The T:Slim is small and takes up less room than the Medtronic I was using. The touch screen is nice, and I appreciate the ease of use but the amount of insulin that I loose in using the T:Slim is ridiculous. Let me try to explain.
Unlike other pumps I've used where you draw the insulin up and then attach the tubing and canula to the end of what you just drew the insulin into the T:slim uses a proprietary cartridge. In order to load the T:Slim you use a syringe to draw the insulin up and then fill the cartridge from the syringe. This is a multiple step process that is designed to do two things, I believe. #1 to keep the T:Slim, Slim #2 to keep air bubbles out of the tubing. If you fill the cartridge correctly there are a lot of safety features to reduce and eliminate air-bubbles. Filling the tubing though is a much longer process than the Medronic I used to use and I'm still trying to figure out where my insulin is going. As an example; last night I filled the T:Slim cartridge with 260 units of insulin. 17.5 units were used to fill the tubing another unit to prime the canula. So I should really have 240 or so units of insulin in the cartridge. After doing all this my T:Slim registered 185 usable units of insulin. Where did 55 units of insulin go? Some research says that Tandem builds a hidden portion of insulin into the pump just to make sure they are not overestimating. 55 units of insulin is almost another days insulin. This is expensive stuff.
The other problem I'm having is figuring out how much insulin I need to put into a cartridge to make it last three days. I was using 180 or so units every three days on my Optimod, Now I'm putting 250 units in and only getting 165 or 175 usable units. Since you can't add insulin to a cartridge once it's in use I've changed three cartridges now after only two days. I'm worried I'm going to run out cartridges before insurance is willing to pay for more.
That's my main problem with the T:Slim, the way it measures and uses insulin. I haven't figured it out yet. I did begin cheating and pulling the extra "hidden" insulin out of the used cartridge when I stop using it. One that said it was empty had almost 40 units in it another upwards of 20. This is not recommended by Tandem or by my doctor but I just can't waste that much insulin. So far re-using the old insulin in a new cartridge has not hurt my blood sugar. I am being very careful not to mix the insulin from the used cartridges back into the vial that is still relatively pure.
There is one thing the T:Slim does that I do really like and has already saved me twice. It's the bolus not finished alert. I have a bad habit of getting distracted and not finishing to the last button push a bolus at mealtime. Usually a few hours later I start feeling bad and look to my pump finding out that I didn't actually take any insulin at dinner and my blood sugar has skyrocketed. The T:Slim however will beep at you after 5 mins if you start to input a bolus and don't finish. I did it twice over the weekend and thanks to this smart little pump managed to keep my blood sugar fairly regular.
So the simple breakdown, from a person who has only used the T:Slim pump for a month now
T:Slim Advantages
Small
Built to avoid air-bubbles (I used to be really bad about air-bubbles)
Easy to use touch screen and controls
Insulin given by the hundredth of a unit instead of just a tenth,
INCOMPLETE BOLUS WARNING! (this is great)
T:Slim Disadvantage
It wastes a ridiculous amount of insulin
Takes far to long to change and load a catridge
There are too many pieces involved in changing and loading catridges.
Again if you have any thoughts or questions please feel free to comment.
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