New Mini Med CGMS? Without a pump

[Jenn L]

I got a call from my Doctor last week. He asked if I wanted to try out a new CGMS from Mini Med. I haven't gotten all of the details, except that it is only the monitor (no pump), and about the size of a quarter. I will wear it for 3 days. Has anyone else heard of this? I am trying it next week, any details would be appreciated

[JediSkipdogg]

My guess is he is talking about the Medtronic CGMS iPro. A short review can be found here...

Diabetes Mine - the all things diabetes blog: NEWS FLASH: Medtronic Announces CGMS iProâ„¢ Recorder (http://www.diabetesmine.com/2008/01/news-flash-medt.html)

Really all it is is the same CGM sensor that works with the MM pump except it stores 3 days worth of info in it. Then when you go back to the doctor's office to turn it in they somehow connect up to it and it downloads the readings from it. It's a nice advancement from the clunky Guardian Gold that they use to have.

Make sure your insurance covers it though. Mine would only cover the old style at 20% and that would still run me around $40 I believe for a 3 day wear of it (yeah I know, someone's getting ripped off.)

The only question I have about it is how does one calibrate it. Current CGM relies heavily on calibrations at the right times to provide accurate info. With this, it's 3 days of wear with no interaction from the patient. Something I wonder how it's possible.

[Funnygrl]

You upload a meter with the device, and the meter readings are used to retrospectively calibrate based on the iSigs recorded.

You won't be able to see readings on it as you wear it.

[morrisma]

I used it twice when my endo was trying to adjust my basal rates. How difficult would it have been to display the readings I wonder?
Mike

[xMenace]

I met a guy at our expo last year who wore a cgms with a pump but refused to hook up the pump. He wanted to do MDI but have constant monitoring.

[Alice]

I think it's a great thing to do through your doc's office. I did this for 3 days on the original unit (wearing the controller) but didn't have access to readings. I found the original unit to be very inaccurate...but many people seem to have different views of this. Hopefully, this new unit is better. I like the size!

My doctor paid about $5,000 for the older model and really pushed everyone to use it. I felt it was ok for one trial, but didn't feel the need to do it several times a year as she asked.

[Funnygrl]

I used it twice when my endo was trying to adjust my basal rates. How difficult would it have been to display the readings I wonder?
Mike
It would require more training, and probably be harder to get approved byt he FDA. When I started my CGMS, I got a long talk on how to not treat by the readings, how to interpret the results, etc. It's easier to be able to skip all that and not have that liability for something someone is only going to use for 3 days.