MiniMed Paradigm® REAL-Time Revel™ Insulin Pumps I do not yet have the iPhone 4. I do, however, have the diabetic’s version of the Hot New Gadget– the Minimed Revel, Medtronic’s latest insulin pump. I am very happy to be able to try out Revel temporarily, on loan from Minimed through the Paradigm Pathway Program, so that I can compare this new model to the model I actually do own– the Minimed Paradigm 522. If I like the Revel, I can choose to upgrade my 522 for $400. I will be wearing the Revel for a number...

Medtronic, Inc. announced the launch of iPro 2 Professional CGM, a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system used by physicians to help improve diabetes management, in 49 countries around the world. This simplified, yet more advanced fourth?generation CGM system is valuable for detecting high and low glucose fluctuations that can lead to dangerous health complications. Such complications often go undetected with traditional A1C tests (a measurement of glucose control over a two?to?three?month period) and glucose meter measurements. iPro2...

Medtronic, Inc. announced it has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the MiniMed Paradigm® REAL-Time Revel™ System, an integrated diabetes management system which combines insulin pump therapy, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and diabetes therapy management software. The system incorporates new innovative CGM features including predictive alerts that can give early warning to people with diabetes so they can take action to prevent dangerous high or low glucose events. This new system is another...

No, I’m not talking about diabetes itself. I’m talking about the sensor for my continuous glucometer (CGM). I don’t mean to imply too hostile of a relationship between me and my Abbott Freestyle Navigator — most of the time, I love my CGM. Adore it, even. I have no intention of breaking up with it any time soon. But just like a beloved husband who keeps you up with his snoring,* it has certain nighttime habits that I wish that I could change. The problem, if I really get specific, has to do with the size of...

According to a JDRF press release, a consortium of academic and industrial partners has announced a collaboration called AP@home that aims to develop an artificial pancreas which would allow automated glucose control for people with insulin treated diabetes. In the first phase of the AP@home project, currently available AP algorithms will be tested with CGM (continuous glucose monitoring) systems and insulin pumps already on the market, using a “two-port” approach that requires two skin punctures to attach the...

Here’s something I don’t like: the idea that a piece of technology I rely on to keep me alive could somehow kill me. I’m speaking not of Toyotas, but of insulin pumps — according to this piece in the Wall Street Journal, “the Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it has seen an increasing number of hardware and software problems with insulin pumps, tiny devices worn by thousands of diabetics to deliver insulin.” And so on Friday, the FDA brought together an advisory panel of outside medical...

To most people, eight days in Hawaii sounds like a dream.  And while I’m not a sit-on-the-beach kind of person at all — in fact, I hate both the sun and salt water — I am currently one of those people.  My husband and I are on Kauai right now, and there are enough activities — from hiking the Na Pali Coast to kayaking the Wailua River — to keep me very well entertained. But bringing diabetes to paradise is challenging. Most of my vacations tend to be in cities — or, if not urban areas, places...

This morning I was feeling inspired by the interview I did with JDRF’s Aaron Kowalski about the Artificial Pancreas Project,  so I did a little google searching about artificial pancreases.  I was looking for recent news, but instead I came across this article from the New York Times, published on December 7, 1999 — just over 10 years ago. In 1999 I didn’t even have diabetes — I was a college junior, happily eating carbohydrates without fear. But people with Type 1 diabetes might have read this article and...

Today’s a big day for anyone with Type 1 diabetes: JDRF just announced a partnership with the Animas Corporation to develop what they’re calling a “First-Generation Automated System for Managing Type 1 Diabetes.” Translation? They’re trying to make the first-ever artificial pancreas. Very, very exciting. To quote from the JDRF press release: The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation today announced an innovative partnership with Animas Corporation to develop an automated system to help people with type...

It is now ten hours later and I have two corrections to today’s earlier post. First, I need to apologize to the pomelo I ate this morning for blaming it for the off taste of my cottage cheese. I tasted the cottage cheese again after drinking some tea and, guess what? It is going bad Whoops. Second, I decided not to take the sensor off my leg, even though I had erroneously reset my CGM and feared that I was going to replace it with a brand new one. I figured I’d play dumb, at least for ten hours, and see what happened....