Diabetes Technology
Insulin Pumps
Insulin pumps deliver rapid- or short-acting insulin 24 hours a day through a catheter placed under the skin. Your insulin doses are separated into three doses: basal, bolus, and correction.
Basal insulin is delivered continuously over 24 hours, and keeps your blood glucose levels in range between meals and overnight. Often, you program different amounts of insulin at different times of the day and night.
When you eat, you use buttons on the insulin pump to give additional insulin called a bolus. You take a bolus to cover the carbohydrate in each meal or snack. If you eat more than you planned, you can simply program a larger bolus of insulin to cover it.
You also take a bolus to treat high blood glucose levels. If you have high blood glucose levels before you eat, you give a correction or supplemental bolus of insulin to bring it back to your target range.
(Source: American Diabetes Association)
Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs)
A CGM is a small wearable device that tracks your glucose throughout the day and night, so you can take control of your blood sugar levels.
With personalized settings, CGMs can alert you to high or low levels while also charting your blood glucose levels about every five minutes on a graph on your smartphone or separate receiver device.
The process of inserting the CGM sensor is easy and virtually painless. It can easily be done at home and takes just a few minutes from start to finish.
Most CGMs consist of three parts:
sensor – is inserted just underneath the skin, is thinner than a needle and roughly half an inch long. The sensor remains in the skin for several days, detecting glucose information.
transmitter – is the small piece that fits onto the sensor and sends glucose information data wirelessly to your display device.
wireless display device (or receiver) – has a screen where you can check your current glucose level, look at past data over a span of 24 hours, and get trends about whether glucose is likely to go up or down, and how fast.
(Source: Beyond Type 1)