Disconnecting from Pump

For Medtronic pump users, you will have times where you need to disconnect from your insulin infusion site. Showers, some sports activities, swimming, and medical exams are some of the common reasons when disconnections are unavoidable.

The simplest way to deal with periods of disconnect is to suspend the Medtronic pump so that Loop knows no insulin was being delivered while you were disconnected. This will let Loop know that there is missing basal insulin that may need to be considered as part of the blood glucose prediction. Typically when disconnected from insulin delivery and negative insulin on board has developed, blood glucose will start to rise so Loop will expect to need to make up the missed insulin from disconnections.

Some users are prone to forget to resume insulin delivery after suspending for disconnects. One option is to use Siri by simply saying "Hey Siri, set a timer for 30 minutes" and that can serve as a reminder alarm to resume the pump after the shower is over. Other users may want to consider canceling any running temporary basal, setting a 30 minute zero temporary basal, and then setting Loop to open loop. This will keep IOB fairly accurate while at the same time providing an automatic restart of normal basals if the user forgets to resume delivery. The user will then have to close loop again when ready to resume looping. Find what option works for you (or your child) the best; there are a number of ways to deal with disconnects.

For disconnects where the disconnected time coincides with exercise that may increase insulin sensitivity (like swimming), a good strategy after reconnecting can be to set a higher temporary override target (aka workout mode) for some time after reconnecting and resuming insulin delivery. This will help Loop be a little gentler with high temporary basals during the time while the user is still experiencing increased insulin sensitivity after exercise. The length of time to set that override target can be a bit of trial-and-error as it will depend on the person and type of exercise.