Now that I'm almost 7 weeks pregnant w/ my second and being that I'm 35 yo and obviously a high-risk case, I'm really considering CGM that can synch w/ my Omnipod. Anyone have any experience w/ using CGM w/ Omnipod and prengant? Does insurance cover it as if it was a regular finger-prick glucose monitor/test strips? Also, which one do you use/like?
Thanks.
Hi Denise,
First, congrats on the pregnancy! Very exciting. 
I recently started trying to conceive. I have spent the last 10 months getting my a1c within range and got the go ahead at 6.0 on March 1st. I began the omnipod last July and the DexCom 7 Plus CGM in October. At this time there is not a CGM that synchs with the PDM, but it is in the works. My insurance covered the CGM much like the pump. It needed to be a medical necessity and fell under durable medical equipment. I have not used another CGM, so I can’t compare, but it has truly changed my life. Good luck on your new adventures!
Karin
I am typing this with an 11-week-old in my arms.
I wore Omnipod and Navigator during my pregnancy (and beyond). I swear by the combo and wouldn’t have it any other way, but if I were you right now, I’d consider the Dexcom 7+. It will soon “sync” with the Omnipod - though perhaps not by the end of your pregnancy. (Omnipod isn’t currently integrating with any CGM, but has it in the works to sync w/ both Nav and Dex, Dex being 1st.) And Abbott has a temporary disruption in their Navigator manufacturing and isn’t taking new orders right now. D7+ is a great product and I think it’s exactly what you’re looking for.
My CGM helped me have a smooth pregnancy by helping curb highs and catch them on the rise, giving me trending data as my insulin needs changed weekly, and giving me my standard deviation and averages to share with my health team.
Insurance covers it as DME at my DME rate, like a pump and pump supplies.
It’s important to note though that you will still need to do finger-pricks. Interstitial glucose monitoring isn’t quite accurate and up-to-the-minute enough to base a bolus dosage on. I still test with most boluses and certainly did while pregnant and going for tight control. CGM is a supplement and not a replacement.
Oh, goodness. By week 32, I was changing them every 30 hours! My insulin needs were up to a total daily dosage of 120 units! For a week or so, I attempted to just use the pods for basal and was bolusing via injection. That is what many podders do in that situation. It worked well, but I hadn’t been on regular injections in a decade and was not enjoying it.
My CDE called in a new Rx for a pod change every 2 days instead of 3 days, but my insurance wouldn’t approve a new shipment before a certain date (two weeks after my baby was supposed to be here), so that didn’t ultimately help. Insulet shipped me one box of courtesy pods (which still wasn’t going to cut it). Luckily, I still had my fairly new Cozmo pump and 6 months worth of supplies for it. (On a tubed pump, you can change out the insulin cartridge without putting in a whole new infusion set.) I switched to it for the last 5 or 6 weeks and switched back to the pod the day before my scheduled c-section so I would be back on the Omnipod while in the hospital.
Since you’re early enough on in your pregnancy, my suggestion would be to change your Rx to every 2 days NOW so that you will have a decent stockpile of pods by then. If I had had the foresight, I’d have done that. You can also ask your CDE or endo if they have extra pods in a pinch.