[Diabetes-Talk] G5 question

[TALey at ups.com]

Veronica, 

Your accounts of the daily real world experiences with a CGM are similar to mine. 

I wonder if a better way to produce healthier outcomes for the high alert on a CGM like the Dexcom would be to let you set a number for your high threshold, but instead of alarming once you reach that number, only alarm if you go above and remain above that number for some period, like an hour. I know exactly what you mean about seeing your number start to rise toward your alert level, and in an attempt to keep it from getting there, you take too much insulin. Timing your insulin with your food is not always straight forward. 

For me, my food doesn't always digest at the same speed, due to Diabetes gastroperesis. If I bolus my short acting insulin 20 minutes ahead of eating, like everyone recommends, I sometimes go too low before the meal begins to digest. 

So I usually wait until I've started my meal to bolus my short acting insulin on my pump, but if the food digest normally, not slowly as usual, then my blood sugar goes up quickly before the insulin starts to take effect. 

With my CGM, I watch it climb toward the high alert level I've set, and to try to avoid that alert it is tempting to take more insulin. The trouble is many times I don't really need more insulin, I just need to wait for the insulin I've already taken to begin to work. 

That's why I'd like to set a high number, but only have it alert me if I've gone over it and stayed over it for an hour. 

Tom






















-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Sunday, February 12, 2017 8:29 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Veronica Elsea <veronica at laurelcreekmusic.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] G5 question

Good idea about the ear buds, Tom. But as I said I just turned mine off. I had trouble living in fear of that high alarm. I also noticed, especially during the first few months, I tended to over treat when I'd get near that high number. Yeah I saw a better A1C but I had more lows. So I'd say I'm still kind of learning how and when to react to what that Dexcom says and does. I've had a few occasions during this last update where the app accepted my calibration and then seemed to forget that it had calibrated. So there I'd be on a bus or something and up would come the calibration alert.
But it's like any device. It just takes some time to make it mine. <grin> Veronica