User guide
real-life stories of glucose sensor use
real-life stories of glucose sensor use
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What should she do next?
a) Take the glucose sensor out and start again
b) Turn the glucose sensor feature o and on again
c) Check that she has entered the Transmitter ID correctly, started a new sensor, and
that the sensor and transmitter are connected properly
According to the user guide, the rst thing to do is:
c) Check the connection. It can take up to 30 minutes for the antenna icon to change
to black. The icon now turns black after a few minutes. She would need to wait for
2 hours to enter her rst calibration and to see sensor readings appear
Susan calibrates correctly all day but later that evening, she gets a LOST SENSOR alarm.
What should she do next?
a) Make sure the transmitter and glucose sensor are connected
b) Move the insulin pump closer to the transmitter
c) Check that she has the right transmitter ID entered
d) All of the above
Susan is ready to do all of the above. She nds that the answer is:
b) Solves the problem. Here is how she gured it out. She cleared the alarm and
moved the insulin pump closer to the transmitter. Then she selected Find Lost
Sensor on her pump. The icon turned to black in 5 minutes
Going swimming
John wanted to cool o so he went swimming at his neighbour’s house. Before going into the pool,
he needed to make some plans rst.
a) He disconnected his pump
b) He checked his ngerstick BG before he took it o – his BG was a little high
c) He followed his educator’s guidelines on what to do if he was o his pump for a while
There were no trend arrows showing on the insulin pump screen. Plus, his sensor graph had not
changed very much in the last 3 hours. John gave an insulin bolus based on the ngerstick result.
He then disconnected his pump and placed it in a safe, dry place out of the sun. He swam and went
diving for 2 or 3 hours but went to his pump every half hour to make sure he didn’t lose any sensor
data. He bolused with the pump hourly if needed. This is what his educator has told him to do. When
his friends were in the hot tub, he decided not to join them because that meant he needed to remove
the glucose sensor and he did not want to do that.
After swimming, he had a shower and then reconnected his pump. He did a ngerstick test to see if
he needed to give an insulin bolus. This ngerstick BG value was also used to calibrate the glucose
sensor.
HIGH GLUCOSE Alarm
At 4 pm, after a work lunch that nished with cake, Tracey got a HIGH GLUCOSE alarm on her insulin
pump. She had a sensor glucose reading of 15.3 mmol/L on the insulin pump screen. Her trend graph
was also heading up. Her meter BG, however, showed a reading of 18.0 mmol/L.
Why were the numbers so dierent?
Tracey knew that her glucose sensor readings could sometimes be behind or ahead of the ngerstick
BG especially when her numbers were changing quickly. She checked for ketones; which she did not
have. She used the Bolus Wizard calculator feature on her insulin pump to give herself a bolus.
What should she do next?
Tracey knew that her BG was high because she had just eaten cake. She knew it would take some time
for the insulin to start working, so she increased the duration for her HIGH REPEAT (or HIGH SNOOZE
– 522/722) feature so that she wouldn’t get so many HIGH GLUCOSE alarms while she waited for her
BG to get back down into her target range. Meanwhile, she continued to check her trend graphs to
ensure that her glucose was moving in the right direction.
LOW GLUCOSE Alarm
Alan does not get symptoms when his glucose levels are getting low. So he keeps a close eye on
the graph displayed on his insulin pump screen. He also sets his LOW alarm fairly high; that way
it will warn him in plenty of time if he is getting low. He got a LOW GLUCOSE alarm and checked
his ngerstick BG. It was not quite as low as the glucose sensor told him. But the 3-hour graph
showed that his glucose level was dropping. He ate the amount of carbs that his healthcare provider
recommended. This helped to keep his glucose from going any lower.
He set his LOW REPEAT (or LOW SNOOZE – 522/722) alarm to alert him if his sensor glucose reading
was still low in 20 minutes. He also checked the sensor glucose graph from time to time to be sure
that his glucose was heading in the right direction.
Exercise
Anna joined the gym so she could get in shape. Yesterday, she programmed a temporary basal rate
and then spent half an hour on the stair-climber machine and 45 minutes using some of the weight
machines. She nished by running on the treadmill for 20 minutes.
When checking her overnight graph, Anna saw that her sensor glucose levels had dropped during the
night. She thought this might have been caused by the extra exercise. But she wanted to keep going
to the gym at least 3 times a week.
Anna consulted her healthcare provider, who told her that she should lower the basal rate on her
insulin pump after exercise. Anna continued to monitor her overnight graphs after making the
recommended change. She was happy to see that the adjustment of basal rate had resolved the
problem. She was able to continue her commitment to exercising 3 times per week.