I’m starting to really resent the fact that I have to explain every time I go low, whether it be from a compression low on Dexcom or just simply hitting a 60 once in a while and being treated like I committed some kind of crime. I’m starting to feel this is an invasion of my privacy and feel like I’m living under a microscope. I’ve been on insulin almost 30 years, have an A1C of 5.9 with a time in range of 96%. I don’t go low often but when I do my first thought isn’t my health or how to treat it but knowing I am going to have to explain this to my doctor or why I took this amount of insulin for this or that. Would people be ok with having their doctor constantly monitor all their vitals, etc? Sorry for venting but this is really starting to get to me and with technology it’s only going to get more invasive. Am I the only one bothered by this?
Most doctors don’t do that and wouldn’t be bothered, and even then, when my doctors question me on my numbers, it has usually been useful and I don’t get defensive about it. Granted, my numbers aren’t the same as yours and my variability is higher, having more excursions, so I only need to speak in generalities when explaining. As for your doctor’s ‘bedside manner’, if that is making you feel defensive, maybe you should consider seeing someone else.
Personally, the real concern about 24x7 monitoring is the marketing/location information extracted by the providers, or worse, being denied care because their lifestyle choices were less than optimal. My Google Fit data collects my activity, heart rate, blood glucose numbers, workouts, and weight, and I run analyses on it. It would be simple for a system to do the same, making suggestions, but I imagine with bots responding to your events, and having that tied to a medical supplier/insurer, that a system might not understand an unusual circumstance, and then deny coverage or care. On the other hand, with bots doing much of the labor, the devices and software we use will be better. Still, some will feel imposed upon.
Defensive about it? lol. If I go low my doctor will literally call me that night asking me what happened. So yea, I guess after a while I do become defensive, it’s annoying as hell. He says he has found his patients get better control by doing that. Probably true but I feel like there’s a damn camera in my house. I guess I would have liked that if I was just diagnosed but I’ve had this longer than he’s been alive. I love the Dexcom but am starting to wonder if it’s worth this invasion.
How about disconnecting the ability of your doctor to see your real-time Dexcom BG but give him access only to your clarity reports and then upload your results to clarity once a month? That way he would only harass you once a month. Or else maybe time to find another doctor that is more inline with your way of thinking. I do agree that with an A1C of 5.9 and 96% TIR your doctor’s aggressive approach borders on harassment, however, you may be one of his exceptional patients and he is just in the habit of calling any patient with any possible infraction and in your case that becomes overreach.
Apologies for the assumption, but I assume my doctors have too many patients, and other activities, to monitor patients this way.
Seconding @CJ114’s suggestion, simply disconnect them. From what I remember you have to explicitly enable them seeing your data. You don’t need them looking over you shoulder, and you can always reenable them when they need to look at your numbers.
Yea I actually stopped sharing the data and was told if I didn’t share it he would no longer prescribe Dexcom to me. Seriously though, is there any diabetics that never go low? I am at 2% low, <1% very low, and 1% high.
Baddog, I haven’t shown my readings to anyone since my son was born over 32 yrs ago. My physicians work for me, and if they do something I don’t care for I find a new physician. You are doing a terrific job taking care of your diabetes, and you deserve praise not criticism. I would never be able to deal with a physician like yours.
Dx 1959 A1c 5.1
I use a Dexcom. I told my doctor I wanted one, and he ordered it for me, just like he orders whatever I ask for to treat my diabetes.
Yes, I go low at times, and my Dexcom doesn’t always work correctly and sometimes it will say I am 43 when I am 73. I also don’t really think of 60 as being that low, although I try to avoid dropping under 65. Your doctor would be calling me quite often.
So does your physician also call you when you are over 175?
Fire him,completely unaceptable.
I’m actually supprised he actually has the time or desire to do something like this with the typical doctor case load. I’ve never had a doctor pick up the phone and call me about anything. Ocassionally a nurse will call about prescritption questions. Even if I have specifc questions its not the doctor calling me, but his/her nurse.
Anyway what your describing doesn’t make sense based on my experiences with the medical system.
Wow, I would hate that. I think that after a few weeks of that, I would have blocked his number and found a new doctor.
I agree with others here - fire him. This is so completely different than what I have experienced. My doctor has access to my data now but only because I am relatively new to the dexcom, very new to the tandem, and want some help with adjusting settings. Even now I have to specifically ask them to look at my numbers. Once I have my settings straight, I don’t expect that they will ever look at my data except for a minute or two during an appointment.
This all sounds really awful. I show my doctor my Dexcom clarity AGP report when I see him every few months. We talk about my concerns, and he generally asks if I’ve had any bad lows - which the Dexcom has really helped me avoid. I also have been spending <1% of my time under 55. My doctor still asks though, and I appreciate that.
What you’re describing sounds very invasive and not helpful at all. I agree with everyone else that you should find another doctor.
I give my doctor access to my data, and I get texts with suggestions like, consider changing your basal rate at 5 pm to.8, or it’s time to lower carb ratio.
Stuff like that. I don’t ever need to explain myself or defend myself, I would have a new doctor if that happened to me one time.
Here is a tip, if you have dexcom and tandem pump, share the tandem ap instead of the dexcom because the low alert is at 55. On dexcom it’s 60 so they see more out of range on dexcom reports.
Definitely time to shop around for a new script generator! Your medical team exists to support you, not burden you.
I find I’m the happiest I’ve ever been with a doctor seeing an Internist that admittedly doesn’t know much about Type 1. So long as I’m in great control, she’ll write whatever scripts I want. She’s the first doctor with whom I actually ENJOY my visits.
Your doctor has control issues, this is a big no no for me. I once had a doctor threaten me in the way you are being threatened, my response to him was to ask him if he could recommend another doctor.
That was my point blank way of starting a dialog. You need a dialog with this doctor over this issue, if he is unwilling to discuss it may be time to ask for a recommendation.
I used to teach communication, so if you have not already changed to a new doctor, you might want to let him know how his phone calls affect you. Perhaps he thinks that calling every time you go low shows what a caring, great doctor he is or is trying to be for you. You are in excellent control, so I assume that he does not call very often. However, the next time he does, you might try something like, “I appreciate your concern, Dr. X, but I want you to know that I feel very uncomfortable when you call. I am generally in excellent control, and when I do drop low, I know how to take care of myself to correct that low. Your calls feel intrusive, like you don’t think I am capable of caring for my diabetes. I would like to know why you think you need to call me and what we can do so that you still get my information, but you can trust me to handle the lows myself without calling. What do you suggest?” Then see what he says. If you cannot come to an agreement through open communication where you can call him if you need advice rather than the other way around, then you can tell him that you will be seeking someone else to work with you to control your condition.
It actually bothers me that someone gets to see my data 24/7. I only see my endo once every 3 months and she always just says you’re doing great and asks me if I need anything and how am I doing and then we mostly just chat. I really like her. I’m at 98% TIR, but I use 65-160. I believe they use 75-180? So my TIR with her would be different, I don’t even know because we never go there.
So for me it’s not that she calls me out on any of it. It’s just the idea that if I go out of range, someone can see it? For me it’s a me thing, not a her thing.
I take days off now. I was avid about having it 24/7 and the 2 hour warm up even irritated me. I survived fine before a CGM, don’t get me wrong it helped my numbers tremendously, but I figured unhooking it would be a good thing. And it has been. It means I finger prick lol sometimes every 2 hours but it also means those numbers I have aren’t on a graph for every one to see and it’s like a mini vacation? I always do it with a new sensor …and sometimes when I restart them. For just the day or even 3 days. It has also taught me again that I do fine without one if it ever happens.
In my case it’s not my endo’s doing. It’s the fact that someone else has the ability to see what I choose to do? It makes me feel like I have to answer to someone else if I really muck up and I just don’t like that. Or the fact they can see me muck up? Like I said, it’s a me thing, she has never done anything to suggest she’s intrusive.
I had a jerk endo, the first one ever I had After the second visit I refused to go back to him. That turned out to be the best decision I ever made as it led me to being properly diagnosed.
Thats super unusual. Usually people have the opposite problem - that the Docs never look at the data. This Doc is interesting.
In part due to pandemic, my Doc has never even seen my numbers.
How does this help anybody? That’s exploitative.
I would another Doc. Its odd behavior. One act of exploitation and I find another Doc. Its a warning sign.
That’s what I’m calling them all from now on - too funny!