The Square Wave and the Dual Wave Boluses

These features can really help with blood sugar spikes after a meal. Both bolus features can be found in the Minimed Paradigm Pump on the Main Menu under "Bolus," then scroll down to "Dual/Square Bolus" and select "On" and press "Act." On older models of the pump, these features can be found in the Main Menu under "Set Up II."

Square Wave boluses extend the bolus amount over a programmed amount of time. For example, you can program your pump to give you 4 units of insulin over 3 hours instead of getting it all at once like a Normal bolus.

Useful for instances when you've had:

-a really prolonged meal (like at wedding, where all the dishes are served slowly over at least an hour)

-a really high fat meal (like pizza, Chinese food, fast food, a lot of pasta etc.) when the food is going to take longer to digest

-any time where you snacking for an extended period of time (at a school dance, a formal reception, a sport's game maybe)

Dual Wave boluses are a combination of the Normal bolus and the Square Wave bolus. For example, you can program your pump to give you 2 units of insulin immediately and then 2 units over an extended period of time.

Useful for instances when you've had:

-chips and fruit, followed by a couple slices of pizza

-crackers, followed by a lot of pasta

-appetizers at a restaurant, followed by a large meal

If these features sound useful to you and you haven't tried using them, contact your doctor and talk about it!