CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITOR
It took a long time, a REALLY long time, for our insurance to cover the Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) for Sawyer.
We've had it now for two months, and here are my thoughts on it so far.
Pros
* You can track blood sugar trends throughout the day.
* There are alarms that can be set for various situations, such as extreme lows, highs, or dropping fast.
* During sports, Sawyer could see his blood sugar and trends at a glance.
* Finger pricks only twice a day.
* Sensor change only once a week.
Cons
* It had to be calibrated twice a day. Failure to do so resulted in false readings.
*The sensor and transmitter came off during swimming and other activities.
* The sensor made the skin of his epidermis and dermis itch the entire week he wore it.
* The alarms go off a lot. Sawyer silenced them because he didn't like the attention in class. Even when we changed the settings to only two alarms, he would set them on vibrate to avoid embarrassment.
* After one of the sensor changes, the monitor stopped receiving readings after one day.
*Removing the transmitter from the sensor was very difficult.
*We received error messages of not being able to receive transmissions for half an hour.
*We received messages of the transmitter not working and rebooting, which would take two hours to warm-up.
*The cost. (When a sensor or transmitter fails, it's not cost effective to change it until the following week, leaving one without readings until that time.)
Sawyer is currently at camp. The meter wasn't working and it wasn't cost effective to change out the sensor mid-week.
It would have been nice to have the CGM for camp to monitor his BG during all the activity in which he'll be participating.
The CGM is a HUGE advancement in diabetes self management. Depending on the brand you get, the results will vary.
For us, the monitor worked well during school sports season. For his field trip, it was not always accurate. And for a fun birthday party with other very active teenage boys, it was a flop.
Have you tried a CGM?
Are you planning to in the future?
What were your results?
