Skip to content

2025-03-19

Welcome to News from Loop and Learn

Master Your DIY Closed-Loop Insulin Delivery System

Published on 19 March 2025.

In this edition:

Upcoming Zoom Sessions

All zoom sessions use the same Zoom link.

Loop and Learn: Informal Discussion (Open Mic) zoom meetings are scheduled on the second Thursday of each month.

Zoom Calendar

Zoom Sessions use this link:

Topic Recorded? Time Date
Loop and Learn: Informal Discussion
Open Mic		 no 18:00 UTC 10 April 2025
Insurance Roadblocks with George Huntley yes 8 PM EDT
Midnight UTC		 22 April 2025
23 April 2025

Time Zone Converter

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

Voices from ATTD

Several members of the Loop and Learn team, as well as others we all know from the community are attending Advanced Technologies & Treatments for Diabetes (ATTD) in Amsterdam as #dedoc° voices this week. We are looking forward to hearing their reports and will share that info after the conference.

Life for a Child

Scott Leibrand and Dana Lewis analyzed the impact of Life for a Child, a nonprofit providing insulin and diabetes care to children in low-income countries. Their estimate shows they save 25-35 Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) per child, improving life expectancy and quality of life. They achieve this at just $60-$140 per DALY, making them one of the most cost- effective global health interventions. Due to a funding shortfall in 2025, Life for a Child needs our support to continue its life-saving work. Your donation will directly fund essential care like insulin and glucose monitoring.

For a deeper dive into their analysis, check out their full article.

You can DONATE here.

Stay in Closed Loop

We’ve emphasized the importance of keeping your Automated Insulin Delivery app (e.g., Loop or Trio) operating in closed loop, but many people still miss that message. Here’s a personal example of what can happen when that advice isn’t followed—and it could have been even worse.

During a recent swim practice, the loop was briefly opened with the intention of closing it right away. The user was aware of the need to close it but got distracted. As a result, the loop remained open for six hours before anyone noticed that basal insulin had been running continuously, leading to multiple lows.

OS-AID systems have several options when one wants to alter the set program. What would you (hope you would) have done in this situation? Let’s talk about it in this post in our Facebook group. Please join the conversation!

We DO strongly recommend keeping the loop closed even when basal testing. If you're unsure why this is a safety issue, please ask in our Facebook group. A rare exception is when disconnecting a Medtronic pump with a pre-set zero temp basal, as Medtronic’s LoopKit submodule does not support manual temp basals.

Changing Text Size

You can tweak text size for Trio or Loop instead of changing it for your entire phone:

iPhone Settings

  • Accessibility
  • Per-App Settings
  • Add App
  • select your app and choose text size

Focus on Overrides

When was the last time you reminded yourself how valuable Loop Overrides are?

Take a few minutes to explore this page on the Loop and Learn site and discover new ways to use overrides to enhance your Looping journey!

Children with Diabetes Friends for Life

Regional Conference Recap

The Children with Diabetes Friends for Life regional conference took place in Arlington, Virginia, March 7 to 9, 2025. Admin team members Rebecca and Tina, as well as some of our members, were present. As always, fostering connections within the diabetes community was a central focus. For a comprehensive look at all presentations and activities, refer to pages 4 and 5 of the program.

Here are some highlights.

In the keynote "Diabetes is a Marathon, Not a Sprint," Ashlyn Mills and Jeremy Salko shared their journey training for and completing the Disney Marathon while managing diabetes. Their story served as an inspiring reminder that T1D isn’t one size fits all and doesn’t have to hold you back!

Leigh Fickling led a fun session with games that highlighted shared, non-diabetes traits. She then had us split into two groups: those who feel supported in their diabetes journey and those who don't. Seeing a few stand on the unsupported side was eye-opening and deepened my gratitude for the support in our Loop and Learn community.

Maureen Monaghan discussed how parental involvement in T1D management evolves and shared strategies for fostering a growth mindset, setting family goals, and working as a team to navigate changing diabetes care dynamics.

Mental health was a key theme at the conference. Jacinta Florek shared insights on how anxiety manifests, its triggers, and strategies for managing it.

George Huntley and April Gutmann of the Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition (DPAC) discussed the factors driving U.S. diabetes costs and current issues like prior authorizations, denied claims, and copay accumulators. They stressed that voting and advocacy are key to change, noting that just seven calls to officials can make an impact. George will join Loop and Learn on April 22 to dive deeper into this topic.

We both got screened for T1D autoantibodies—Tina for the first time and Rebecca for the first time in years. The process now uses simple finger sticks and dried blood spot cards instead of traditional blood draws. Testing positive for one antibody (out of five) means about a 50% chance of developing T1D, while two or more antibodies indicate nearly 100%. Screening is valuable because T1D can take over a decade to develop, allowing access to clinical trials and medication to slow progression to Stage 3 (when insulin is required). It also reduces the risk of being hospitalized with DKA at diagnosis. Those without antibodies by age 15 are unlikely to develop T1D, but as many of our members can confirm, adult onset is common, so never ignore the signs!

Dr. Ken Moritsugu, T1D, retired Rear Admiral and former U.S. Surgeon General (twice!), delivered the closing keynote. He shared his dedication to public health and personal commitment to the T1D community. We're lucky to be one of his passion projects!

The FFL Arlington conference was both enlightening and empowering, reinforcing the strength and support within the diabetes community. It’s a much smaller version of what we experience in Orlando in July and we encourage attending any of their events.

Appreciation From Lucky Loopers

We are humbled to receive such kind expressions of gratitude for the work we do for the community. Every "thank you" we receive is shared with our team to ensure everyone feels the impact of their efforts. Thank YOU for these and for participating in our Facebook group - that helps loopers in so many ways! Here are some of the thoughtful thank-you messages we’ve received recently. Names have been removed and some messages have been paraphrased.

  • I feel the need to publicly express my thanks for helping me once again resolve my browser customization error (and then going on to help me build Trio, discovering that my developer agreement wasn’t up to date!!). My mentor set up a Zoom call with me, giving up her beautiful sunny afternoon. She empowered me to try things outside of my comfort zone. I can't thank her enough!

  • I am so happy that I managed to browser build Loop and related apps! I’m so mind-free now! Xcode build was my first go but every time I had to check/ wait for updates (macOS , Xcode), dread that disk space wouldn’t suffice, my Mac mini would not get the latest updates and so on! Now I build Loop from an old laptop!!

  • Thank you to everyone supporting Loop And Learn! Posted my best ever A1C today— feeling thankful.

  • People have traveled and not had trouble with G7 geofencing lately- thanks to the advocacy of this group.

  • Why read the LNL newsletter? BECAUSE you learn about things like the Negative Insulin Damper...

  • Thanks for the great intro video! Definitely helpful as some info here isn’t covered by the docs.

  • Regarding a Build video: Thank you so much. Best guide!

  • Thank you again for your help and support today. You (and the loop and learn team) are so gracious with your time and it is so very appreciated.

  • Thank you so much! Great, great video!

  • Just renewed my distribution certificates. Directions are excellent - super easy. Many thanks for the wonderful work on the directions and pictures.

  • Thank you so, so much. I wanted to do the browser build for Trio for several months now and wasn't aware there was a video that I could use! That is so much more accessible for me. So now I just used it to build the Trio App and it worked right away! IN UNDER ONE HOUR! (I had the developer license already)

  • I just want to say big THANK YOU to my amazing mentor. She’s really helping from heart with patience to Zero tech person like me, she never gave up or let me feel shame about my ignorance, she went through step- by-step with me till I fixed all my huge things, without her help I really wouldn’t be here helping my daughter. Thanks a lot! Also, I want to say big THANK YOU for the Amazing LNL video build loop with browser, it’s really easy, simple and just amazing. Thank you to all the LNL community. I really Love you all

LoopFollow News

LoopFollow 2.2.12 was released just one day after LoopFollow 2.2.11.

  • A recent code change introduced crashes for some people.
  • The source of the issue has been identified and fixed. If you updated to 2.2.11, please go ahead and update to 2.2.12. This includes these and other great updates from 2.2.11:
    • Battery Drop Alarm – A new alarm that can alert you if the battery is draining faster than usual. Perfect for catching situations like a forgotten flashlight left on!
    • Contact Improvements – You can now choose colors for contacts and have the option to display trend and delta in separate contact cards for better clarity.
    • Expected BG Delay -For Bluetooth heartbeat devices, the expected BG delay value is reported to help you choose the device that provides the shortest delay in BG readings for the looper's CGM
      • This is especially useful if you are saving your old G7 Sensors so you have a choice of used sensors
      • Pro-tip: when using used G7 sensors: write the date used and Bluetooth name on each sensor

Huge Thanks to Our Contributors!

In addition to the work from the Loop and Learn team, this release included valuable contributions from David Novosel, Mike Bash, and Daniel Snällfot. Your help in making LoopFollow better is truly appreciated!