For people living with insulin-dependent diabetes, managing their blood glucose—or blood sugar—can often feel like a stressful balancing act. Successfully managing the condition typically involves multiple daily insulin injections, performing up to 10 blood sugar tests each day, coordinating several medical devices, and carefully monitoring how diet, exercise, and medications impact glucose levels.
Medtronic’s Paradigm REAL-Time System combines a glucose sensor, transmitter, “smart” insulin pump, and glucose meter into one integrated device, offering users improved control, greater flexibility, and better overall health management.
Chris Jarvis, who competed as a member of the 2004 Canadian Olympic Rowing Team and is also a marathon runner, understands the difficulties diabetes presents firsthand. Living with type 1 diabetes, meaning his body cannot produce insulin naturally, Jarvis used to check his blood sugar up to 15 times during races using fingerstick tests. For many years, he relied on two separate devices—one for glucose monitoring and another for insulin delivery.
Recently, however, Jarvis began using a newly federally approved device—the only one of its kind worldwide—that has dramatically improved his ability to manage his condition.
Created by Minneapolis-based Medtronic, Inc., the MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time Insulin Pump and Continuous Glucose Monitoring System integrates an insulin pump with continuous glucose monitoring to deliver insulin 24/7 while constantly measuring glucose levels. It alerts users through alarms or vibrations if blood sugar reaches dangerously high or low levels. This innovation has given Jarvis the confidence to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
“It provides real peace of mind knowing exactly what’s happening inside your body instead of guessing based on a few fingersticks,” Jarvis explains. “With just the press of a button, you can see your blood sugar level instantly.”
This advanced treatment option empowers patients like Jarvis to gain tighter control of their diabetes and better understand how factors like diet, exercise, medication, and daily routines affect their blood sugar. With this insight, they can quickly take corrective or preventive steps to maintain stable glucose levels.
Dr. Irl Hirsch, medical director at the University of Washington Diabetes Care Center in Seattle, notes that many insulin-dependent patients still rely on multiple daily insulin injections combined with four to 10 fingerstick blood tests per day to monitor glucose. This new system revolutionizes care by continuously delivering insulin and providing glucose readings almost 300 times daily, along with trend information indicating whether glucose levels are rising or falling.
“For anyone with insulin-dependent diabetes, it’s essential to get the right insulin dose and monitor glucose closely,” Hirsch says. “This insulin pump combined with a continuous glucose monitor is a groundbreaking solution because it’s the only device worldwide that manages both simultaneously.”
Research shows that multiple daily injections are less effective at controlling diabetes than insulin pumps. Fingerstick tests alone miss over 60 percent of low-glucose events, posing serious risks. If blood sugar levels become too high or low, patients may fall into a coma and can die within hours. Over time, poorly controlled blood sugar can lead to severe complications such as blindness, stroke, amputations, heart disease, and kidney failure.
“With the MiniMed Paradigm REAL-Time System, I control my diabetes—it doesn’t control me,” Jarvis concludes.
