First, I must say that I love the thing. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I really enjoy my CGM 90% of the time. That 90% reflects, from my own experience, the everyday accuracy of the numbers. During that 90%, it’s incredible.
For those who have the CGM, be patient with me. For those who do not, I’d like to paint the picture of what it’s like.
You know exactly where your blood sugar is at, all the time. (more…)
It’s now afternoon. I’m staring out of the window from my desk at school, trying to pound information into my brain with little progress. The weather’s perfect. It was time. Time to ride. I mean, for February in Oklahoma, I’ll take anything above 40 but yesterday it was 60!
Let me digress, our story really begins at lunchtime. I was running low on groceries, so campus food was the only option. I stroll up to the cafeteria salad bar at the bottom of Children’s Hospital, looking to put together a relatively healthy salad. At this point, the blood sugar is 90. As a plant-based, vegan eater, I always check first for beans and peas, the old reliable sources of protein. Neither were in site.
I bailed, then walking half a mile up to the student union for a taco salad bowl. By the time I got there, the glucose was hanging out in the 60s. Now, I’m absolutely starving. I eat the bowl, and casually check the CGM (continous glucose monitor) to see when my blood sugar starts to tick back up. Once it did, I dialed up a few units and didn’t give it another thought. Two hours later, I get the high blood sugar alert at 250. Knowing that I’m about to take off on a bike ride, I only take a unit to play it safe.
The cardinal sin of CGM wearing is not testing your blood sugar on the meter before correcting. I sinned. (more…)
As those who read the DDG know, I just started up the CGM (Medtronic’s Enline Continuous Glucose Monitoring). Yesterday marked my official CGM training with a CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator), Christy Olson at Harold Hamm Diabetes Center in OKC. During our get together, she mentioned that my data looked like that of a “sugar surfer”. I’d never heard those words before but thought they sounded great together and asked for more. She told me to check out Dr. Stephen Ponder. So I did. (more…)
For the past 12 years or so, my diabetes management has been monotonous–test sugar, bolus, change out site, be pissed at canula kink, go high, go low, eat the whole kitchen, etc. It all changes tomorrow. That’s probably a bit dramatic to be honest but who doesn’t like exaggeration?
The newest Minimed 530G with Enlite technology arrives on my doorstep tomorrow. With it comes the ability to know my blood sugar anytime, just by looking at my pump. Before I ramble on about how great this is, I’ll organize the excitement/apprehension into three thoughts: (more…)