I am in the research process for finding my stepdaughter a pump. We just saw her Dr. the other day and he said there are no pumps out there that currently monitor your Blood sugar... well he handed us a Medtronic Mini Med Info Pack to read up on as I am in the car the first page says...REAL TIME CONTINOUS GLUCOSE MONITORING. So my question to all you out there is does this in fact monitor your BS at all times? And if you use this pump can you give me the pros and cons...or pros and cons on any other pump I may want to look into!
There are various things out there that do the Continuous Glucose Monitoring. The Minimed System is the only integrated system with both both and CGMS functionality. If you choose to use the glucose sensor that is a separate site from the pump infusion site, but if you do use it yes it will monitor your glucose all the time.
Pros:
Integrated system, User friendly, various infusion sets for different body types, very knowledgeable support/ tech staff, the glucose meter will wirelessly send readings to your pump for bolusing (that is if you are not using the sensor), various colors for the pump, varying basal rates can run many different basals in a day if needed, easily programmable. Long battery life.
Cons:
The sensor can be uncomfortable but that is rare, depending on insurance coverage CGMS may or may not be covered if it is not covered it can be expensive to get a supply of sensors (however sensors can be stretched longer than the three day period), you need to count carbs where the animas pump has a built in food bank for certain foods, you are tied to Minimed for your supplies pretty much, water resistant not waterproof.
In the end I love the minimed 722, i use the CGMS and it has made a huge improvement in my life, my last a1c was 6 so it regulated me perfectly. Those that use the other pumps, Animas Ping, Cozmore, and Omnipod all love their pumps as well. I have rarely read any negative feedback from people about their current pump. Feel free to message me and ask any other questions. I am sure I am missing out on some of the various pros and cons. But all in all, the 722 is a great system.
The CGMS that is integrated into the pump only works if you actually have the Transmitter and Sensor that you put into your body. But, yes once you get the sensor and transmitter it monitors your BS at all times.
I'm a minimed pumper, though I'm not on the real time system yet. All this is is an insulin pump paired to a Continuous Glucose Monitor. The monitor will take a blood sugar every minute and send a 5 minute average to the pump, which will have your range and everything programed into it. This allows you to monitor if your BS is climbing or falling, and you can actually set it to alarm if you start to move out of your set range. As of right now Insurance companies do not want to cover the monitor part of the system as it is not "Necessary" Most insurances will do it case by case though. I'm working with Mini med and my insurance to upgrade to the full system. So in short to answer your question, technically your Dr. is right. There are no pumps that check your blood sugar as well, however they are close to it, and there are the continuous glucose monitors out there. Even with the full real time system you will need to test your blood sugar at least 2 a day to keep it calibrated. But whats 2 times a day compared to 10?
I have to agree with you Kim, as I mentioned I really do love CGMS
and the less blood testing. I still find myself testing more than the
required two, but things are so much easier with it. I mean, i have a
rough estimate of where things stand and it is a good fall back if you
are tied up and think you are either High or Low. At least with the
CGMS you can see where you stand.
The one benefit to having the
CGMS tied into the pump like Minimed has is that you only have the one
unit. The pump is both both and monitor. The other systems are stand
alone, which means you would have to carry around both the pump and the
monitor with you with the other systems. While I never tried it, the
dexcom sensor looks great and smaller than the MM system, but I really
feel that the monitor just looks to be quite big. I could be wrong,
maybe it just photograph's wrong but it just seems to be large and
bulky. Can anyone back that up or not?
So another pro I guess is the integration and small size of the pump.