Does anyone use the square wave and/or the dual wave bolus functions on the Minimed pump? I have been experimenting with the dual wave, but need some advice. How do you determine how much time to use? Are there guidelines for basing the time on the percentage of carbs or fat?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!
To start, this won't answer your question :o( sorry. Its more of a rant on why I don't use/need these functions.
I also was experimenting and i found those functions weren't very helpful. I was told that the dual wave was good for things like meal/desert combos where I would take the first portion for main course over 30min and the second portion for desert over 5min. This was because a fatty or lower carb main dish wouldn't need the entire bolus immediately and the sugary desert would.
The square was supposed to be useful for meals or snacks where it was only a main course or longer duration snack/meal so that I wouldn't crash due to slow eating.
In reality, neither is helpful. Carbs hit my system within 20min-2hrs. So does my insulin (Novolog). If I'm low when I start eating, I wait 10min into my meal before I take my bolus. I don't take a new BG reading, I use the initial lower BG reading. At a restaurant, I take my bolus when the main course comes out and I take a second bolus IF I have desert. Additionally, I can't remember the last time it took longer than 30min to actually eat my meal. The talking, laughing chatting part makes for a longer sit down time, but it doesn't change how I eat.
The pump is incredible because it allows for these incremental boluses without the need for taking extra shots with needles so I take advantage of it. The dual and sqare functions are gimmicks for people that as far as I can see just don't want to take the pump out of their pocket. At a buffet I get my plate of food, I sit down and take my bolus. Normal. When I get another plate, I sit down, and take another bolus. Normal. When I finally get a desert of some kind, I get my plate, I sit down and take my bolus. Normal! Calculating a dual wave to slowly inject over 30min while I get plates of food and prepare for desert in 40min seems like much more work to me and more room for error.
I am sorry to /rant. I've had a few people talk about it and I just have a strong personal feeling that those gimmicky functions are distractions that Medtronic uses. You know what would actually be useful is a calculator when look at the number of servings or grams, or a timer to know how long you've suspended your pump or had to wait before taking a shot, maybe if they made a screen that didn't look like it came from 1980 and a battery power indicator that was more accurate... but those additional bolus functions are worthless to me.
I know this doesn't help and I hope you do find a good use for it. Everyone is different and my bad experiences lately shouldn't be your deciding factor.
Best of luck with discovering! Maybe I'll learn something too. :o)
We use it mostly for pasta (we eat whole wheat cooked al dente). It seems to work best if we bolus 50 now, 50 spread over 1.5 hrs. My son's BGs afterwards are always in target. Haven't used it much for higher fat/buffet meals.
Hi Dennis - Our experience has been quite different that yours. My daughter (age 13) uses the dual wave bolus for pasta, pizza and rice. After much testing, we found that she can eat two-three servings of pasta (about 100 carbs) and extend a 6-hour dual wave bolus at a 60/40 rate. It works like a charm. Pizza lasts about three hours (depending on where we get the pizza) and rice about 2-3 hours as well. Also, for larger meals we found that a square wave works well too.
I guess it all depends on the type of food and your own experience.
I used it for things like pizza,pasta, and things with a lot of cheese. Because my digestion is slow, I would typically take between 40 and 50% of my bolus first and take the rest over the next 2 - 2.5 hours. I would also take a bit more insulin than I normally would for the carbs I estimated.
Cora