MiniMed™ 780G system review: Jaime’s first 30 days

Three days I will never forget
 

I’m Jaime, a Medtronic Employee who’s been living with type 1 diabetes since I was three years old and wearing an insulin pump for the last 20+ years. 

Over the years, it's very easy to get lost in the countless blood sugar checks, numerous sensor changes, and daily management of a disease like type 1 diabetes. It's a blur of juice boxes, juggling insurance claims, doctors’ appointments, pharmacy runs, tears, waking up in the middle of the night covered in sweat, laughter, mental math, pump alerts, triumph, calloused fingers, workouts, strength, and glucose tablets. 

But in the last 20 years, three days stand out. 

Three days I will never forget. Three days when I truly felt hopeful about my diabetes. And three days where I had a sense of relief that I now have something in my corner of the ring as I put on the gloves and fight this disease. 

1. My very first day on my MiniMed^™ Paradigm 512. 
2. My very first day on the MiniMed^™ 670G with Auto Mode^™. 
3. The day I did a remote software upgrade to the MiniMed^™ 780G system. 

So, I’m very excited to share my experiences with the MiniMed^™ 780G system — the highs and the lows (see what I did there?)!  
 

What I love about the MiniMed™ 780G system
 

The theme you will notice throughout my MiniMed^™ 780G review is that I’m achieving the best control of my life with the least amount of brain power, effort, and exertion.
 

The software update was super easy to do.
 

I feel like if you can do an iOS update on your phone, you can do a software update for your pump.  And that’s coming from someone who wouldn’t exactly classify herself as tech-savvy. 

After I completed my online training, the software update process was really easy to follow.  Medtronic even sent out a nice software update guide brochure to follow which came in so helpful (I’m a visual person). It took me about 2 hours to do and then I had my MiniMed^™ 780G system up and running.
 

The results are amazing!
 

I typically achieve a good Time in Range (TIR), but I can only do that when I’m firing on all cylinders. This means accurately counting carbs, pre-bolusing, hitting my activity levels, doing countless fingersticks, and eating a fairly low-carb diet. 

With my new system, I’m reading an increase in TIR!  The best part is that it’s EASY for me to do it on a daily basis.  I can consistently do it, and depending on the day, I might be knocking it out of the park. Then other days where life gets in the way, and my diabetes management takes a temporary backseat, I can still come in healthy for the day.
 

I got my sleep back.
 

Nighttime used to be a struggle for me.  I would worry about going low or would struggle with extreme fatigue due to being woken up by pump alarms. I would also proactively eat a snack right before bed to avoid lows and then struggle to stay in range while I slept.  And then in the mornings I would struggle with dawn phenomenon—skyrocketing to the mid-200s. Utterly exhausting. 

My night times are much more peaceful now. SmartGuard™ technology has my back—dosing quietly in the background so I can get some sleep.  I can confidently turn the reigns over at night and am so happy to wake up in the mornings in range!  It’s an awesome feeling to look at my overnight graph now and see a fairly straight line—I used to be so jealous of people who could do that!  The frequency of alerts/alarms has also dropped dramatically—I’m sleeping through the night and waking up rested and refreshed.  

Another bonus: even my husband mentioned how much better he is sleeping now that I’m in range at night! #GetItBack
 

No calibrations when using the Guardian^™ 4 sensor with SmartGuard^™ technology.
 

My fingertips have never felt so good.  Excluding the one fingerstick I have to do each week when I change my sensor to get into SmartGuard^™ mode, I do not have to check my blood glucose nearly as often as I used to.** 

Overall, I’ve found the Guardian^™ 4 sensor to be accurate and I feel confident trusting it to do its thing. I will do an occasional finger check before I work out or before bed just to confirm, but that’s honestly more out of habit.
 

I feel stable.
 

I’m the type of person with diabetes who has a lot of blood sugar fluctuations based on stress, activity levels, and hormones.  I would constantly be chasing a high spike right before I presented in a big meeting at work or chasing a low after a gym workout.  The constant ups and downs were exhausting — mentally and physically. 

On the MiniMed^™ 780G system, I’m really only interacting with the pump when I’m setting a temp target for my workouts or I have to step in to fix an unexpected low.  The pump is quietly giving me little tiny corrections in the background, bringing me gently back into range. It’s adjusting to cover me when I occasionally miscount carbs.  It’s adapting for my weird slight spikes I get when I lift weights.  I’m seeing more straight lines on my graph than I have in my life. 
 

The mental load of diabetes has been lifted.
 

It’s definitely not gone—but it’s drastically lifted.  The amount of time, energy, worry, stress, and attention I have to attribute to my diabetes is so minimal now.  I used to say that diabetes is the first thing I think about when I wake up and the last thing I think about before I go to bed….and that’s not the case anymore.  I’ve got the mental capacity, time, and energy to focus on other things—finally writing my book, running a 5k with my daughter, and planning our much-needed home renovation.  
 

What I wish the MiniMed^™ 780G system had
 

I’ll call these my “wish list” items. As I considered my MiniMed^™ 780G system review, these are the things that I wish it had or had the capability to do.
 

Arm insertion is challenging if you are by yourself.
 

I need to have my husband on deck every Sunday to help me insert my sensor in my arm.  I’m just not flexible enough to do it myself and lack the dexterity in my hands.  That can cause a bit of a scheduling struggle when one of us goes out of town, so I’d love an easier insertion process.
 

Learning to manage exercise is a little tricky when you first start on the system.
 

Full transparency, I didn’t use the Temp Target feature consistently before for my workouts.  I would normally just eat a snack to get me through the workout or pull back the amount of insulin I would take so I didn’t have too much insulin on board.  With the MiniMed™ 780G system, I realized very quickly that I had to use the Temp Target, or I found myself going low during my workouts.  It was a challenge some days to remember to do it in advance and to get the timing right depending on the type of workout I was going to do.  I’m still in a trial-and-error phase right now, but I’m seeing a slightly better result this week than I did when I first started.
 

Deliver a bolus from the app.
 

I would absolutely love it if I could bolus from my phone app.  Or clear alarms!  This would amazing, especially when I’ve got my pump discreetly tucked away in my clothing.  Anytime I do have to interact with my pump, I have to pull it out, so engaging with it via my MiniMed^™ Mobile app would be much easier.    
 

I’d love both the pump and the sensor to be smaller.
 

There was no design change with either component. They both can feel slightly bulky at times.   I hope this MiniMed^™ 780G system review helps you, and if you have any questions about my experience on the system, drop them below!   

UPDATE — For more system reviews, check out:

• The MiniMed™ 780G system makes travel easier
• Medtronic customer, Marley, reviews the MiniMed^™ 780G system
• Chris reviews new features of the MiniMed™ 780G system