When you put your life out there, in public, often people reach out and ask questions. Here are some of the things I’ve been frequently asked, in case you might be wondering the same thing.

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Do you listen to anything while you run/workout?

If I’m lifting, I usually listen to music (especially if I’m working out at home). If I’m riding my bike on the trainer, I’ll usually listen to an audiobook or podcast. Usually when I’m running, I don’t listen to anything. I get lost in my own thoughts, think about running or what my next move to keep my blood sugar stable will be. I consider listening to something “cheating” somewhat because it distracts you from what you’re feeling. You lose the benefit of toughening your mind if you’re always listening to something and you lose the opportunity for a meditative workout.

How old are you?

Well that depends on when you stumble upon this post but I was born in November of 1987 so, at the time of writing (July 2020) I’m 32.

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What kind of insulin are you on?

Humalog, currently. I’ve also used Novolog and Lantus previously.

What system do you use to manage your T1?

The Medtronic 670G & Guardian Continuous Glucose Meter

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What do you have your high & low pump alarms set at?

During the day 70-120, at night it’s 75-140. I know this might seem like my pump would be alarming all the time but I believe that if it will alarm at 120, I can fix it and it might hit 150-160 before the insulin takes effect. If I wait until 150 to correct a high, it might hit 180  before coming back down. If I have  my high alert set to 180, like I did when I was first diagnosed, you’ll end up going out of normal range pretty frequently. I can also typically fix an oncoming high pretty quickly with a walk  around the block. For me, it’s faster than insulin and isn’t affecting me (and potentially causing a low) two hours later. On the low end, I can easily bump a lower BG (in the 70s) up to an 80 or 90 with a smartie or jelly bean or two to prevent a low. I keep these fast acting but low carb sweets on me pretty much at all times. 

What kind of tape do you use?

Sugar patch! Love them! I’m allergic to everything else I’ve tried so far.

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Are you a personal trainer?

I’m not but my husband, Marty, is a personal trainer. I am a licensed massage therapist, primarily working with athletes doing sports massage as a side hustle. This experience has provided me with an in-depth knowledge of muscular anatomy and kinesiology and being a lifelong athlete doesn’t hurt!

When were you diagnosed?

On June 9, 2017 at age 29. I ended up in the hospital with DKA and the ER nurse  called up to the ICU and said, “You won’t believe this girl! She is textbook T1. Checks every box in terms of symptoms, but she is 29!?!?! How weird is that?” I now know a bunch of  people diagnosed later in life and much older than I was but I totally blew the mind  of that ER nurse. 🙂

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What do you eat?

I get some form of this question more than any other! Honestly, there are very few things I don’t eat. Unfortunately, this answer is so long to actually get into detail, it will have to be its own post. More to come on this topic in a future post!

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I hope that you find this to be helpful and maybe even a little bit fun. If you have any questions here that I missed, let me know and I’ll do my best to answer them.

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When I was first diagnosed in 2017, the Medtronic 670G closed loop system was the only FDA approved closed loop system. It was the latest and greatest diabetes technology. It was so highly recommended that I of course chose this system over other options. After using it for a few years, I can honestly say there are a lot of things I like about it and there are some drawbacks too.

For some background, this system is made up of the Medtronic 670G Insulin Pump and the Guardian Continuous Glucose Monitor. A closed loop system means the CGM “talks to the pump” and the pump will adjust your basal rate to help keep your blood sugar in range.

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The Positives

• I have fewer lows with the closed loop system then I did on MDI or in manual mode on the pump.
• It keeps me pretty stable if I don’t have time to micromanage my BGs
• Having a sensor taught me a lot about how things affect my blood sugar. This level of knowledge has been key to my BG management strategy and great A1c levels

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The Negatives

• The algorithm doesn’t manage the dawn phenomenon well. 
  • It is not a predictive technology, it only reacts to what your BGs are doing.
  • Since the sensor reads the interstitial fluid, not actual blood, it runs about 15 minutes or so behind your actual blood readings. This means it is 15 minutes “behind” on all reactions.
• The Guardian sensor isn’t the most accurate on the market (but it isn’t horrible either)
• You can only see your sensor information on the pump itself and you can’t share it with anyone else.
• The algorithm targets a BG reading of 120, which is a bit higher than I like mine and I tend to have more highs when it is in automode than if I manage it myself.
• To reduce basal, you only have the option of setting a temp target to 150 in automode
• In automode, the only way to bolus is to enter the number of carbs you’re eating. It doesn’t factor in fat or protein. As you probably know, 30 g of carbs in rice, hits differently than 30 g of carbs in pizza or 30 g of carbs in a salad with salmon.
• I’m not convinced the pump is very durable. I have had 3 insulin pumps in a two year time frame because each of the first two had critical pump errors and they had to be replaced.
  • This also means the algorithm needed to “learn me” all over again with each replacement. Very frustrating!

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Even though there are more negatives than positives on my list, the positives still outweigh the negatives in terms of how much weight they hold.  When automode isn’t effective, I take it out of automode and manage blood sugar myself.  It’s similar to having any other pump/CGM (that isn’t looping). Also, for my friends on MDI, I prefer a pump because I can micro-dose and therefore micro-correct (small inputs=small mistakes). I started on MDI and the two times my pump failed and I had to go back to it while waiting for the new pump to come in. I’ll personally never go back to MDI unless I don’t have another option. MDI works for some though, so I’ll never knock something that works for someone. 

Final verdict: Good enough for now. There is a lot to be said for fewer lows and a somewhat hands off approach. If those are things you value, this could be a decent option. Also be on the lookout for the next version of this system (hopefully this year!). Rumor has it that they fixed a lot of the issues with this one in the new model.

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Scott (and Jenny) from the Juicebox Podcast also did a whole episode on this system. Check it out here for even more on this!