[Diabetes-talk] A few questions about continuous glucose monitors

[eileen scrivani]

When I was looking into pumps, the Medtronics pump has the ability to 
communicate via vluetooth with a CGM, I was interested.  However, CGM's are 
not covered by Medicare and the out of pocket cost would on a monthly basis 
be cost prohibitive!  Knowing that I did not research further.

Eileen


-----Original Message----- 
From: Mike Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 11:06 AM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] A few questions about continuous glucose 
monitors

Megan:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but ... There are no accessible CGMS
systems on the market. You are doing about as well as anyone who is blind
using such systems. The scripting angle is worth looking into so I'm saving
your post. However, I suspect FDA wouldn't allow any such software, firmware
or hardware solution to be marketed without a 510(k) proceeding (read
expensive for the entity seeking certification).

I fervently hope someone on this list contradicts me! Please keep us posted.

Mike Freeman


-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Megan Bening
Sent: Monday, March 17, 2014 9:54 PM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] A few questions about continuous glucose monitors

Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone on this list uses a continuous  glucose monitor
and, if so, which one do you use? How accessible do you  find it? Are there
any that you guys prefer? I was recently diagnosed  with hypoglycemia which
is clearly not the same thing as diabetes, but  I'm finding that I'm
constantly fairly low, especially overnight,  and right now my endo and I
are trying to find an underlying cause as  well as trying to look at my
options for glucose management. The reason  why I would like to use a CGM if
possible is because right now, my  levels tend to fluctuate wildly. I can
use my protegy voice and get a  reading as of that minute, but have no
knowledge as to whether I am rising  or falling, or where I've been since my
last reading, etc. I also tend  to hang out in my 40s overnight, and the low
alarm on the CGM  alerts me to this so I don't wake up in the morning
feeling  awful.
Right now, I am borrowing a Dexcom G4. I like that it has  distinctly
different musical tunes for a high or low alert, and the alarms  are fairly
loud. I can also get around the menus to some degree just  by counting
button presses, similar to how we all used to use old  cell phones/iPods,
but wondered if anyone has a CGM that works better  or had found a better
way of managing it. One thing that I am not  crazy about is that right now,
in order to enter my BG, I either have to  get a sighted person to help me,
or I have to arrow down about 150  times to make sure that I am at 20, the
lowest reading, and then arrow  back up to wherever I am supposed to be. And
that's not even saying anything about whether or not there are alerts on the
screen that need to be dismissed before trying to access the menus, which
aren't always obvious if you can't see them. I'm also trying to figure out
what the underlying OS in the G4 is. It looks a lot like Simbion to me  and,
if that's the case, couldn't something be scripted to voice? I  know the
trend graph might be difficult to adapt audibly, but even  being able to
arrow through a list of my readings, and see whether  I'm rising or falling,
would help a lot. Does anyone have any tips?  Also, do you guys know if any
of the other CGMs on the market right  now integrate with iOS or Android?
What do you use? What works well  for you, and what doesn't? I tried to
Google this, but I'm kind of  finding a whole lot of nothing and figured
someone on this list might  know something to help me.
Thanks for any assistance you can  give!
Best,
Megan

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