Dexcom’ing It
Posted on May 10, 2009
Filed Under Juvenile Diabetes, Personal, dexcom continuous glucose monitor | 1 Comment
The Dexcom CGMS (on the left) and my Omnipod Insulin Pump blood sugar meter side-by-side.
Why wasn’t I issued one of these when I was first diagnosed with diabetes?!
This amazing piece of diabetes technology is the Dexcom Seven Plus continuous glucose monitor and it has pretty much changed my life in these last two weeks. It is a glucose sensor that I wear attached to my body (currently on the back of my arm) and it checks my blood sugars over 250 times a day. Yes, I said over 250 times a day without pricking your finger.
However, it’s not really completely without pricking your finger. Because the glucose sensor actually tests the sugar levels in the interstitial fluid in your body, you still have to do occasional finger sticks to calibrate the system. You then adjust your settings to set a high and low range and it alerts you if you begin to rise or fall outside those magic numbers, or lines in this case. It doesn’t replace finger sticks, but it does help you watch the trends of which way your blood sugar is going. Therefore you can often catch your highs and lows before they actually happen. So far, my numbers have been pretty comparable (see the picture). It’s been great being able to catch the highs and lows and treat as needed. Here’s to hoping that my pathetic A1c comes down.
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I’ve never heard of this before. I’m going to ask my doc about it and see if I can get a constant glucose monitor, too. I need it.