Minimed Connect: Top 10 Faq | The Loop Blog
Home Innovation Now Available: MiniMed Connect! Posted by Karrie Hawbaker On September 28, 2015 In Innovation As many of you know, in June we received FDA clearance of MiniMed Connect . Today, were thrilled to announce were now shipping the first and only product that discretely and conveniently displays both insulin pump and CGM data on your smartphone. Of course, it also allows caregivers to remotely monitor your diabetes data and can even send them text messages when your sensor glucose gets too high or too low. If you havent already pre-ordered MiniMed Connect, you can now place your order . Still have questions? We have you covered with answers to your top questions below. 1. What kind of data does the uploader send to the MiniMed Connect app? CGM: Current sensor glucose reading (with high and low limits) shown on a graph (3, 6, 12, 24-hour views), time until your next BG calibration, and number of days before next sensor change. It does not display your BG meter readings. Pump: Active insulin, amount of insulin in reservoir, and pump battery level. Note that the app is not enabled to show bolus markers, change pump settings, or control your insulin pump. System: Uploader battery level and device status information 2. What is the best way to carry the uploader? The uploader is 2.5 inches x 1 inch x 0.5 inches about the size of an electronic car key or a USB drive so you can put it on a keychain, in your pocket, or along with something you always keep close to you (maybe your meter case?). Were working on a case to carry both the pump and uploader. In the meantime, hopefully youll share us your best tips for keeping it close. The uploader communicates with the pump through radio frequency, and uses Bluetooth Low Energy to send your data to the mobile app. It sends Continue reading >>
Continuous Glucose Monitoring: Everything You Need To Know
Continuous glucose monitors or CGMs can be a lifesaving device for people with any type of diabetes. They continually check your blood sugar 24 hours a day and alert you you before you begin experiencing low or high blood sugar levels. They can reduce the number of times you have to check your blood sugar each day which is welcome news for everyone with diabetes! Insurance coverage is changing this year with Medicare jumping on board also, so this is the time to learn about this awesome piece of technology available to you. I know there are a lot of questions surrounding the use of continuous glucose monitoring, so we will break it all down here for you! What is a CGM and how does it work? Is it right for me? Will I still have to check my blood sugar? What choices do I have currently on the market? Will my insurance cover a CMG? How much will it cost? Can I travel and play sports with a CGM? In this article I will answer all your questions. What Is Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM)? A continuous glucose monitoring system or CGM is a system that does just what it sounds like, it monitors you glucose (blood sugar) continuously…well, every 5 minutes, 24 hours a day! You are able to see what your blood sugars are with a receiver; the data is transmitted from a sensor which is inserted right beneath your skin which is attached to a transmitter which sends the data to the receiver. Now, the newest system are even integrated with a Smartphone; with this advancement you can check your data right from your cell phone. For parents with children, this technology is peace of mind, allowing them to check their child’s blood glucose level any time-day or night. There are two different types of systems: The first is a personal continuous glucose monitoring system that you wear a Continue reading >>
The Artificial Pancreas Scares Me
D.D. Family T1 for 72 years, here to help Peter, that is good information and advice you have given, thanks! It still bothers me that so many people are so hasty in switching to the 670g, seemingly thinking it is the greatest device ever for diabetes. Too much faith placed on this pump before it is even received, is not good! I'm going to use the 630g, without the sensor, and stick to my Dexcom G4 until my insurance agrees to cover the Dexcom G5. Type 1 for 72 years. Using the MM 630g pump, and Dexcom G5. A1c=6.1 D.D. Family T1 since 1985, MM Pump 2013, CGM 2015 I just have to ask though, why not get the 670G? As far as I know (again, let me know if I'm wrong) the 670G acts exactly like the 630G when not in Auto mode. So, at worst, you'd be getting a feature you choose not to use. And again, I could be wrong, but I believe the 630G uses the Enlite sensors, but the 670G uses the new Guardian 3 sensors, which are more accurate. So,, if you chose to try Medtronic CGM, with the 670G you'd be using the best sensors Medtronic has to offer. (I'm not trying to sound like a Medtronic Salesman. I'm actually just exploring your thought process, as I eventually will be faced with these same decisions.) D.D. Family T1 since 1985, MM Pump 2013, CGM 2015 Bt the way, I hope people are reminding these parents that, even with all these improvements, pumps still have their issues, such as occlusions, air bubbles, displaced infusion sets and sensors, etc... I've said it before: I love my pump probably 29+ days a month, but that one day every month or two I'm really temped to use it to add ventilation to the side of my living room wall. D.D. Family T1 for 72 years, here to help My hesitance on using the 670g is based on posts I have read in the Medtronic Pumps group on Facebook. It is s hu Continue reading >>
Apple Has 'secret' Team Of Biomedical Engineers Developing Sensors For Non-invasively Monitoring Blood Glucose
At a nondescript office in Palo Alto, Apple is rumored to have a small team of biomedical engineers researching better methods for monitoring blood sugar, reports CNBC. Apple's work on glucose monitoring is said to have started with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who wanted to develop a sensor that could continuously and non-invasively monitor blood sugar levels to improve quality of life. Apple is far enough along in its research that feasibility trials are being conducted at clinical sites in the San Francisco Bay Area, and it has hired consultants to sort out regulatory issues. The glucose team is said to report to Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies. [...] One of the people said that Apple is developing optical sensors, which involves shining a light through the skin to measure indications of glucose. Rumors of Apple's work on advanced healthcare initiatives like diabetes management aren't new. Early Apple Watch information suggested the wearable device would be able to measure things like blood pressure and blood glucose levels. Many health-related sensors that Apple wanted to include in the original Apple Watch were reportedly dropped because the technology was not consistently accurate, but rumors at the time said Apple would pursue its work on more advanced health sensors. Apple has also made several health-related acquisitions and around the time the Apple Watch was in development, hired dozens of biomedical experts. Apple CEO Tim Cook has since said that Apple does not want to put the Apple Watch through the FDA approval process, something that would need to happen for more advanced healthcare features, so it is not clear if this is a feature Apple foresees being added to the wrist-worn device. From Tim Cook in 2015: "We don't wa Continue reading >>
New Diabetes Technology To Expect In 2018
We're sorry, an error occurred. We are unable to collect your feedback at this time. However, your feedback is important to us. Please try again later. The start of a new year always brings curiosity about what's on tap in new diabetes technology, and we're excited to take an inside look, especially with the big JP Morgan Healthcare and Consumer Electronics Show events underway this month. Of course, these days Amazon and Google generate quite the medtech buzz, not to mention wearable smartwatches and Apple talk and the very many mobile health apps being developed . Some of the recent buzz includes FitBit investing $6M to develop a continuous glucose sensor, and rumors that Apple's developing its own super-secret continuous monitor built directly into its Apple Watch. On the flip side, you can't talk about innovation or D-tech these days without the lockstep concerns of access and affordability. It's encouraging to see reimbursement being more of a focus at the R&D stage of new products, and the latest news of Medicare coverage for the tubeless OmniPod pump and new Abbott FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitor are big moves forward. We've reached out to many leading diabetes vendors and combed through public reports from investor earnings calls and other news announcements to compile this (not exhaustive) look at what's ahead in D-tech for this coming year. You might refer to this as Artificial Pancreas systems , but whatever the name it's about "closing the loop" in glucose-monitoring and insulin dosing. While we won't see any fully closed loops (requiring no user intervention) on the market during 2018, we'll certainly see progress from numerous players. Beta Bionics: This B-Corp startup in Boston now has its fourth-generation prototype of its iLet4 system, a dual-hor Continue reading >>
Medtronic 670g: Experiences Of A Mom + Daughter With T1d
Medtronic 670G: Experiences of a Mom + Daughter with T1D My 15 year old daughter and I both started on the Medtronic 670G system in July. With 2 1/2 months of use under our belts, we have had common, yet unique, experiences with the Medtronic 670G tech. As many people report, some magic happens between weeks 3 and 5. There was a turning point in which we both became happier with the results and user interface/ demands. [Our initial experience, one week in, is documented in this piece: A Nurses Review: Medtronic 670G Insulin Pump .] This is huge, especially in a household that has two very active people under one roof that both have T1D. I had the habit, on occasion, of pouring my daughter 3 glasses of juice overnight after a big basketball practice or some crazy family adventure in the mountains. I can thankfully report that this behavior is a thing of the past. Like it or not, midnight picnics are common for those of us living with type 1 diabetes. Our dentists may agree that the 670G may be worth its weight in gold with the simple elimination of the sugar bath on our teeth all hours of the day and night. Hands down, the best feature of this pump/ sensor combo is the near elimination of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) particularly overnight when we are at our most vulnerable. Over the past few months I have put this thing to the test. I trained for and completed a 102 mile bike ride for JDRF Ride to Cure in Loveland, Colorado. Ive spent a lot of time in the saddle with this sensor and pump over some strenuous miles at higher elevations. My overall impression is quite positive at this point I have no desire to go back to my previous pump or a pump/continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that dont speak to one another. Are there gaps between my blood glucose and sensor glucose Continue reading >>
Review: Latest Apple Watch Shows Potential As Very Sweet Medical Device
Review: Latest Apple Watch shows potential as very sweet medical device The cellular function of the Apple Watch Series 3 represents an important advance for anyone managing a chronic condition. The cellular function of the Apple Watch Series 3 represents an important advance for anyone managing a chronic condition. (Associated Press) I went into a test drive of the Apple Watch Series 3 thinking it could be a real game changer for diabetes management. Now Im thinking it should be considered by anyone with a chronic illness. First, the most important Series 3 feature for people with diabetes isnt available yet, but it will be soon, maybe within the next few months, after the Food and Drug Administration gives its blessing. I have Type 1 diabetes the autoimmune kind, not the more common Type 2 typically associated with obesity. Like many Type 1s, I wear a sensor on my abdomen called a continuous glucose monitor to measure my blood sugar level. This technology has been around for about a decade, but its only within the last few years that the accuracy of continuous glucose monitors has gotten good enough to count on. Heres how it works: My sensor, made by San Diegos Dexcom, sends my glucose numbers to my iPhone , which in turn transmits them to my Pebble smartwatch for easy viewing. Very convenient. Soon, however, the Series 3 will cut the iPhone out of the equation, allowing my sensor to interact directly with the watch via Bluetooth. That means if I leave my phone at home, or if Im at the gym, Ill still have ready access to my numbers. Los Angeles Times cosumer columnist David Lazarus reviews the Apple Watch Series 3. Los Angeles Times cosumer columnist David Lazarus reviews the Apple Watch Series 3. That may not sound like much to someone with a working pancreas. But f Continue reading >>
An Update On Medtronic’s Minimed 670g System
This morning, the Medtronic Diabetes Group held a conference call for a small group of diabetes writers to give an update on its new MiniMed 670G system, otherwise known as the world’s first hybrid closed loop system. Louis Dias, Chief Patient Officer of Medtronic Diabetes and Mike Hill, Vice President of Marketing for Medtronic’s Intensive Insulin Management Business were both on the call, as was Karrie Hawbaker, Senior Manager of Social Media. First, a recap on what the system is and what it does: The MiniMed 670G system is a combination of an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor. What sets it apart from its predecessors—and, for that matter, every other pump on the market—is that it can actually give you insulin. This makes it a major step forward toward the goal of a truly closed loop system. How does the 670G system work? Users must program their insulin-to-carb ratios, calibrate the system twice a day with a blood glucose reading from a finger stick, and give the system a “meal announcement” when they’re about to eat by entering the number of grams of carbohydrate that they intend to consume. The system then uses the grams of carbohydrate users have entered and their insulin-to-carb ratio to estimate an initial bolus to cover the meal. In the hours that follow, the system makes tiny tweaks to basal rates in order to get blood sugar levels as close as possible to 120 mg/dL. This means that you don’t need to enter correction boluses and that there’s no longer such thing as dual wave or square boluses—the pump is taking care of it for you. How’s it different from the most recent MiniMed pump? Medtronic Diabetes’s current top-of-the-line pump is the MiniMed 630G system with Enlite Sensor. The 530G uses something called SmartGuard™ te Continue reading >>
Guardian Connect Faq | Medtronic-diabetes.com.au
The Guardian Connect system measures glucose in the body and sends it to the Guardian Connect app approximatively every five minutes (about 288 readings a day). The transmitter communicates with the mobile app via Bluetooth connection. The mobile app utilises wireless connection to send data to CareLink Personal. Your care partners can also access your information from the CareLink website on most smartphones, tablets, or computers. These must be connected to the internet to receive information. Care partners can also elect to receive SMS messages for any applicable alerts. Guardian Connect will be available on the MiniMed eShop as a subscription. Please note - your healthcare professional will need to sign an order form before you can be granted access to purchase a subscription. A Medtronic representative will be in touch with you on how to purchase the subscription via the MiniMed eShop as anexclusive deal. How long will it take me to get initially set up? Depending on the person, it is estimated that it will take two hours to set up the Guardian Connect system. It is estimated to take approximately one hour to insert your sensor the first time, pair your transmitter, and set up the app. Once inserted, it will take up to approximately two hours for the sensor to warm up. How does CGM differ from Flash Glucose Monitoring? The Guardian Connect System is real-time Continuous Glucose Monitoring with sensor glucose readings provided every five minutes. Flash does not provide a continuous transmition or display of data, but relies on patients scanning the sensor. CGM is prescribed to patients who are hypo prone, hypo unaware, poorly controlled, or with significant glucose variability. The key benefits of CGM for these patients are ensuring excursions are detected by the s Continue reading >>
An Apple Watch For Diabetics Won’t Hit The Market Anytime Soon
During the last few years, we have witnessed an unprecedented acceleration of technological advances for people with diabetes, a condition that affects nearly 30 million Americans. New systems are promising patients less hassle, less pain, fewer injections and finger pokes, less mental math, and less worry about managing their condition. These advances provide more accurate and real-time information on blood sugar (glucose) through wireless technology, apps, built-in clinical decision support algorithms, and automated insulin delivery systems that can reduce diabetes burden and complications. Even Apple (aapl, +0.28%) has reportedly hired biomedical engineers to develop a sensor that detects blood sugar, sparking talk of the company potentially embedding the sensors into a wearable watch that could become a “must have” for people with diabetes. But it will be a long time before it’s actually on the market. There have been some recent successes: Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, such as the Dexcom G5 Mobile CGM system, use a sensor through a tiny catheter slipped under the skin that reads glucose every five minutes. This sensor wirelessly transmits information to a stand-alone receiver or smartphone to alert patients of upward or downward trends in their glucose so they can take preemptive action. Large strides toward an “artificial pancreas” were taken in 2016 when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the Medtronic MiniMed 670G, which is the first device to uses CGM data to automatically adjust background insulin doses, which are then delivered through an insulin pump. IBM (ibm, +2.72%) Watson Health is developing a unique cognitive app that finds patterns in a patient’s blood glucose data and offers individual guidance for changes in m Continue reading >>
Apple Monitoring Blood Glucose | Hacker News
As a type 1 diabetic I'm super excited to see apple working in this space, even if they're focusing it on type 2 to start (a logical move, considering there is something like 30x more type 2 diabetics in the US). I think making it easier to track glucose levels in real time is the number one thing that can be done to improve quality of life for both types of diabetics. The "CGM" (continuous glucose monitor) has really come into it's own over the last 10 or so years, and I would encourage all diabetics (but especially type 1) to use one. Currently the only 2 real options on the market are: - - Connects directly to your phone using bluetooth and will send glucose warnings etc as notifications. - - Designed to work with Medtronic (who is a market leader) insulin pumps. Both these options are expensive (even with insurance for many), invasive, and not really tailored towards "casual" glucose monitoring. I think if Apple enters the space with a non-invasive tool it'll be a huge boon for causal glucose monitoring. I also think it could be a more accessible option for people who are interested using a CGM to treat their diabetes but can't/won't use one of the existing options due to cost or inconvenience. This seems like a win win and I'm excited to see where it goes. Here in Germany the Dexcom G4 system with Animas Vibe insulin pump became fully covered by the health insurance last November and a couple of weeks ago I got my system working. It is a pretty amazing improvement to my life: both the pump and CGM. The G4 transmitter has a 2.4 GHz radio and I built an extra device with Wixel and Bluetooth to transfer the data so my Android phone so xDrip+ and my Android watch can display the glucose values real time. It works so great that my A1c levels been going down from over 7 Continue reading >>
Apple Reportedly Has A “super Secret” Project To Change The Way We Treat Diabetes
Apple is reportedly working on a “super secret” medical project: building sensors to monitor blood sugar levels without piercing the skin. According to CNBC, the iPhone maker has been working on this for at least five years, quietly hiring dozens of biomedical engineers and sequestering them in a nondescript Palo Alto office. It may be intended to connect to the Apple Watch, which Apple CEO Tim Cook has previously hinted at trying to make more medically useful, even suggesting that an app developed “adjacent to it” might have to get approval from the US Food and Drug Administration. And Reuters reported in 2014 that Apple, Samsung, and Google were all interested in merging their respective mobile devices with glucose monitoring devices. What Apple’s reportedly trying to do here hasn’t worked out so well for Google, whose life-sciences arm, Verily, is also located away from company headquarters in its own unassuming office building and has long been working (publicly) on a smart contact lens for blood sugar monitoring. That project hasn’t been fruitful yet. Keeping track of how blood sugar levels rise and fall throughout the day is a big job for people with type 1 diabetes, whose bodies don’t produce insulin—a crucial hormone in blood sugar regulation. Diabetics typically test blood samples from their fingertips several times a day to measure these levels, but since the numbers can fluctuate so much in response to food, exercise, stress, and other factors, a few data points per day isn’t always enough information. That’s why enthusiasm has been building for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) sensors. These sensors rely on a small needle that stays under the skin for days at a time to analyze interstitial fluid—the stuff that surrounds tissue cell Continue reading >>
New Apple Watch Update Brings Improvements For Diabetes
New Apple Watch update brings improvements for diabetes The Apple Watch first arrived to much fanfare exactly six months ago. Despitesome sensational headlines inmainstream press and Dexcoms bold efforts to fully support the Apple Watch with the Share platform, the overall user experience for people with diabetes was tolerable at best, due to limitations in the aptly-title watchOS (the Apple Watchsoperating system). In contrastto the lightning-fast, always-visible live CGM views on the Pebble Smartwatch (courtesy ofthe home-made modifications pioneered by #WeAreNotWaiting/NightScout crew), the Dexcom Share / Follow apps for Apple Watch were clunky, laggy, and not visible at first glance. The few diabetes logbook apps that did support Apple Watch were equally clunky, hindered by the watchOSs stubborn dependence on the iPhone. But this past Tuesday, Apple released watchOS 2 , givingapp creatorsnew abilities such as accessing health sensor data from the watch (e.g.heart rate, activity), downloading data directly from the Cloud via WiFi, and displaying information directly on the watch face. How does this benefitApple Watch owners with diabetes? Display diabetes data directly on thewatch face! One of the Apple Watchs bestfeature is the ability to display additionalinformationthe Watch Face. These small views are called complications, a term reverently taken from the watchmaking world. (Not to be confused with medicalcomplications like neuropathy and blindness).On the original watchOS (pictured on the left), these complications were restricted to displaying data from official Apple apps (e.g. alarm, moon phase, sunset, activity, etc). With watchOS2, third party developers now can do the same. As picturedabove, the CNNapp displaysthe latest headline, and the United Airlines Continue reading >>
The Next Big Thing – Medtronic Diabetes 670g Hybrid Closed-loop System
The Next Big Thing – Medtronic Diabetes 670g Hybrid Closed-Loop System By Allen Lightcap This Halloween, I will be commemorating my 27th year since being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. I am now 38 years old and until recently had never imagined what it might be like to live without diabetes, or to get some relief from this relentless disease. I have run the gamut of available therapies with mixed results – multiple daily injections of a long lasting insulin coupled with a short term insulin for meals was the only option I had heard of until I was introduced to insulin pump therapy in 1999. There was a lot of freedom gained simply moving from injections to the pump, and improved control in my A1C. From there, I continued upgrading to the latest and greatest insulin pump and then introduced a continuous glucose monitoring system 4 years ago. Being able to monitor in relatively real time what my blood sugar was, watch it trend upwards or downwards, and receive alerts in advance of these adverse trends was another step in freedom from the daily grind. But even with the best in insulin pump therapy and CGMS, I was still relegated to helplessly watching the trends after I had made a “bad” decision – either a few slices of pizza which was pushing my sugar up, or an unplanned bike ride with my kids that was now dragging my sugar down. Why should an attempt at a normal life be a “bad” decision? I’m sure most, if not all, Type 1 Diabetics have felt this helplessness from time to time. There have been days on end for me for which I could not get my glucose to come down to a normal range, and many a day that no matter how much I ate I could not keep it above 80 mg/dl for any length of time. With all the evolutionary changes to my diabetes therapy, I was still requi Continue reading >>
Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems (cgm) Medtronic & Dexcom Review & Comparison
Since my first detailed report comparing the various Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems (CGMs) back in 2014, a lot has happened. And not much has changed. The systems have improved in terms of accuracy, features and ease of use, but the main players remain the same (Medtronic and Dexcom). Access via insurance coverage and professional loaner systems has grown exponentially, yet less than 20% of those eligible for CGM are currently using them. In many cases, insurers make the process of receiving coverage onerous and needlessly complex. This doesn’t even touch on Medicare, which continues to sit idly by with its head up its proverbial butt while older Americans suffer needlessly from dangerous glucose swings. New and improved software programs (plus a brilliant new book called “Practical CGM”) provide guidance on how to interpret/analyze CGM reports, yet few patients bother to look at their own data, and very few healthcare providers have the expertise to convert the reports into useful therapeutic insight to help guide their patients. So let’s get down to business. How do the latest Medtronic and Dexcom CGM systems compare? Dexcom’s latest and greatest, the G5, features a transmitter that sends data directly to either a handheld receiver or a mobile phone. Dexcom’s G5 Mobile App displays data on the phone and generates the various alerts; Dexcom’s Clarity App generates reports for retrospective analysis. G5, as well as G4 Platinum, utilizes Dexcom’s up-to-date 505 algorithm for translating subcutaneous electrical impulses into glucose values. Why call it 505? My best guess is that Medtronic copyrighted every other number below 1000. (for some reason, they skipped 505 when naming their various pumps) Medtronic’s latest CGM features their new-generati Continue reading >>
- Type 2 Diabetes: Will Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) Help?
- Exercise and Glucose Metabolism in Persons with Diabetes Mellitus: Perspectives on the Role for Continuous Glucose Monitoring
- Practical Approach to Using Trend Arrows on the Dexcom G5 CGM System for the Management of Adults With Diabetes | Journal of the Endocrine Society | Oxford Academic
