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Thinking of CGM

I was really hoping to have enough saved to get one in mid march, now I'm not sure if I'll manage it, which is frustrating, I'm heading towards trying for a baby and think this would help so much. I'm struggling to reach the pregnancy targets and though I'll persevere with multiple tests and adjustments i do think a dexcom could be invaluable.
 
If cost is too great long term, I wd suggest getting it and using it consistently for a year, or when the transmitter dies. I'm finding (after 5mths or so) that I'm still learning new things every day - and that's after 48yrs of T1 - so I hope to learn as much as poss from the experience, then 'bank' the lessons for future use! It's been a huge revelation but I don't want to become dependent as I know there'll be a time when cost has to rule! (Having recently stopped work)

I don't use a pump and think CGM is far more useful in terms of improved control and management of A1c. Think I'd only use a pump if it was tubeless! Dexcom sensors are easily hidden and v comfy. Once you get better insight into how different carbs affect you, it should provide better choices for managing hypos. When I first started CGM I had even more hypos as I was trying too hard to keep sugars low. Have now learned this is counter-productive and adversely affects one's quality of life (and sleep, more importantly!!) The constant beeping drove me crazy. It's very, very hard, if not impossible, at first to keep sugars steady.


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After 23 days I finally replaced my sensor.
It was still functioning but I'd had 3 or 4 "---" messages and transmitter connection problems so decided to stop it.
I was surprised to see just how fine the sensor "wire" is. Everything was very clean with virtually no indication of where the sensor had been.

I'm hoping that this sensor is typical..
 
My skin is always a little blotchy - I haven't been able to wear them that long - I'm on my 3rd and averaging 2 weeks before I get the ??? but the skin isn't taking too long to recover. I thought I might have more issues as I can get eczema and react to stuff, so I am please that I'm not having any problems. The wire is tiny (apparently the needle that goes in is quite large, which surprised me as it doesn't really hurt at all - comparable to a finger stick test for me!)
 
Well it arrived yesterday it's up and running had a problem with the first sensor giving highly erratic readings

I have now changed this and am having good results


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Did you report the sensor to where you got it from as you might be able to get it replaced free of charge. I'm not sure how erratic your sensor was, but I know that sometimes in the 1st 24 hours of a new sensor it can be more than 1mmol out for me - this current one started at between 1 and 2 mmol the gap has been lessening with each calibration and I had to stop myself from re-callibrating it loads when it seemed to be quite a way out (apparently the ideal is no more than 4 times a day, or at least 4 hours apart to give it a chance) and then this morning just 1/10 out so I think it has me sussed a bit now! You tend to find really super accuracy when you are in with a chance of it saying exactly the same as your blood test machine after a couple of days.
 
kkkk said:
Did you report the sensor to where you got it from as you might be able to get it replaced free of charge. I'm not sure how erratic your sensor was, but I know that sometimes in the 1st 24 hours of a new sensor it can be more than 1mmol out for me - this current one started at between 1 and 2 mmol the gap has been lessening with each calibration and I had to stop myself from re-callibrating it loads when it seemed to be quite a way out (apparently the ideal is no more than 4 times a day, or at least 4 hours apart to give it a chance) and then this morning just 1/10 out so I think it has me sussed a bit now! You tend to find really super accuracy when you are in with a chance of it saying exactly the same as your blood test machine after a couple of days.
Click to expand...
Yes they said allow 24 hours to see if it settles and if not get a warrant replacement

Mine was showing a result of 3.9 when a normal test showed 9


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Have to be calibrated twice a day roughly 12 hours apart I normally find I'm quite stable at 07:30 and again 12 hours later


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Thank you all so much for this thread. I'm watching all your progress and experience with great interest. I am absolutely desperate to find out what my overnight levels are doing. Sometimes I hypo, often I wake with a hyper. There seems no real reason. I was promised that if I went on the DAFNE course and things didn't improve they would let me have a CGM for a week. So I endured the course, things have got worse but they're still putting me off. Seeing this thread is making me seriously consider buying one of these. The only things making me hesitate are the running costs and the thought of a big needle - I am such a wimp!

Smidge
 
Hi guys I too am considering a CGM. I have lots of personal issues at the moment and to be fair checking blood glucose levels is the last thing on my mind. I have asked my Consultant and Nurse at the clinic about getting one. I have recently learned that in Scotland our health boards do not follow the NICE guidelines but follow the SIGN guidelines. After looking at them there is a strong possibility I can get 1. Just hope they will fund it.

I'll keep you up to date.
 
Good luck - William - you will still need to check your blood - probably 3 times a day as it is every 12 hours and for my own security and peace of mind I tend to test morning, evening and then night.

Smidge - you don't see any big needles and honestly hurts less than a finger prick test - no worse than a regular skinny needle injection and it is quite quick once you get used to it.

The cost is the big thing. I know what you mean about nights - sometimes wake up high sometimes low in the middle. My dose at night has not been a really static thing for a little while now - it is gradually increasing at the moment, but I know it will also drop back down. The CGM has been invaluable in helping to avoid some of those lows as it gives me a full picture of what is going on - some mornings I will have that wake up dawn phenomenon….but others I won't (someone suggested that they are looking at whether the dawn phenomenon is caused by hypos the previous day - I haven't been able to work out conclusively at all about this, whether it is when they happen - i.e early evening, or how low you drop to a hypo or how long it lasts…and then be able to tell whether that is all coincidence or not :) - sorry sidetracked). So CGM shows me whether I have a dawn phenomenon and then I know that is causing me the high and not the amount of insulin I had the night before if I finger sticked and saw 6 and then 12 for a couple of days I would increase my night time dose - so it is saving me from adjusting my night insulin to combat a dawn phenomenon which I would have done in the past as I wasn't aware that's what it was…and then I would have gone horribly hypo in the night! So now if I look over and see that rising arrow in the morning then I get up and inject - my dawn phenomenon doesn't start at 2/3am it starts once my eyes start to open - so on those days no lounging around…it is up and insulin! So in all that the information is fantastic…and the reason I want it all the time is because my diabetes is not the same all the time - there are different things and issues that the information I can see can help me with - it gives me a more informed judgement on what I should do and how to resolve highs or lows. I so hope that the Drs and people at NICE can see that - I know that it might be too much information for some, and it takes a little while to get to work out how to react to the information….but for me it has been fantastic, but I am motivated, know how to use tech stuff and the peace of mind for me is invaluable.
 
Regarding the big needle I can honestly say that I have had more painful blood test & insulin shots. I'm only on my second sensor but both just felt a bit odd rather than painful. The sensor "wire" which stays in is very fine.

There is no denying the expense not just the sensors but also replacement cost for the transmitter (6 to 9 months I'm told).
My first sensor lasted over 3 weeks, I'm hoping it was typical. If so it is just about affordable for me.

In any case I've learned a lot. The graph of the first night with it was an eye opener. I'd been wrestling with erratic morning readings sometimes low, sometimes very high yet occasionally hypoing during the night. It showed a series of dips - the alarm went off so that I treated them, but perhaps previously I'd slept through lows triggering a liver dump & consequent morning high. Reducing my basal by about 10% has helped a lot.

Let's hope NICE sees sense & recognizes how useful CGM can be.
 
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