I started on the dexcom 4 6 months ago to better control my out of control BS. I wear it ALL the time. I have not gone a single day without it and it is rarely out of range or not giving me readings,
I had my AiC down to 8.6 after 3 months, which matched what my average BS was according to the dex. Now 3 months later my dex says my average BS was 139 but my AiC is still 8.1, which is nowhere near a 139 average.
So incredibly frustrated and demoralizing. All my doctor had to say was that the dex can be off by 10-20 percent and I need to do better
That is confusing. Over that same time period, what is your standard deviation? If you vary a lot, and it doesn’t seem that from what you wrote, that might explain the average and the A1c delta.
I have been on Dexcom for years and with the upgrade to the G4, it keeps getting better.
Look at meds. Some will interfere with the sensor. A rep at Dexcom will go over them with you.
I do find that the Dex generally tends to read lower than the finger stick. But your A1C of 8.1 equates to an EAG of 186 not the 139. Even if the Dex was off by 20% that would be an EAG of 167 not 186. But at the same time, A1C's can be influenced by a number of things. And while it is supposed to be a 3 month average - I believe it is far more heavily weighted by the more recent blood sugars than those of 90 days ago. Don't be frustrated or demoralized you went from 8.6 to 8.1 celebrate that and if you are doing your very best to keep good blood sugar control, keep at it and expect that the next A1C will be better again.
Thanks JD. The std deviation is around 30, it was about 70 the first month or so and has been going down steadily, and no meds that interfere - i checked,
Thanks for the support. Trying to see it that way. I whole A1c weighted to more recent numbers also makes the dex make less sense because my most recent 30 day avg is actually slightly lower then my 90 day.
Yes it is annoying and frustrating. My last 6 months of Dexcom readings average 109 which in A1C terms is 5.4 give or take. But when I went to the endo a few weeks ago my A1C was 5.7. In reality it is all pretty nebulous. The blood glucose meter you use only has to be within 20% of actual the dexcom only has to be within I think 10% of your meter reading so most of the time you could be any where from 0-30% off. Just keep striving to maintain control and don't be so concerned with the actual number - be happy it continues to drop.
Thanks, but they'd probably arrest you for murder though lol. But it didn't happen overnight or even over 6 months - I have had D for 38 years and only recently decided to actually give a crap about it. The last year I have been steadily working at it. Eating smarter and counting carbs, exercising, getting control over my blood sugar with the G4 and more recently an Omnipod pump. I am just now beginning to see the rewards in better numbers but like I said it has been a solid year of work. So lighten up on yourself and keep at it just by having a G4 and knowing your A1C numbers and what it means puts you light years ahead of the vast majority of PWD.
I've had for a long time too (25 years) and I haven't given a crap about it for the past 17 years (ever since my daughter was born and I focused on her and not myself) I have spent the past 6 months working on it. exercising, eating better, taking insulin when I am supposed to and the dex. Have gone from an 11 aic to 8.1, but was really hopingfor at least a 7. Encoraging to hear you were successful after a year,
I have been reluctant to add a pump as too much to handle. painful to insert, too cumbersome and worried if it fails on me when I travel out of the country. How has it worked for you?
I love the pump. I got the omnipod because I did not want tubing and they finally made it small enough that I don't mind wearing it at all. It has made D a much smaller part of my life. It is not painful to insert at all, in fact it is completely automated, it self primes, you stick it on like a G4 sensor, push the start button and in 2 100ths of a second the cannula is inserted and at most I feel a stick like when I do a fingerstick. Then I am free for 3 more days and don't have to take shots. Being able to shut down the basal when I exercise was the most important reason I finally switched to a pump. I was having some epic lows while swimming laps or during racquetball and the ones in the pool really scared me into it. The only drawback I have found so far is I have to carry so much more stuff around. I have a pod at work and a vial of insulin. I have a pod in my golf bag, one in my tennis/racquetball bag. Everytime I leave the house for an extended period of time I need to have replacements with me in case of a pod occlusion or failure. I can't use apidra in the pump because it is far too heat sensitive so I had to switch to novolog which works fine, it's just another thing to think about. But literally the second I stop receiving 0.7 units/hour of basal insulin my blood sugars have skyrocketed. Once it was an occlusion and once I killed the insulin in the steam room after a swim. But in general I have never see such a flat line on the Dexcom, I can literally go more than 8 hours with a steady line at 90-100. Also having the dexcom system and knowing what my blood sugar does during the day made figuring out the basal rates a whole lot easier. I resisted pumping for 38 years and now I keep asking myself what took me so long ?
My last A1c a few weeks ago was 6.5 (previous one was 6.7, I believe), but I know that my numbers go all over the place (31 years into the D fun so far...). I just try to eat right, exercise, keep moving, etc. So, HOW DO YOU FEEL? Do you feel good? I think that's a good thing to focus on. If you're avg bs was 139, then I think you are doing great! No matter what the A1c says. Don't let the doc get you down -- he's not living your life...
First of all how any days was the average from the Dexcom Studio report? That will catch me every time, I’ll think I’m looking at a 30 day average when in reality it’s looking at 7 days or 90. If I forget it’s toggled to a different date range then the stats are way off.
This would be a situation where I would run control solution checks on my test strips and maybe set up an appointment with the Dexcom rep to troubleshoot. If you’re meter is really old maybe it’s time for a replacement.
Also was the A1c a lab draw or a fingerstick at the Dr’s office? Sometimes there can be lab errors too and it might be worth repeating the A1c.
I had the right days in the report. I look at the numbers all the time. Meter is pretty new - less then a year. The aic was a lab draw. I could give dex a call and see what they have to say. Thanks for all the sggestions. Always helpful
Thank you all for the words of support and wisdom, I;m not sure if I was venting or looking for advice but all you helped with both, I really appreciated it. It helped get me through the day!
I had an A1c once that read unexpectedly low. I was getting them every three months. Here's the series: 6.6, 6.6, 6.8, 6.8, 6.0, 6.7, 6.8, 6.8
I think that the 6.0 was a total outlier. My meter and dex cgm didn't predict that. I was pleased at the time but looking back, I don't think it was real. It may be that your unexpected high number was not valid. Labs are run by human technicians. Humans aren't perfect.
You're in this for the long-haul and you're making real progress. Keep up with what you're doing. The number will yield! Even the good number are just small celebrations. Sure it feels good but the diabetes is still there. There's still work to do.
To be clear none of the numbers are 100% accurate whether it's an A1c, a finger stick, or a Dexcom reading. An A1c of 8.0 roughly indicates an average glucose of 183 but what that really means is that there's a 95% probability that your actual average glucose was between 147 and 217.
One of the things I've noticed through chance is that my favorite glucometer (Freestyle lite, because its so small) ALWAYS reads lower than a One Touch. Lower, as in 40-80 points at any given point, and thats when both pass their control solution test. I even tried a teast once with THREE different Freestyle Lites against one One Touch (I think it was the Mini) and ALL THREE Freestyles ran lower than the OT. There's been a couple discussions online lately of the poor accuracy in glucometers and what to do about it, but there isn't a great answer yet. At this point I expect my A1C to come in a little higher than the CGM average for the same time period given what I see with my meter, and I'm using up my stockpile of Freetyle Lite strips and moving on to something with better lab-test ratings. This study here though ( http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3317395/ ) says I've got the right brand of stuff to use, and from that maybe my take-away point is that meters wear out over time, and I bet since all of mine are at least 3 years old, maybe its time to replace them?
I don't have a good answer, but I do have sympathy for A1Cs that don't match other supposedly similar data and given that I think there's enough on our shoulders already, I would at least in this case think that blaming either the meter for being inaccurate, or the lab for goofing it up isn't out of line!
