be tempted to treat it … 
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You and I both! I thought that I was “good” before moving on to CIQ, but now I see how much better this additional set of eyes can perform. CIQ has made a wonderful difference, especially when I’m asleep, keeping me in-range more than 95% of the time.
Like you, I skin through the pump history and note
Thanks for the comment on my screen name. I didn’t get a nickname until I was out of college. I was shopping with a friend around Easter the and a pretty store had cute little bunnies in the window. I exclaimed “What a cute little wabbit!” and my friend said “That’s the perfect nickname for you!” Sometimes a person will say “What a nut” or “What a clown,” and when I did something particularly typical of myself she would say “What a wabbit” and shake her head. And thus “wadawabbit” was born.
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I have only been a diabetic since 1957, and in 1998 went on the Medtronic pump. It was basically the only one available. When I came off of taking shots my HBA1C was 6.2 to 6.6. On the pump over the years my HBA1C went to 6.5 to 6.8. Then I started using the Dexcom 5 and that helped but obviously the Medtronic does not communicate with Dexcom. So last December, I was sold the Tandem Tslim, while being laid up in the hospital with a major staff infection. I started using the Tandem/Dexcom 6 in January of this year. The combination of pump and CGM are probably one of the better systems on the market, BUT the process of using it is horrible. I have tried all of tandem’s infusion sets and none even come close to medtronics Quick Set with reusable insertion device. At 70 years old, I have problems holding the tandems products. And why would you load a syringe with insulin, and have to insert that into a 1/8th inch target on a reservoir? Medtronic goes from Insulin bottle directly into the reservoir. On the T-slim, 300 units last 2.5 days while the medtronic 300 units will last 3.25 to3.5 days.
I have gone back to using my Medtronic 751 which is 7 or 8 years old. T-slim won’t even talk to me about returning it
@Janthetoolman Hi Jan and welcome to the JDRF TypeOneNation Forum! What a coincidence, we bere both diagnosed in the same year, but I was a few years older than you - I got “my GOOD news”, DIABETES on my 16th birthday.
Like you, I used injections for decades before trying a MiniMed / Medtronic pump [a 513, I think] and then two later two slightly improved MiniMed Rebel models. In January 2019 I began using the Tandem t-Slim x2 pump that would work with my DexCom sensors and transmitter. For the first few weeks, filling the cartridge frustrated me, but now has become almost routine - yes, the syringe method appears to be a waste. To me, it is obvious why the cartridge needs to be filled this way rather than the “simple” Medtronic direct route. The t-Slim is just what the name says, SLIM; not like the bulky and awkward Med pumps.
Fast forward, in January 2020 I moved to Control IQ which I find really sensational in that my Time-In-Range [TIR] has moved well above 90% of the time, the sensors last a full ten days without ever asking for calibration, and, almost sad to say, I have become accustomed to look only at my pump when entering carbohydrates. Well, I do pause when bike riding every 60 minutes [the Garmin bike
No I never do calibrations any more, and the pump does not ask for them. That might be a question for Tandem support.
I went from Basal IQ to Control IQ in February. On Basal IQ, my HbA1C went up because it only corrected for lows and not for highs. Control IQ actually includes the Basal IQ corrections, but just adds corrections for highs. On Control IQ my HbA1C went back down, and I still am not woken up for low sugars most of the time. I do adjust my profile as the weather changes. In winter I need higher basal rates, and in summer lower ones. So when I was having slightly lower readings at night, I did lower the basal rates in my profile. I was running really high sugars late afternoon when I first went on Control IQ because when my sugar was low around lunchtime, it was decreasing my basal rates to zero, which meant later I had high sugars - there was too little insulin in my blood a couple hours later. I still am trying to work that out, but I am getting closer.
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I am skinny, so I have resorted to using those ventilated caps they put over my eyes after cataract surgery to prevent the infusion set needles going into my muscles when I sleep on them at night. I wonder if the same could be done with the G6 sensors to prevent compression lows. I don’t get those because I wear the pump in a sack that I rotate around my waist to a side I am not sleeping on as I go through the night. (I wake up every 90 minutes to 4 hours and have to change positions due to arthritis pain.) So I never sleep on a receiver or my pump. But if compression lows come from sleeping on the sensors, a ventilated cup over them could help.
Hi @Janthetoolman and thank you for sharing your observations.
I switched from Minimed to Tandem many years ago, and have long since gotten used to the different load process. To speed up the process, when I get a new bottle of insulin I load as many cartridges as I can and keep them in the fridge so they’re ready when I need them - I only have to do it every few weeks, and thinking back on it I did the she with Minimed. Have never had a problem.
However you do raise an excellent point: that certain processes may be more difficult for some users than others.
It’s been such a long time my memory of detail is fuzzy, but I either got a loaner pump to use with training or I was given a trial period with my first Minined. In either case, I had several days - maybe even a couple of weeks - to practice filling the cartridge (with sterile saline); learning to use the infusion sets (can’t recall if they have me a variety to try, which would be nice); and give myself a saline bolus.
I don’t think there was any such trial period with the TSLIM, but thankfully everything was fine. Omnipod will send a test pod to try out, although you don’t load it and it doesn’t insert - it just sits on your body so you can see what it feels like.
Given the investment and the commitment it would be invaluable for manufacturers to let users try out their system and accessories first rather than hope for the best. For many it’s a matter of personal preference, but for some certain features are a matter of necessity.
Dennis: Good to meet another “lifer”. Sounds like you have done well with your diabetes. Congratulations. I don’t think that I have done too bad either. My only problems are Neuropathy in hands and lower legs, and small crooked veins that I inherited from my father. The neuropathy in my hands makes it hard to hold onto small items, so the Slim in my book is actually a negative.
I worked in the recycling industry for 20 years, and it bugs me that T-slim and Dexcom both have huge amount of non-recyclable garbage when you are done inserting both devices. Maybe a lot of people don’t care.
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It looks like I’m a little late to this conversation, but I just wanted to jump in to clarify the differences between Basal IQ and Control IQ (at least as I understand them – please someone correct me if I’m wrong!). Sleep mode is not just like Basal IQ. It narrows and lowers the target BG range, and it doesn’t deliver correction boluses, but it still increases basal if your BG is high. So it still does correct for high BGs, just more slowly and gently with basal rather than boluses.
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WOW…I’ve never heard of those shields but will certainly give them a try for compression lows. Mine are way more frequent with the g6.
THANKS!!! 
[quote=“AbigailL, post:38, topic:67696”]
- t looks like I’m a little late to this conversation, but I just wanted to jump in to clarify the differences between Basal IQ and Control IQ (at least as I understand them – please someone correct me if I’m wrong!). Sleep mode is not just like Basal IQ. It narrows and lowers the target BG range, and it doesn’t deliver correction boluses, but it still increases basal if your BG is high. So it still does correct for high BGs, just more slowly and gently with basal rather than boluses.
You have a good understanding of Control IQ, Abigail @AbigailL . You are correct in saying that CI does NOT DELIVER correction bolus when in Sleep Mode. In addition to that, when in Sleep Mode, CIQ will begin raising basal insulin, if needed, at or above 120 mg/dl whereas, when in Normal Mode, the increased basal only occurs when BGL reaches 160 mg/dl.