[Richard157]

Mary Ann, the young, cute blonde who trained me is actually the dietitian at the hospital's diabetes education center in Poughkeepsie. I don't think she has trained many on the CGMS before but she knew a lot of the important facts. I sat close so she could put the CGM/sensor in place. She has beautiful blue eyes. .........oh, yes, where was I? My wife, the personification of stark reality, was sitting three feet away. I couldn't daydream very long at a time. Lol! Mary Ann seemed nervous when she wanted to know where I wanted the sensor placed on my body. She said "How about your love handle?"......er....well....OK. She had to do it two times to get it in place properly but she did well. She explained many things and I played dumb. I didn't know nuttin. "Oh, thank you Mary Ann! You are a great help!" Lol! We left her office after one hour and went to the hospital's cafeteria. They have fixins for great salads. I estimated 15 carbs and bolused. I got a high BG alarm in one hour after eating. I think the salad dressing might have been high carb. I had my high BG set at 160. I corrected a bit. I reset it at 180. I got home and looked at the CGM screen two hours after it started. I was 114. I entered that on the pump sensor page. At 4 hours after start I tested at 79, the CGM said 184! I gave several test results to the CGM every two hours after that even though Mary Ann said to do that at most 4 times per day. That afternoon it started giving me low BG alarms but I was 77-95 every time that happened. During the night I had no alarms except one time it wanted a new BG reading from my meter. The CGM was consistently giving me readings 20-30 points higher than my meter during the night. It is an average of about 20 points too high this morning. I have not had any high or low BG alarms on the CGM either last night or today. I think the system is honing in on my true range. I am set on 65-180 for alarms and the graph is staying in the lower-mid half of that band. It did not bother me to sleep on the sensor even though it is on my side and I sleep on my sides. I have a big snoring problem if I don't.

I think everything may be running smoothly by tomorrow. If not I might go back to see Mary Ann!!!!! Lol! I wonder if my wife would let me go back by myself? Hmmmmm!

Richard

 

[Richard157]

Hi folks, the CGM I was using was made by Minimed. The Minimed pump I am using is wonderful but their CGMS was not good for me. It was a loaner and I was permitted to use it for only 7 days. People who have been successful with it have told me that seven days is long enough to determine if it is going to be successful. The blood sugar numbers on the CGM and those on my glucometer never agreed very closely. Sometimes the CGM numbers were much higher than my meter and other times they were much lower.

There is a study that has been made by Minimed that states that some people have an excess of some type of acid in the fluid where the CGM measures glucose levels. The excess acid hinders the CGM giving accurate readings. People having success with the Minimed CGM evidently produce much less of this acid. I have looked for the website that gives that report but I have not found it. My friend found it but he is not available.

I have two other friends who use the Navigator CGMS made by Abbott and they are having tremendous success with it. I would like to give it a try if my endo approves.

Richard

 

[Richard157]

Thanks for your input Allen. I don't think I did as you suggested. The lady who gave me the instrustions went "by the book" and she obviously did not really understand the CGMS. I asked questuions and she could not answer so she gave me a sheet with info but not much detail. I went to my Minimed manual that came with my MM 522 pump and got info there that helped but I don't think it said to calibrate when the arrows were not showing. That may be why I had problems.

I would like to be using one now and give it another try but my insurance company will not pay for it unless I have my endo's approval. My endo says my control is very good and she does not think I need a CGMS. I do have occasional highs and lows though and I could catch those before they got so bad if I had a CGMS. Maybe I am asking for too much. I am too much of a perfectionist.

Richard

 

[Richard157]

Thanks for the encouragement Terrie! I listen to her telling about other patients who are frequently going to the ER with near coma like situations and others who are having A1c's like 20 or so. Then I agree that I don't need a CGMS. I have mixed emotions about it.

 

[Richard157]

Don't bother with that Allen. My endo is not going to approve of my using a CGMS. The one week I did use one was just a loaner from her office. My insurance will not cover it without her approval. She thinks that since my A1c is always below 6.0 I will never need a CGMS. I have done without one for 63 years of diabetes so I guess I can hobble along the rest of the way as usual. Lol!