• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Anyone used a CGM and DIDN'T like it?

PaulinaB

PaulinaB

Well-Known Member
Messages
594
Location
London, UK
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Hi all!

I know not many people use CGMs, but to those of you who are using them (or were using them) - has anyone ever used it and didn't like it/it wasn't useful/etc?
 
Spiker said:
She'd have to answer that herself. :-)

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
Click to expand...
Me... It was an Abbott Navigator and read far too low.... I took this up with Abbott then MHRA. EVENTUALLY THE TEST STRIPS AND CALIBRATING STRIPS WERE WITHDRAWN!,,,,,

I personally became too anal with it, because it was reading too low!!! But because of me too.it was funded by a PCT at the time, but after my experience and 2 others the hospital did not continue issuing them long term.....




Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
This is one of the dilemmas with CGMs. They do encourage you to be anal and to overcontrol. This can become obsessive and there is a point where too much tinkering can backfire - as I know from my own experience. And the CGM will often be adrift from the fingerstick meter value. If you are obsessing about control, as a CGM tempts you to do, the mismatch with the meter really messes with you. And if the CGM misses hypos, which it sometimes will do, that's very demoralising. And of course there is the cost. I can't afford to run mine full time, even with tricks to eke out the sensors to last 2 weeks or more.

For me personally, despite the downsides, it's overall well worth it for the vastly improved information I get. But I do have to discipline myself to use that information cautiously and not obsessively.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
As a guide of patterns I would agree, but no obsessiveness....although my obsessiveness caused MHRA to get involved and eventually recall of blood strips!!!

Personally, for me I prefer to do blood tests after my experience with Abbott Navigator. In fact my experience was so bad with the manufacturer I would never have any product by them again...

Cgm's should not be relied upon for hypo's...n hypers... Just as a guide to when levels raise or lower...


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
donnellysdogs said:
Cgm's should not be relied upon for hypo's...n hypers
Click to expand...
Agreed, you shouldn't exclusively rely on them, but as an extra backup they are useful. Sometimes my CGM spots a hyper or hypo that I didn't spot. Sometimes it's the other way around. I don't get upset by any false alarms, and (as per CGM the manual) I always confirm with a fingerstick test before doing any kind of treatment action. So on balance it is an advantage to me to have these extra warnings from the CGM. But yes it would be dangerous to rely solely on the CGM.
 
Thanks for sharing!
I'm kind of obsessing now, testing a lot to see how my sugars react to different things, etc. I'm thinking about a CGM because the actual trends would be invaluable. I wake up in the morning with weird high sugar and I don't know if that's dawn phenomenon or a hypo at night (and that's a difference, because one means I need more levemir and the other - less...).
I wouldn't want to rely on it in terms of hypos/hypers - other that it letting me know that I'm going down fast, for example. I'm aware that the actual values will always be off the blood tests :) I can always compare with the meter to see what the "real" values are, but I think the trend information - when, how fast and how long my BG was going up/down is a great thing to know.
Also, the information that my BG is stable and I don't have to freak out that I took too much insulin would give me a gigantic peace of mind :)

The cost is a problem, of course, that's why I'm trying to make sure it's going to be actually useful...
 
Coming back to your topic, OP, lots of people want a CGM because they think it will eliminate fingerstick blood tests. It won't. You need a bare minimum of 2 a day, but in practice you need to keep doing the same number of fingerstick tests as before, maybe even more frequently, as you sometimes need to verify unexpected results shown on the CGM to see if they are correct. You still need to check with a fingerstick at any point when you would - or might - give a correction dose. And if you don't keep doing 4-6 tests a day, the CGM data will be less accurate and less reliable. So this is a big negative compared to many people's expectations.

The unique value of the CGM does not come from replacing 4-6 tests a day, it doesn't do that. The value comes from seeing what happens between the blood tests, in graphical form, a continuous line through the day showing the twists and turns and responses of your blood sugar to everything that happens during the day. It helps you greatly to work towards good control, and then gives positive feedback to confirm good control when you achieve it.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I had been using a Freestyle Navigator for about a year after I was first diagnosed; I mostly stopped using it because it produced too many false hypo warnings (doesn't help that the built-in meter always read 1-2 mmol/l less than my other meters) and because wearing it restricted my activities too much (e.g. the sensor is nominally waterproof, but if you want it to last for the full week you can't go swimming or do vigorous exercise while wearing it...). Since the extra information hadn't revealed any undiagnosed hypos or hypers, I decided that I'd be better off without it rather than scheduling my life around sensor changes.
 
Yes, my Navigator cgm gave false hypo readings especially at night, and on one trip of 6 hours back from Wales whilst driving. I was so annoyed at it I actually thought about going to my Consultants house to prove the hideous alarms and readings it was giving me....

Abbott also refused to believe results unless I got up everytime during the night and washed my hands prior to doing a blood reading on pump... Sorry... i have never done that, and never will... I go to bed after washing thoroughly....

It was a horrendous experience for me. Now I just make a point of waking during night as I have done for practically 80% of 30 years anyway... If I have concerns I just test more...


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
CGM is a quirky bit of kit to use and it takes some getting used to. I think is suffers from a bit of a reputation of being some amazing cure all that removes the need for blood glucose testing and cures erratic control. It really doesn't do this.

I regard my CGM as a needy pet, you have to be organised when you calibrate, change the sensor and remember all the while that the results it shows are playing catch up with your blood glucose. I have only had a few rogue sensors where I have been ready to throw it in the nearest bin but on the whole I have worked out how to live with it and for me it's a great help. I tend to test my bg about 6 times a day but more when I'm hypo, unwell or just dubious about the results it is showing.

To start with you can't help but become obsessive with it, I didn't want to eat for the first few days for fear of upsetting the lovely flat graph line and was looking at my pump screen every few minutes to see what was happening. CGM provides the bigger picture compared to the snapshots blood glucose tests provide, the 2 things work together each providing a different piece of the jigsaw.
 
Back
Top