RileyLink: Homegrown Diabetes Closed Loop Technology - rodriguezbutibill

You might say I've been life with type 1 diabetes for a while, beingness diagnosed in 1958 at five years old.

Aft so many years with T1D, you are e'er thinking about it. From first thing in the morning to when you go to layer, and quite bit in between those hours. The stress had suit the biggest essence, so that's wherefore I was interested in protrusive a homemade closed-loop system system.

That is what set ME out on this journey to careful the grummet, and information technology's been incredible over the knightly 2 months to see how much my quality of life has improved. Before acquiring to that point, I wanted to take a moment to discuss how everything started and what I went through in getting my RileyLink frame-up.

HOW I GOT STARTED

About a year ago, I started seeing more articles and information online about the OpenAPS system. Most of it went over my head, and numerous of those doing this seemed to be in a world all their ain. But the Thomas More I read, the easier it became to understand. Since I am sure enough no techie, I knew the steganography wasn't something that I'd personify able to exercise myself, so I started searching for help.

I originally bought all the components needed for the OpenAPS system, but the coding aspect definitely turned out to be too complex to do everything myself. After months of nerve-racking to get this constituted, and determination a code-savvy somebody topically done mutual connections, I was at an impasse because this person didn't know much about diabetes and wasn't able to fully grasp the technology and I couldn't bridge circuit the knowledge gaps.

And then, the clouds parted.

Thanks to information passed on from the Nightscout Foundation's hackathon held in California in October, I learned that some of the very cagey people in the board felt the RileyLink was a more user-well-disposed way to go, with an easier setup and maintenance later.

So, that became my choice.

Since I've been an OmniPod user, choosing the RileyLink meant that I'd have to find an older Medtronic MiniMed heart (since RileyLink currently simply works with Medtronic's 722 and experienced models of the 723). After obtaining both a plain white pre-built RileyLink "brain" and an old MiniMed 722 pump, I combined that tech with my own my Dexcom G5 and iPhone 6s, and was able-bodied to generate this up and running more easily than I would have thought. Also very helpful was this great eBook compiled by members of the online #WeAreNotWaiting community, WHO helped me get a lot of early setup questions answered, and it was much easier to follow than anything I saw relating to OpenAPS.

It wasn't difficult to do the setup for the RileyLink. It took me a week or indeed with lots of supporte from several same nice people on the developer-steganography forum Gitter to pose the update on my iPhone, and the more times you do the stairs to do updates, the easier IT becomes.

It was Nov. 21, 2016, when I officially "closed the loop" (i.e. let the arrangement go fully lively and make dosing decisions, rather than letting it incline "open loop" where it suggests treatment and let's you adjudicate).

I wasn't at all nervous about starting to the looping organization with a RileyLink.

Having desired to use the OpenAPS so more than and non organism able to get it working, RileyLink seemed like a wonderful pick when IT became available to me. I've never been hesitating to try something new or been afraid to take a risk if I idea the outcome was meriting it.

Without a doubt, the answer is a huge YES!

The outcome of looping thus FAR has definitely been valuable information technology for me. And yes, I coiffe discover it entertaining that it's called RileyLink, a concurrence since my "grand-dog" is named Riley… 🙂

CALCULATING CARB ABSORPTION, ETC.

Since the Loop adjusts your insulin solely aside basal rate manipulation, growing or rallentando basal rates in order to keep you inside your objective range, this substance you still have to Lucy in the sky with diamonds for food.

You must still count carbs and dose for the carbs, and count the carb absorption time. That's unrivalled of the about difficult parts of exploitation the RileyLink, I think.

The hale system is supported theories of carb absorption rank, which is something I didn't have much previous experience with. When you dose for meals, you need to set the carb absorption time in addition to counting carbs. So this is a learnedness experience. But the nice affair is, Loop will help you if you don't get IT right. If you under-Cupid's disease, the system of rules will step-up your essential rates to bring you hindmost into tramp.

Before any of the actual setup was started on the Mackintosh, I had done extraordinary pre-testing to make some determinations of unlike absorption rates — something that had ne'er really been calculated for me or by me in the past. I did this testing on several days in different weeks and at various times of the day. The personal rates and information were taken off my Omnipod and transferred to my Medtronic 722 pump beforehand and so I could get secondhand to this tubed pump. The settings each seemed to work fine from one pump to the other, and at that point I was ready to take those settings and program them for my own RileyLink.

I'm still using inhaled insulin Afrezza (have been for a year now), but not every bit much atomic number 3 before looping. It workings very well for me in a repast with carbs that take up some a quickly and longer absorption time. Taking the Afrezza initially of the repast, and dosing for the slower absorption carbs at the end of the meal or even off an minute operating room soh later, has worked good for me, retention a low rise and fall of my BG graph line.

Because the system is fully bloodsucking upon an dead on target CGM unit, you must trust the readings you get from the arrangement. If that trust isn't there, you won't be able to believe that the loop system is doing its job. It's nice that with looping, you really don't look at the pump much. Completely dosing is cooked from the iPhone.

BIGGEST RILEYLINK TAKEAWAYS

From my linear perspective, the main reward of Loop is not the clinical benefits as very much like the improvement in day-after-day choice of life history and easing informed some of the rigors of T1D management. For me, IT's brought a freedom that shouldn't be and can't glucinium ignored. There is less concern over the details in each day routine.

The decrease of this burden cannot be troubled enough.

My endocrinologist agrees.

When I presented at my endo's office in December, we spent a long time discussing the importance of lessening the stress and stock of a daily life with T1D. He is a strong believer in the bang-up grandness of quality of life and easily saw how this organization would fix the day-to-day tasks simpler.

Heck, I had only been using it for fortnight at that point and thanks to RileyLink, 93% of my information was in range!

This as wel came into play for Pine Tree State right-minded around 25-Dec, which was a month after terminative the loop. I developed a bad case of stomach flu. I bolused for no meals for four days, simply letting eyelet take maintenance of everything. Since there was little I could keep down, there weren't many carbs to explanation for. Truly amazing to Pine Tree State, but my BG stayed between 95-110 for the duration of my illness. Scream!

Since starting on RileyLink, I've been competent find a carrying clip case for the RileyLink and then that it's full of color, not just plain white, and a phone clip for around my neck to keep my iPhone nearby — both identical William Christopher Handy in qualification indisputable this tech is with me at all times!

Course, the biggest benefit of victimisation this is the mental aspects — I don't have to "think about my diabetes" equally much as I have for umpteen years.

For me, the best thing about the RileyLink is that after so many another years with T1D, the first thing in the dayspring you think over more or less doesn't motive to represent diabetes. When you backwash up from each one day, your BG is normal. You genuinely give the sack stop thinking of if you'ray overly high operating theater too low, as you're just now in range.

All I can sound out is, give thanks you to those who've been a persona of creating this and empowering hoi polloi care ME who real required this! Information technology's truly a wonder and life-changing from what I birth seen, something I honestly ne'er persuasion I'd be around to experience for myself.

Thanks for sharing your story, Mom! Hump that you've found something that works so well and makes life with diabetes a bit little stressful after so many another years.

Source: https://www.healthline.com/diabetesmine/homegrown-diabetes-tool-rileylink

Posted by: rodriguezbutibill.blogspot.com

Share this post