But I started to get curious about how my blood sugars would react if I let the pump suspend itself instead of treating a low. And hey, it might make for a good blog post, right? So when my pump began alarming at 3:45 a.m. Saturday I decided it was the perfect time to give the Low Glucose Suspend a whirl. (Also I just wanted to go back to sleep instead of dealing with the low.) I did a finger-stick to verify that my blood sugar was really 60, which is where I have my Threshold set. I was actually 68 but trending down, so I decided to let the Suspend do its thing.
I woke again at 6:30 to use the bathroom. My pump was back to delivering insulin and a quick check clocked me in at 72. That’s a little low, but I figured the 2 hours of missed basal was still working to bring me up so I just went back to bed. I woke up at 8:30 and did my fasting check, which revealed . . . .
I couldn’t have asked for better. I posted to Facebook and InstaGram and got a couple of interesting questions. Was I nervous to let my pump suspend overnight? I wasn’t, because I have a bad habit of ignoring low alarms in favor of sleep anyway. So for me, knowing my pump was suspended was better than knowing I was just ignoring a low. Also, the CGM will still send out high and low alarms if my blood sugar isn’t rising or is rising too much. Did it feel uncomfortable waiting out a low to go higher by the insulin suspend rather than the quick fix of juice? If I had run this experiment during the day, yes, I’m sure it could have felt very uncomfortable. But in the middle of the night, I just went back to sleep so I didn’t feel any low symptoms. (And often I don’t feel them anyway, because I’m fairly hypo-unaware.)
All in all, I’m thrilled with how well this worked for me. As the morning wore on my blood sugar stayed pretty level - 115 at 10:10 and 107 at 12:45. In the future I don’t plan on using it as a regular low treatment - I do think I’d rather treat lows myself but know it’s there in case of emergency. At least during the day. I have a feeling I will be pretty tempted to let the pump suspend when I’m low during the night, so that’s something I should probably run by my health care team for a little more guidance.
If you have any questions I didn’t address here, feel free to leave them in the comments!
** My Medtronic disclosure can be found here. **
Interesting experiment. I'm looking forward to learning more about your system.
ReplyDeleteLove the idea, as I often over correct (why not eat that piece of pie in the fridge) and end up high in the am.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me curious because I stuck my nose up at the whole "low glucose suspend" option. I have to say, you just proved me wrong and possibly changed my mind on it.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best parts of having a CGM is that it lets you do little experiments on yourself like this more safely. This is interesting. I use the suspend feature of my pump sometimes to buy some time at work or at night. Sometimes it works like your experience. Sometimes I still have to stop and eat. And sometimes it works, but I have a disproportionate high later on. I have to say that even though the odds aren't that great for having the best experience, it still is worth a try. I think the Enlight Suspend is a great idea. The risks are minimal and the safety feature is a great addition. I hope that you will continue posting about your experience with it.
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