Maintaining Normal Glucose Levels

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Permalink Reply by Dave   _ on October 25, 2009 at 5:46pm

Less than 24 hours.

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Permalink Reply by Helmut on October 25, 2009 at 5:52pm

I guess this thread is for CGMers only. Non-CGMers have no way of knowing. Once in a blue moon I have 24 hours within 70-120 mg/dl. I can easily monitor this range because my alarms are set at these level. I definitely never had 2 such exceptional days in a row.

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Permalink Reply by Danny on October 25, 2009 at 6:02pm

No need to guess Helmut. If this thread was intended for CGMers only, I would have put it in the CGM discussion forum (blink blink).

This thread is intended for all Diabetics, even the ones that choose not to wear an extra doohickey thingamabobber.

Thank you for your reply :)

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Permalink Reply by Helmut on October 25, 2009 at 6:19pm

Sorry. I cannot help nagging at non-CGMers. Maybe I get one person to wonder and try it out. My CGM took the sting out of my diabetes. If more diabetics get a CGM the economics will improve, there will be an incentive for CGM manufactures to improve the technology and eventually CGMs will become as common as pumps. I remember my resistance when my doctor forced me to switch from urine strips to pricking my fingers. Soon after I could not imagine going back to urine strips. I feel the same way about wearing the extra doohickey thingamabober. I cannot imagine going back to bg strips.

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Permalink Reply by Dave   _ on October 25, 2009 at 6:29pm

Here is a partial list of my "wants" for the MM CGMS:

A. better accuracy (spent almost a month and wasted a ton of time dealing with the MM CMGS problems)

B. more comfort. I have zero issues wearing sets, but even the tiny (relative to the other brands) unit was itchy in hot weather

C. LOUDER ALARMS!!!!!

D. Further transmission distance. The MM unit signal fails to get to the pump if the pump is worn on as little as 8" away from the transmitter if there is any body tissue between the pump and transmitter. That's a real pain, especially in bed.



Other issues:

A. 10-20 minute delay inherent in interstitial fluid and the need to verify every reading before acting upon said reading, is a problem, especially coupled with the MM's inability to accurate track one's PEAK high bgs. Anyone who's tested with fingersticks at frequent intervals will find the CGMS only approximates the actual bg swings, something I wonder will always be inherent in any system relying upon interstitial fluid readings.

B. The cost of sensors and their high number of defects.

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Permalink Reply by Helmut on October 25, 2009 at 7:16pm

Dave, obviously you are one of the not so few people who are frustrated with the MM CGMS.

I use the DexCom 7+. Let me go through your "wants" list:

A. The DexCom 7+ is accurate enough for me so that I typically prick my fingers only for calibration (twice a day).

B. I don't feel the sensor at all.

C. The alarms are so loud that I use vibrate during the day.

D. Range is not perfect. The receiver gets only about 90% of all transmissions during the night. Even if I was told that the 7+ does not work at all at night I would not give it up.

Other issues:

A. There is a considerable lag going up. With the 7+ there is no or almost no lag going down. For me the low alarms are the important ones. I can prevent disorientation by popping a glucose tablet. There is not much I can do about highs because fast-acting insulin is not fast-acting. I can only reflect on what went wrong and try to avoid the same problem in the future. That being said I bet that I catch a high earlier than a non-CGMer.

B. I understand the hesitation to pay out-of-pocket. If my insurance would cut me off I would go out of my way to come up with money. I guess I am CGM junkie. I had 2 sensors which I had to pull before the 7 days were over. Most sensors are very accurate beyond 7 days. I agree that the technology is finicky. I just get so much out it that I do whatever it takes to keep it running.

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Permalink Reply by Dave   _ on October 25, 2009 at 8:56pm

Helmut, I've been pretty well convinced that of the 3 brands on the market, the MM is most deficient. Your comments reinforce what others with the Navigator (accuracy-wise) and DexCom 7 have said. For me, it's a matter of I'm right at the saturation limit for how many devices I will carry with me. If the goodness of the Dexcom or Nav could be married with an excellent pump (eliminating a separate receiver) I'd be most interested. I would venture to say I'm not the only one thinking along those lines, but that's of course, just a WAG on my part.

The "up lag" drives me nuts, however. I really hate to learn I'm say, 200, when the sensor is struggling to even show I've supposedly only gone up to 145 or 150. My wife has the same issue, but she doesn't need to bolus when she gets high because she has endogenous insulin to bring her back down w/o doing a correction.

Thanks for all the info on your unit--I'm sure it interests lots of lurkers as well as it's informed me.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Helmut on October 25, 2009 at 9:08pm

Dave, I agree that there is no rush. Maybe next year the combo of your dreams will become available. I am also looking at the 7+ as a device to hold me over until something better comes along.

In regard to learning late about 200: I have learned so much about what certain foods do to me that I rarely go over 160 whereas before I would be above 200 on a regular basis. Thus the problem of learning late about 200 does not exist for me because my bg does not go that high anymore. My problem has been reduced to learning a little late about 160 instead of not knowing that I am above 200.

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Permalink Reply by Brunetta on November 1, 2009 at 5:37am

I agree with Helmut about the use of trends. I do not need the MM CGMS in order to catch every low as I usually can feel them. Yet, it helps me to look at the trend on the graph and then test and treat; particularly if I am going to be busy with the kiddies at my job and can't risk a low....
I was able to stop a spike from a Halloween excursion last night into pumpkin/ginger cookies, by looking at the trend and bolussing appropriately;..... My 2 hour peak after consumption was 158 and single arrow climbing, so I corrected . I then woke up this a.m. after the nightime treat to a blood sugar of 102... I had NEVER been able to do that before. I do not plan to make hi carb a habit, but I wanted a spooky treat.. and was able to get a little taste of what I wanted......

God Bless,
Brunetta

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Permalink Reply by Sophie on November 3, 2009 at 1:12am

if it didn't cost so much in certain countries they COULD actually be used. I know in aus that they cost $60 dollars, when you change it every three days it seriously adds up...$600 a month? $7200 a year?
I would seriously love to have one but they're not covered by private health insurance and honestly my parents wouldn't be able to afford that.
its not always a case of whether it's the best thing but if it's actually possible.
feel free to send me some of yours free of charge? ;)

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Permalink Reply by Sarah on October 25, 2009 at 8:00pm

18 hours :) And that did indeed include lots of food.

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Permalink Reply by MelissaBL on October 25, 2009 at 9:36pm

Between 80 and 120?? - definitely less than 24 hours (like Dave said). Maybe 18 hours like Sarah said. Maybe even once or twice a full 24. Never longer. And I'm a veteran like many here, inching toward my 20th year as a type 1. That would be a range of 40 mg/dL and a standard deviation of close to 10ish, no? Sigh...but a girl can dream.

Now if you increased that to between 65 and 160 (those broader extremes), I would say that many days of my pregnancy have seen that, but I've had to keep a very tight leash on everything just to keep it that narrow. I still see a number above 160 at least once per day, despite tweaks to basals/ratios/etc and a (love-it-so-much) Navigator CGM.

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