Today my son’s doctor suggested that I consider trying a CGM. I really don’t know anything about them or where to start looking. My son is not pumping and we are not planning to pump right now. He’s 2 1/2 years old. I’d appreciate any feedback and details about what you like/dislike about your CGM’s. Thanks!
Hi Abbygirl - My son, Malcolm, has tried many cgms (from the cygna glucowatch (both one and two), dexcom, dexcom 7 and navigator!)- I think they are an amazing tool - he was dx @2 and is now 17 - sadly I can’t convince him to use one right now! but with a young child I think it will be so useful. Here is a link to a yahoo group (diabetes cgms) that is all about cgms - hope you find it useful! http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/diabetescgms/ Barbi
My son is 11 and we LOVE having a Dexcom on him. From a parent’s perspective it’s very helpful to figure out what’s going on with their basal rates, ratios, and seeing how different things affect his bgs. You can’t use it for a basis for treatment, but you can use it to decide whether or not to check blood sugar sometimes. If he has a pretty reliable sensor on, and its the middle of the night and his bg shows up as 140, we won’t check him. Watching what his blood sugar is doing at nighttime is definitely one of my favorite aspects of having it on.
We started using the Dexcom CGM in March of this year. I wish we had known we were able to use it far sooner. It provides so much comfort in the day to day with diabetes- especially for a young child. My son was also 2 1/2, which makes it difficult to tell when he is high or low. The cgm provides a lot of insight on what the blood glucose is at all times and which direction it is going. It has prevented countless lows for us- which is by far the best reason to have it.
The Dexcom will give a reading every 5 minutes (though this is not always completely accurate- and it is 5-10 minutes behind the actual blood reading), and show “trend” arrows as to which way it is going, for example, I could take a blood glucose using his meter and it could show 100- however the CGM may show an arrow straight down which means I should monitor him closely or intervene with a quick sugar to prevent him from going low.
It can have its frustrating moments (sometimes a sensor cannot get an accurate reading and just displays ???.. it will usually clear up within 2 hours, but you get spoiled always knowing what his bgs are doing). Also, it usually takes a day or two for the sensor to get really accurate. But for all the information and comfort it provides, a few frustrating moments are totally worth it. I really think it would help all parents if they would send you home with one after diagnosis!
The Dexcom has two parts, the sensor/transmitter (which is worn on the body- my son wears his on his arms) and the receiver (my son wears his in a pouch/belt). The receiver must be kept 5’ from his sensor. At first I was hesitant of him having to wear the receiver on him at all times, but he never had a problem with it. The sensor insertion is pretty painless, my son never complains. I have heard other cgms can be painful but I have no first hand experience with anything other than the dexcom. I’m happy to provide any other information or answer any questions you may have-- I would highly recommend it though. I cant imagine life without it now.
Why did they suggest the CGM? My daughter has hypoglycemic unawareness so we put her on the mini med first. Too traumatizing! Even for an 11 year old. The Dexcom is a lot easier to use and change out, smaller, less painful, etc. But, unfortunately, she has a terrible skin reaction to the adhesive and wont wear it anymore. I cant imagine having to put one on a 2yr. old. Good luck!
Try this link.My daughter is not pumping yet but I was doing some research on it.See if this helpshttp://www.minimed.com/Products/ContinuousGlucoseMonitoring
If he’s not pumping why put him on a CGM, I don’t understand that. But any ways contact Medtronics they carry the RealTime Guardian CGM system. The only issue is that insurances don’t cover them, and they are expensive, but contact them anyways. Why you don’t put your son on the pump, even if he’s 2 he can use it. I’ve seen younger use them it would be beneficial for him and you. My daughter began using one in June and she’s doing great so far. It doesn’t hurt to try it, if you don’t like it you can go back to doing what you are regularly doing.
The CGM was suggested to make sure he doesn’t drop too low especially over night. My husband and I are planning to pump but currently, my husband is not well (awaiting back surgery) and he’s not able to make the drive for the training and be fully involved as he’d like to be.
I always thought the CGM was only used with the pump but my doc says that some parents use it just to monitor sugars. The big bonus for me is that I will be able to sleep at night and not wake up to check sugars! Having said that, last night I found a youtube video of parents inserting the CGM on their 2 year old daughter and it totally freaked me out. I don’t know that we’re ready for that yet.
Thank you all for responding.
We had it for 3 months before I realized I could not get any better control with the MDI (multiple daily injections) and switched to a pump.
I know it does seem bothersome to insert the sensor, my experience is its only once a week - to be provided with a wealth of information (not to mention far less fingersticks). I believe Dexcom will even send you a sample sensor to try so that you can experience for yourself how much pain is involved. I even believe you can do a trial to see if its right for you (or your child).
You need to realize that a CGM doesn’t replace that you still need to check his sugars at night, especially if the alarm goes off. Both the pump amd CGM’s are both traumatizing. But only you can decide what’s best for your baby. Good luck!!
My 7 yr old daughter started wearing the Dexcom CGM back in March and started pumping at the end of May. We started the CGM for the same reason your doc has suggested - to monitor nightime lows so I could get more sleep. Well…I don’t get that much more sleep. I’m still getting up multiple times a night for the most part. Yes, I can check the CGM but sometimes it’s not accurate and if there is any doubt…then I don’t take the risk. I would say in the big picture when it comes to sleep the CGM has helped me to get a few more four hour streches every now and then. Dex has been wonderful for us though, so while I’m not getting a whole lot more sleep I am still happy we have it! The directional arrows are helpful so when she’s at a good place and it’s 2am with a stable arrow I do sleep until 6am. Prior to pumping DEX was helpful in that it alerted us of a few instances where she might have had a pretty good low and I was able to give a few corrections for high bg’s as well. That being said she was on NPH prior to pumping and because of the consistant rollercoaster ride it seemed the CGM was always chasing her and the only thing it was really reliable for was the directional arrows. We did do a trial for a week with another CGM prior to going with DEX just to see what we thought, maybe you could do the same? Dexcom doesn’t do “trials” on children since it’s not FDA approved for them yet. I have heard they have a great return policy though and that you could possibly return it if you decided it wasn’t appropriate or what you wanted. Of course look into that first - don’t quote me on it! HA! If your son isn’t on NPH maybe you could get more valuable info than we did while on MDI. I bet you could. Looking at a week or so on a graph after she’s worn it is very helpful. So…there ya go! I hope this was helpful for you.
I am confused. I still get up to check his sugar even though the CGM is doing it? Am I missing the point of the CGM? Obviously, if the alarm goes off, I would check him but why have the CGM if I still manually check him?
Thanks for all of the info!
One thing though,
If the alarm goes off you’ll be awake a lot!
We had the freestyle Navigator and finally got so sick of it I stopped using it. Then I found out they weren’t making it anymore.
Then we used the Dexcom 7 Plus. It worked pretty well, except my daughter does not like to be hooked up to too many devices (she’s on the pump.
We just switched from Omnipod to Minimed. Her doctors would like to see her on the CGM.
I guess I should do my research on this one.