Attention Pumpers: What do you know about the forthcoming MiniMed

in misc.health.diabetes Bay Area Dave said:

Quoted message said:

that's the question. all I know is it is a pump and
glucose monitor all=

=20

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

rolled into one unit. anyone got a picture or other info?

dave

Don't know about the 515, but if they've combined a pump
with a meter all= in one, i hope they do a slicker job than
the bd meter they've tied to my = new 712 paradigm pump. I
like the pump well enough, but the meter sucks. It, = and
it's case, are way to big for convenient carrying, yet the
vial they put the = strips in is too small for even a small
finger, making it tricky as hell to get = a strip out of the
vial. Then the slot into which the strip fits in the meter
is= hard to see, and a bit hard to find, at least when the
light isn't so good. = Just not a good design. But the real
kicker is that I don't think it's accurate. = I've got
several meters already, and have been comparing them to the
bd. = Yesterday, feelling a little jittery, I wondered if
I'd maybe overbolused, and = checked with the bd meter. It
beeped, and reported a bg of 140. Sent that via radio = link
to the pump. All well and good. The pump suggested a bolus
to bring it = back down. I, however, damn well know what an
impending hypo feels like, even if the feelings aren't that
reliable any more. So on a hunch, I checked again = with
both my lifescan meter and my therasense one. These two
reported a bg of respectively, 77 and 81, which rather
matched well with how I felt. So I retested with the bd
meter too, and this time it reported 102. All this = within
the span of a couple minutes, without another bolus or carb
intake. =20

Much though I like the bit of the meter automatically
sending the reading= to the pump, frankly, I'm kinda
deciding not to use the bd meter, and go back to= my
thereasense tracker, which though it doesn't radio link to
the pump, = makes keeping a logbook a lot simpler for me.
And since actually doing = anything with the bg reading the
pump recieves still requires pushing some buttons on = the
pump, I don't think I'm missing too much of a feature.

Any thoughts?

Peter Rowe Seattle (new to the group, but not to diabetes.
37 years T1. first wore a pump = in the early 80s (the big
blue brick I'm told it was called, though i recall a =
charcoal color. Autosyringe brand... Had to go off it again
after a couple years= after getting too many adhesions and
knots in the fatty tissue due to = irritation from the steel
infusion needles. Only just recently figured things had
gotton= better in the years since, and no longer happy with
A1C. It used to be around = 7, but has slowly edged up to
7.4. Endo isn't too unhappy, but I'd prefer = lower. Niaspan
prolly has something to do with it, as did the sometimes
dramatic= spikes I'd get. Hopeing the pump will let me
better control things.)

Peter, relax, I'd imagine the technology will be either
identical to or similar to the Guardian CGM, NOT the
stupid BD meter!

dave

Peter W. Rowe said:

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 22:26:44 GMT, in misc.health.diabetes

Bay Area Dave said:

Quoted message said:

that's the question. all I know is it is a pump and
glucose monitor all rolled into one unit. anyone got a
picture or other info?

dave

Don't know about the 515, but if they've combined a pump
with a meter all in one, i hope they do a slicker job than
the bd meter they've tied to my new 712 paradigm pump. I
like the pump well enough, but the meter sucks. It, and
it's case, are way to big for convenient carrying, yet the
vial they put the strips in is too small for even a small
finger, making it tricky as hell to get a strip out of the
vial. Then the slot into which the strip fits in the meter
is hard to see, and a bit hard to find, at least when the
light isn't so good. Just not a good design. But the real
kicker is that I don't think it's accurate. I've got
several meters already, and have been comparing them to
the bd. Yesterday, feelling a little jittery, I wondered
if I'd maybe overbolused, and checked with the bd meter.
It beeped, and reported a bg of 140. Sent that via radio
link to the pump. All well and good. The pump suggested a
bolus to bring it back down. I, however, damn well know
what an impending hypo feels like, even if the feelings
aren't that reliable any more. So on a hunch, I checked
again with both my lifescan meter and my therasense one.
These two reported a bg of respectively, 77 and 81, which
rather matched well with how I felt. So I retested with
the bd meter too, and this time it reported 102. All this
within the span of a couple minutes, without another bolus
or carb intake.

Much though I like the bit of the meter automatically
sending the reading to the pump, frankly, I'm kinda
deciding not to use the bd meter, and go back to my
thereasense tracker, which though it doesn't radio link to
the pump, makes keeping a logbook a lot simpler for me.
And since actually doing anything with the bg reading the
pump recieves still requires pushing some buttons on the
pump, I don't think I'm missing too much of a feature.

Any thoughts?

Peter Rowe Seattle (new to the group, but not to diabetes.
37 years T1. first wore a pump in the early 80s (the big
blue brick I'm told it was called, though i recall a
charcoal color. Autosyringe brand... Had to go off it
again after a couple years after getting too many
adhesions and knots in the fatty tissue due to irritation
from the steel infusion needles. Only just recently
figured things had gotton better in the years since, and
no longer happy with A1C. It used to be around 7, but has
slowly edged up to 7.4. Endo isn't too unhappy, but I'd
prefer lower. Niaspan prolly has something to do with it,
as did the sometimes dramatic spikes I'd get. Hopeing the
pump will let me better control things.)

Peter W. Rowe said:

On Fri, 12 Mar 2004 22:26:44 GMT, in misc.health.diabetes
Bay Area Dave <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

that's the question. all I know is it is a pump and
glucose monitor all rolled into one unit. anyone got a
picture or other info?

dave

Quoted message said:

Don't know about the 515, but if they've combined a pump
with a meter all in one, i hope they do a slicker job than
the bd meter they've tied to my new 712 paradigm pump. I
like the pump well enough, but the meter sucks. It, and
it's case, are way to big for convenient carrying, yet the
vial they put the strips in is too small for even a small
finger, making it tricky as hell to get a strip out of the
vial. Then the slot into which the strip fits in the meter
is hard to see, and a bit hard to find, at least when the
light isn't so good. Just not a good design.

You've joined the not so elite club of everyone who has been
misled into trying one of these clunkers. All of your points
are known to them, but they don't seem to care, nor desire
to do anything about it.

Quoted message said:

But the real kicker is that I don't think it's accurate.
I've got several meters already, and have been comparing
them to the bd. Yesterday, feelling a little jittery, I
wondered if I'd maybe overbolused, and checked with the bd
meter. It beeped, and reported a bg of 140. Sent that via
radio link to the pump.

I've had the same experience.

Quoted message said:

All well and good. The pump suggested a bolus to bring it
back down. I, however, damn well know what an impending
hypo feels like, even if the feelings aren't that
reliable any more. So on a hunch, I checked again with
both my lifescan meter and my therasense one. These two
reported a bg of respectively, 77 and 81, which rather
matched well with how I felt. So I retested with the bd
meter too, and this time it reported 102. All this within
the span of a couple minutes, without another bolus or
carb intake.

It would seem that you either need to be an engineer, or a
laboratory scientiest to force the meter to read
correctly. Apparently, it can be done, but only with
precisely 3 microlitres of blood. Too much or too little
blood will give a very erroneous reading. This is anything
but user friendly.

Quoted message said:

Much though I like the bit of the meter automatically
sending the reading to the pump, frankly, I'm kinda
deciding not to use the bd meter, and go back to my
thereasense tracker, which though it doesn't radio link to
the pump, makes keeping a logbook a lot simpler for me.
And since actually doing anything with the bg reading the
pump recieves still requires pushing some buttons on the
pump, I don't think I'm missing too much of a feature.

This meter has only 2 things going for it. The radio link to
the pump, which would be awesome if the readings were
worthwhile, and the speed in which you can get erroneous
readings. I can get 10 bad readings with this meter in the
time it takes me to get 1 good reading from my Bayer. I
still rely on the Bayer. 🙂

Best,

Randy

Peter W. Rowe said:

Much though I like the bit of the meter automatically
sending the reading to the pump, frankly, I'm kinda
deciding not to use the bd meter, and go back to my
thereasense tracker, which though it doesn't radio link to
the pump, makes keeping a logbook a lot simpler for me.
And since actually doing anything with the bg reading the
pump recieves still requires pushing some buttons on the
pump, I don't think I'm missing too much of a feature.

My first meter was a OneTouch Ultra. About a month before I
got my Minimed 512 and the accompanying meter by BD, I
upgraded the Ultra to an UltraSmart. I love my UltraSmart
and still use it to this day.

I did a couple of side by side tests between my UltraSmart
and the piece of junk BD calls a meter and was shocked to
see how different they were. I put the BD meter back in the
box and put it on a shelf in my medicine cabinet - it might
see use if my UltraSmart ever gives up the ghost. That is,
it will see use only until I get a replacement UltraSmart.
Sure it has the convenience of the radio link, but given its
innacuracy, I can not bring myself to even think of using it
when I have an alternative.

Peace

My wife and I both use the UltraSmart. we LOVE it. She tried
the BD but got tired of the E-3's. Besides, we've never
found another brand of meter that was as reliable,
repeatable, and fast as the Ultras.

dave

southpaw said:

Peter W. Rowe said:

Much though I like the bit of the meter automatically
sending the reading to the pump, frankly, I'm kinda
deciding not to use the bd meter, and go back to my
thereasense tracker, which though it doesn't radio link
to the pump, makes keeping a logbook a lot simpler for
me. And since actually doing anything with the bg reading
the pump recieves still requires pushing some buttons on
the pump, I don't think I'm missing too much of a
feature.

My first meter was a OneTouch Ultra. About a month before
I got my Minimed 512 and the accompanying meter by BD, I
upgraded the Ultra to an UltraSmart. I love my UltraSmart
and still use it to this day.

I did a couple of side by side tests between my UltraSmart
and the piece of junk BD calls a meter and was shocked to
see how different they were. I put the BD meter back in
the box and put it on a shelf in my medicine cabinet - it
might see use if my UltraSmart ever gives up the ghost.
That is, it will see use only until I get a replacement
UltraSmart. Sure it has the convenience of the radio link,
but given its innacuracy, I can not bring myself to even
think of using it when I have an alternative.

Peace