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2024-05-26

Welcome to News from Loop and Learn

Master Your DIY Closed-Loop Insulin Delivery System

Published on 26 May 2024.

In this edition:

Upcoming Zoom Sessions

Note - Informal Discussion is the first Thursday in June. A special event will be announced for the second Thursday in June.

Zoom Sessions use this link:

Topic Recorded? Time Date
Loop and Learn: Informal Discussion no 18:00 UTC 6 June

Loop and Learn: Informal Discussion in 2024 is normally scheduled on the second Thursday of each month; but will happen one week early in June.

Time Zone Converter

Need help figuring out when an event happens in your time zone? Try the SavvyTime: UTC Converter.

We’ve Lost a Friend

Terry Witt was a very nice person and an asset to the looping community. He helped countless people through his role as a moderator in the Nightscout group and around the looping community and was always so pleasant during LnL meetings and open mics. Terry passed away on May 11th and we will miss him. His son Jason shared this post on Terry’s Facebook page as well as his obituary. Please feel free to express your condolences and share stories about Terry on his page- his family would love that. The family invites donations to the American Diabetes Association in his memory, continuing his commitment to supporting those living with diabetes.

When Does My Loop App Expire?

If you used a Mac to build, you have one year from the date of build... but you should rebuild more often than annually. Why? Because it helps you know the app better and be more confident in your building capabilities. This is highly valuable if you should find yourself in a pinch for time. It also affords you the opportunity to update your app and add new helpful customizations.

If you did a Browser build, the app expires in 90 days due to TestFlight limitations. Browser builders, however, have the very handy capability of triggering a rebuild from their phone.

  • The main branch, version 3.2.3 does not report the TestFlight expiration date in the Loop app

    • There is a customization that you can add to your build that provides the correct expiration for you
    • Alternatively, you can build the dev branch, which is very stable and should soon be released as the next version
    • If you do choose to build this version before it is released, please switch back to building the main branch after the release

  • The dev branch, if selected as the default branch for your fork, is configured to automatically rebuild the Loop app at least once a month or within a week after an update is published

Regardless of which browser build branch you select, you can always check TestFlight to see when your Loop app will expire and make sure you have a new version to install so you are not left without your automatic insulin delivery system.

Remote Entry Issues in Nightscout

Are your remote entries not showing up in Nightscout- and then ones you “didn’t enter” show up the next day? Here’s what’s happening to at least some of us: The default date for Event Time is the UTC date, although it uses local time for time of day. If a time of "Now" is selected, this information is ignored, so it works- unless it’s after 6pm local. Then it looks like the entry doesn’t take, but it’s really being entered for the next day at that time. This looks to be true for all types of events, not just remote carbs. Requests for code change to correct this have been submitted.

Hacks From Our Experts

Hack #1: Overrides

One of our group experts shares a clever way to use Overrides: Set an active override to run indefinitely and look at the ICE screen. You can tinker with the percentage to tune current/ future sensitivity by getting the ICE screen happy for past carbs! For this to work, you need to restart the app between changes. This technique really shines during sickness when you know needs are higher, but aren’t sure how much higher ahead of time.

Hack #2: Overrides

One other group expert says: I set my biking override to be longer than my expected ride. When I return, I edit the insulin needs from 65% (needed while I'm actively biking) back to 100%. My negative IOB typically doubles at that change. I then disable the override and take the full negative IOB as a bolus. This helps prevent a post-exercise high that often follows my ride.

I do not enter any carbs while biking and almost always ride first thing in the morning while fasting, so I just edit the override. If no carbohydrates are active, there is no need to quit and restart the app. (This idea is included in the “Recalculate When Needs Change” section of LoopDocs.)

Hack #3: Premeal

Pro Tip: Engage the Premeal Override before getting out of bed to assist with Foot to Floor rises.

Hack #4: CGM Issues

Try this if Dexcom loses signal for a prolonged period: Restart the phone, remove the Dexcom device(s) from bluetooth, look for a pairing request and accept it.

If you want to enter glucose manually in your Loop app because your Dexcom G6 CGM is off, first delete CGM from Loop and then can use HUD -or you can enter directly into Apple Health and not wait 15 minutes for the last CGM reading to be reported as stale. If using Dexcom G7, enter it in the G7 app and it will show up in Loop without the need to delete the CGM.