I'm back LOOPING with DASH again

I quit!

Just over 3 years ago, I started my journey with LOOP with the old Omnipod EROS pods. I chronicled my journey here . I was involved with a study initally with the Omnipod EROS pods and a radio wave to bluetooth device called a RileyLink to communicate with my iPhone. 

Once that study was over, I found out through various Facebook groups I was on that there was a development branch of LOOP that allowed you to skip the RileyLink using Omnipod DASH pods, which speak Bluetooth rather than radio waves, to control the pod from my iPhone. 

So I switched and used the Dev branch of LOOP for several months.

Then along came Omnipod 5 which promised an iPhone version of the software, but everything was supposed to be directly on the pod itself, and the PDM, which they renamed a Controller, was only needed for starting new pods, bolusing, and any changes. 

I tried the Omnipod 5 for over 3 months and didn't like it. The Omnipod 5 is great for people who are new to pumps and want something simple that just works. You start with your numbers that your Endocrinologist gives you like ISF, carb ratios etc, and after 2-3 pods it starts to LEARN you and move away from those numbers. You tell it what your goal is, which can be as low as 110 or as high as 150 I believe. I set mine at 110 and NEVER saw that, even over night!

But one of the biggest challenges is that I am extremely insulin sensitive, and often need 30 units just for a meal bolus. The pod only holds 200 units of insulin, so if you use the pod for both basal and bolus, I was routinely changing the pod every 24-36 hours! 

With the Omnipod DASH pods, it doesn't learn you at all, so I was able to use a FIASP pen to bolus with an let the pod do basal, which meant I could get around 48 hours or more between pod changes. 

So today at 4:30pm I decided to go back to DASH for the next 12 months or so. I re-upped my Developer license, which was $99/year plus tax, updated my Macbook Air to the latest OS, updated Xcode and then loaded the latest version of Freeapps onto my phone following this. 

Please note that this is for ADVANCED users only, and I provide NO support via this blog!

I will update this blog every so often letting you know how I'm doing. 

Thanks for reading!

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