T-Slim Review

I have officially been a T-Slim user for a little over a week. I really like it and am happy I switched. I am not a huge fan of change, so when there are hiccups with my new pump I try to think about how I am reacting, am I upset because it's something new I need to learn? Or is it something annoying about the actual pump? In most cases, it's just me overreacting.


For example, I had to set up a new site for the first time by myself, and it took longer than it should have. I got worked up, because I couldn't remember exactly how to do everything unlike with my old pump where I could do it with my eyes closed. I calmed down took a few deep breaths and called customer service, I didn't get placed on hold and instead was instantly placed with a real person. She was very helpful and patient with me. When we realized I had forgotten a step entirely and I mentioned feeling dumb, she told me not to worry about it, it's a different pump than I am used to and it will get easier with time. I was floored by her politeness, she helped me when I was a rambling mess and never broke over how frustrating I must have been.

The T-Slim has a ton of features that my old pump had. The first two that come to mind are the easy bolus and the basal patterns. I love that I am still able to use the easy bolus function. I try not to make that a habit, but I love having that as an option during busy times. I can reach in my pocket, press the button, listen for the beeps and then I am all set to go. I still am able to have a basal patterns for busy days, sick days, vacations and more. There are some definite upgrades to the T-Slims basal patterns such as, I can name each specific basal setting and can even change my insulin sensitivity for some of those patterns if needed.

There are a lot of new features as well. For starters I love that I no longer need batteries. Yes, it makes my blog name a little obsolete, but not having to store AAA batteries makes me happy. I can plug in my pump to charge on my computer at work, in the car, my purse charger, or the old fashioned, with a wall charger. I have been testing how quickly my pump drains each day and so far have been able to go 3-4 days without plugging in my pump. The only thing I keep thinking of is what happens if the power goes out or the apocalypse happens, how will I charge my pump?

I am also loving the the carb calculator. I love that I can look at what I am eating and break down the plate in my pump and it adds the carbs up for me. I hate math and trying to add up all the carbs I am about to eat you know, 15grams for this, 25 grams for that then entering 40 grams into my pump. With the T-Slim I can just enter 15 + 25 grams and it takes care of the rest. I hope that makes sense, anyways I am kind of loving it.

The last thing I love about this pump is the insulin on board feature. With my old pump, I always struggled to find where that information was and how to read it. With the T-Slim it's on the front of the screen. I had a low the other day and was able to see how much insulin I had on board and how long it would be in my system to adjust my low accordingly. It was really helpful.

I haven't done a pocket bolus yet, or had issues with it falling out of my pocket (which happened a lot with my old pump). I did drop my pump and the screen didn't break. A lot of the fears I had with this pump have been tested and the T-Slim has passed with flying colors (knock on wood). Yes, it's difficult getting used to a new pump, I find myself going for buttons that don't exist because that's where they were on my old pump. Setting a new site is the biggest annoyance so far. It takes time, a lot of time, but I have a feeling that I will be able to shorten it down when I am more comfortable doing it. All in all I am happy with it and happy with the company. I have to turn in my old pump this week, and am very sad about it, but this is a new chapter and I look forward to it.