Hi, everyone. I'm still a bit of a novice here, so I'm not sure who sees this, who doesn't, who cares, etc. ;) At any rate, I have a fairly long history of hypoglycemia unawareness. I've had my share of visits from EMS, uses of glucagon, and the usual ways of treating the lows.
Things got tricky when we arrived home with our 18-month old daughter in December. I was chasing after her and doing a horrible job of catching my drops. We talked about the CGM and were trying to wait until insurance would kick in...last week, I had a really scary low and had no clue. So, we're talking to the company reps about the CGMs. I have a paradigm, so it seems to make sense to go that route. I'm going to look back at different blogs just to see what people are doing and how things have turned out...
Hi Maura, glad to see someone else from the great Pacific Northwest.
I’ve been using the Medtronics Minilink CGMS for 3 months now. I love it. It’s not always as accurate as I’d like, but most days it’s worth it’s weight in gold.
The first week I had it, I was on a business trip to SE Asia. Given the time-zone change, my sleep pattern was a mess. The CGM caught (alarming and waking me) several lows and highs.
You already have a great A1C. The CGM should be able to help you achieve that without the lows.
Ken
Hey Cousin Maura—I think you will find that the majority of the CGM users love it and it does catch the lows. Biggest difference in CGM’s is initial cost vs ongoing cost. You can start the Dexcom 7 for about $625—and that includes a months worth of sensors… I think MM is $999–but dont know if that includes sensors. Ongoing costs are $60 per sensor on Dexcom—and $30 per sensor on MM. who knows if MM will ‘upgrade’ their sensors for longer life—if they do, i can assure you the price will go up.
Personally, i wish my receiver was part of my pump—it is not terrible carrying the receiver around, but it would be nice to not have too. Plus MM has a ‘snooze’ option on the alarms…which will keep going off until your BS goes up to normal range.
When i upgrade my pump, i will get the MM—just so i can have the option for the all in one pump CGM system.
You really cant go wrong with MM or Dexcom…it is just a matter of where you want to pay more…up front or as you go.
Thanks for the encouragement. When I talked to the MM rep she said that I’ll get 10 sensors in the started kit and the she’s heard everything from 3 days to 9 days for the life of the sensors. We were supposed to meet on Wednesday, but had to move it until this coming Tuesday.
Thanks again, and Ken, we adore Port Angeles…my hubby and I get there every once-in-a-while.
