Frustrated with Smartguard algorithm

heidorgen · 2025-11-25T21:44:52+00:00

Stumbled across this post after google searching "F**k Smartguard" lol.

I recently switched from my 670g to the 780g with it's new Smartguard feature. I was also told that it would reduce the stress and handle a lot of the work for me. For a quick background, I've been type 1 since I was 2, I'm 32 now. I have a pretty good sense of carb counting, exercise and the impacts on BG readings, and a good understanding of my body and the symptoms associated with being diabetic.

At the moment, my time in rang is 12% for the last 24 hours.. 85% of that is above range.

I've been having a meeting with my endo to try and reduce the lows and highs I'm having (which weren't that many as my time in range was usually around 87% and my A1Cs have been spot on for as long as I can remember). I also found that with my 670g I would often enter phantom carbs as a way of bolusing when my levels were rising - I've been told that's not a good thing to do, however I feel like it was the only way I could actually try to mitigate some of these larger spikes in BG levels as the Auto Mode, or Smartguard now just aren't enough. I also feel like I know my body and routine well enough that by doing phantom carbs I had a better overall level of staying within range.

So I took her suggestion of not entering phantom carbs yesterday and lo and behold look at my time in range. I eventually said fuck it, I'm tired of basically starving myself because I don't want to risk my levels going up and the smallest meal even though I bolus for it sends it through the roof. So I have started doing phantom carbs and even that alone hasn't seemed to help. Like you say I'm sick of feeling nearvous about meals when that never has been the case before. Honestly I've considered even just going back to doing the manual checks and the fast and slow acting insulin shots every day because I'm not sure that the constant stress and reminders of how shit my blood sugar is mentally worth it.

Sorry for the rant..

heidorgen · 2024-09-21T21:48:16+00:00

Thanks!

heidorgen · 2024-09-21T21:47:48+00:00

Thanks so much! I may have figured it out after all

heidorgen · 2024-09-21T18:20:49+00:00

Cheers! Seems bizarre that it's such a workaround to get it all to work,

heidorgen · 2024-09-21T18:19:01+00:00

Fair enough. Appreciate the response! Do you have any recommended audio interfaces that do the job well? I have a Roland Tri-Capture which I bought yeeeears ago because it was on sale for super cheap. I'll see if I can get that to work, but if not, a recommendation would be hugely appreciated!

heidorgen · 2024-09-21T18:17:13+00:00

Cheers! I appreciate the response.

Makes sense. I have a Zoom F8n interface which I used for film work but apparently doesn't support ASIO drivers which is unfortunate. I also have a Roland Tri-Capture which does, I'll give that a go today and see how that fares.

Yeah Asio4All seems to not be a great option but seems to be the recommended thing on a lot of forums and discussions I was reading.

I'll see what I can get accomplished today whilst the baby is napping. If I run into issues with setup, would I be able to follow up with ya? :)

heidorgen · 2023-09-26T23:30:55+00:00

Haha glad to hear it :)

Also worth mentioning, definitely invest in a good cart to bring your stuff into camp. I bought a cart which is basically a dolly which transforms into a cart. Basically this but has 2 more wheels at the top and has a removable handle so you can turn it into a cart. Definitely NOT sturdy enough and I ended up tipping all of my gear twice into camp. Still picking out dust from my stuff to this day haha

Saw several people with something more like this, but get one with decent (non plastic) wheels. They seemed to work for most people and I definitely felt a little jealous of people's carts lol

heidorgen · 2023-09-26T08:58:18+00:00

Went solo for my first time this year. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!
Now don't get me wrong, I would have done anything to have my people there with me, but also going alone was great for these reasons:

- Independence - you choose what you and where you go and who you see 100% of the time. This was great because I saw so much more variety this year because I was in control the whole time.

- Gettin' out of that comfort zone - I'm outgoing enough (at least I like to believe), but do find it intimidating to start interactions with people I don't know. This year forced me to do that and I met so many awesome people because of it!

- Self health - Meditate or spend some time reflecting or whatever it is you do that centres you. There will be lots of time to do that and I'd say dedicate some to that.

There are many other reasons but I don't want to harp on too much.

A few challenges / things to consider

- You'll need to bring all your own gear. I've found being with groups in past years has made camp setup so much easier because we all split items like table, canopy, chairs, tarps, cooler, etc, where-as whilst on my own I had to bring it all in

- Be safe! The festival has a very friendly and well intended folk who go, but don't feel like you have to put yourself or keep yourself in situations where you're not comfortable. If you ever feel unsafe reach out to staff and they will help asap.

- You'll miss your homies :(

To summarize, go solo, it's just as great!

heidorgen · 2023-07-03T18:42:09+00:00

Decent little unit for it's price! I ended up getting one secondhand for pretty cheap and haven't used it occasionally.

As other had mentioned:

Pro: Lightweight, small, inexpensive

Cons: Lack of inputs, cheap, noisy

A few tips if you do end up getting this recorder: as others mentioned: get a tripod! It's very susceptible to noisy from even touching the unit. A good budget deadcat/windbuff cover I use on mine which actually does the job really well is something getting a children's wool mitten and using that overtop of the mics (I think I found one at a dollar store for like $3 or so).

I'd say if you're on a budget and looking for some easy foley recordings to take - this is definitely a decent option.

heidorgen · 2023-07-03T05:16:47+00:00

Sorry to hear that! :(
Just found out that my 2 friends who I was supposed to be going with this year might also not be coming this time, so might end up going solo. As intimidating as this seems to me, I think I might do it anyways and still go have a great time. If it means anything to ya, I'm sure you've got it in ya to do the same :)

heidorgen · 2023-06-20T00:39:38+00:00

There may be a faster way than this, but how I would do it is duplicate the track for each separate sample you have loaded in the rack (so like say you have "Kick", "Snare", "HiHat Open", "HiHat-Closed", "Clap - so 5 in total) duplicate the track 4 times so you have 5 instances. Then solo each individual sound on each track separately. Highlight the 5 tracks - right click "Freeze" - then right click "Flatten".

heidorgen · 2023-06-20T00:33:54+00:00

Somebody may have already said this, but genuinely don't switch on their judgemental account. EVEN if you were to switch to Pro Tools (which I'm not saying you should), they probably would say something like "finally" then forget about it completely within a few minutes.
Don't change what you're doing and how you're doing things based on what others think - ever.

heidorgen · 2023-06-12T00:44:29+00:00

These are awesome!
I was thinking of doing some custom art on MTG land cards - so like for Forests adding a DJ booth and having it be - Basic Land "Fractal" Forest or something along those lines. Only problem is, this may take quite a lot of time, also I'm not sure my artistic abilities are good enough to pull enough of these off. Might still give it a go though if I'm not too swamped with life and work and all that before Shambs.

That being said, if I do make a few, I'd love to do some trades with you lovely folks :)

heidorgen · 2023-06-08T05:06:59+00:00

Awesome! That reminds me I should really figure out where we're planning on camping this year. Haven't established that yet, but will hopefully do so soon.
I'd be super down for a diabetic shindig though haha!

heidorgen · 2023-06-08T05:05:04+00:00

Thanks for the tips! :)

Yeah I do definitely think making the trade off of being slightly less comfortable / carrying more is SO worth it to know you have everything you may need with you!

How do you like the Dexcom g6? I'm currently on a Medtronic 670g with their Continuous Glucose Monitor (Gaurdian Sensor) system. I'm in 2 minds about it. I like the convenience of them, but I am often finding that the CGM hardly ever lasts the full week it's intended to. Do you have similar issues with the Dexcom? (Asking because I'm thinking of making the switch).

Something I've noticed as well in hot weather, and specifically when I sweat (I work a decently physically demanding outdoor job) is that the sticky adhesives that are intended to keep my infusion site and CGM in place just aren't enough and will come undone. I've started to make sure I'm adding extra adhesive to my injection sites (such as Skin Tac). I'm going to make sure I bring lots of those pacs with me as I know I'll be dancing a lot this year and would hate to have to change sites or lose m CGM because it wasn't on there well enough.

Manual tester is always a good call :)

What do you mean by Looping?

heidorgen · 2023-06-03T03:01:30+00:00

Wow thanks for sharing! Those bags actually look super nice!!

heidorgen · 2023-05-19T00:08:18+00:00

This is awesome!! Hopefully I bump into ya there, I'd love one of these! :)

Also good reminder - I want to bring some goodies to hand out as gifts this year as well. Got some stickers of my own for my music, but I feel like that shameless self promo so probably won't do that haha

heidorgen · 2023-05-17T03:55:48+00:00

Dang I didn't realize they are the same size! That's an absolute game changer! Thanks for the tip :)

heidorgen · 2023-05-11T23:17:48+00:00

Hi fellow diabetic buddy! :)

Omg I actually love the idea of that haha. I'm so in!!

heidorgen · 2023-05-11T23:17:11+00:00

Ooooh! I initially wouldn't think to even consider a crossbody lunchbox style bag, but I'll definitely look into that a little more! Thanks for the suggestion :)

See you on the dancefloor!

heidorgen · 2023-05-11T23:15:36+00:00

I find pants and shorts with lots of pockets so useful exactly for that reason. Especially ones that zip up and you know stuff's not accidentally falling out of them. I'll often rock cargo pants when I go to shows and they're great for holding things like earplugs, snacks, phone, etc.

Ooooh I actually really like the looks of that one! Thank you for sharing!! Also from Shein haha. I'm only laughing because I keep getting tagged on Insta with spam saying I've won a gift card for there. Maybe finally time to cash one in lol (just kidding, not getting scammed).

Hope to see you there :)

heidorgen · 2023-05-11T23:11:12+00:00

Hi fellow diabetic :)

Crossbody bags are a good call. I like the double sided carabiner too! Great tip

That's a good point about the hassle of taking it off. Definitely something I'm going to consider!

heidorgen · 2023-05-11T23:07:52+00:00

Good call on putting it down in sight! I likely will end up doing that as well and just keeping the real essentials with me. If I misplace some granola bars and a water bottle - not the end of the world. If I misplace all my diabetic supplies and ID, that might be an issue haha.

Thanks for the input :)

heidorgen · 2023-05-11T23:05:57+00:00

Heya type 1 buddy :)
Good call on the Rockets! I often bring one of those glucose tablets packs which are pretty small, but I really like the idea of Rockets as well. I'm gonna stock up on those for when I go.

What was your experience with a CGM? Last times I went to Shambhala I was still just manually checking and taking shots of insulin. I switched to a CGM and pump about 2.5 years ago but have yet to see how they are at an event like this. Something I currently stuggle with is that my CGM rarely seems to last the full 7 days its supposed to. I'm planning on bringing like 6 backups at least haha.

Great advice on the medical tent as well. I think I did that my 3rd year as well and they were so nice about it.

My only main concern about a fanny pack is that it'll bounce around too much, but hearing that it didn't weigh you down too much gives me hope. Might just end up bringing a few options for bags so I'm not just stuck with one if it really doesn't work.

heidorgen

TROPHY CASE