Would you say that your CGM just adds more stress and if so why? How can you get over this extra stress you now carry? Is the stress from all this new information, the fact its not a 100% accurate, or because of all the alarms that are now a part of your everyday life? stories/comments?
I know it did for me when I was using it. I did find out much later, that because I was learning how to use the insulin pump, that I should not have been doing both systems. They advised me the proper way for a newbie pumper, is to FIRST learn how the CGMS works, which will teach you how your insulin works, and then once you’ve got the handle of the CGMS (and it’s alarms - that was one of the things that drove me nuts - at night STREEEESSSSSSS) - go onto the pump. It’ll be less stressful that way.
Please note Jim - I only tried the CGMS for 3 months - maybe if I’d tried it longer - I might have a better view of it.
Anna from Montreal - http://www.diabetes1.org/blogs/Annas_Blog
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Yes, the CGM does add extra work and requires some of your attention. On the plus side for me, I’d rather be woken up at night to treat a low before I go low for many hours. If an overnight low goes undetected and untreated for more than 30 minutes or so, I find the next day’s blood sugars run high for many hours; I usually skip breakfast since that only makes mnatters worse. In that case a little inconvenience and stress prevent a far larger inconvenience and stress.
Everyone needs to do their own personal assessment regarding taking on the extra responsibility of a CGM. You may ask yourself: Do electronic devices like computers frustrate me or can I figure things out before I give up?
For me the net benefit of the CGM is a large plus. The night time alarms, the sensor placements, and the required attention are more than offset by improved BGs, a greatly improved A1c, and the gratifying sense of control when I can head off a major low in the making! Your mileage may vary.
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Anna: That sounds completely backward to me - CGMS and then pump. To me, it seems like the best way to do it would be pump first then CGMS, so that you can get on the pump and get a basic understanding of your rates and constant insulin before pushing to fine-tune what’s in place with a CGMS. If not, then you’re trying to fine tune something that will inevitably change and not apply once you stop injections and go to pumping, meaning everything you learned and did with a CGMS prior to pumping won’t apply and will effectively be wasted time. My opinion, anyhow. I’ve been pumping for almost nine years now, and am about to trial-test my second of 3 CGMs this week. Looking to possibly buy later in the year. It may be more stressful, but I think it’ll be worth it to know where I’m off and what needs to be further honed.
I HATE it!!! Mine NEVER worked correctly from the day I got it! It would read a high BG like 275 when in REALITY I was low…like 44!!! It did this for the first month that I had it to the point that I felt if I were to keep useing it that I would die! I told my Dr. that I was no longer useing it and he agreed with me. He said that he did not feel that it was accurate enough either.
Then, about 2wks ago a friend of mine that I had reccomended the pump to died. Her BG was too low but she didnt know it because the CGM told her it was higher than it was. After my experience and her death, I will NEVER use mine again!!!
I agree with Anna that starting CGM before pump is a much better way to do things, once you are on CGM starting to pump is pretty simple, because you can if your basals are flat instead of doing extra testing. Starting to pump without CGM is a very delicate process. You don’t unlearn your CGM experiences when you switch between pump and injections, they both teach you how your body reacts to insulin, exercise, food etc, a pump is just a different way of getting the insulin into your body. I switched to pump and CGM at the same time and it was a bit of an adjustment, but I would never have wanted to start pumping blindly (no CGM), given the oportunity I would have preferred to start on CGM and then transfer to the pump.
I think there’s an element of stress but it’s not as stressful as it was before. I got a shade of improvement out of it too so that’s nice. Or maybe it isn’t? Medical science seems unable to render an opinion on that since they don’t have “The Right Stuff”? Lately, I’ve had some nighttime alarm issues that are cutting into my sleep but I sort of think I always had those and just didn’t realize it without the alarm.
Stress…not here it gives me a level of comfort that I have never had before. It’s a safety blanket I have never had before. If you use it for trending purposes and not expecting it to be 100% accurate from a BG number standpoint you will be in good shape. I have never found the trending information to be inaccurate. If you are expecting the readings to 100% match your meter, you will be unhappy.
My feelings about CGM are quite ambivalent. I used it full time for about a year and a half, but for the past month I’ve been getting by without it and just testing a lot more than I used to. I really disliked being hooked up to yet another injectable gadget, the alarms got on my nerves, and the information wasn’t consistently reliable enough for me to feel justified forking over the dough for the sensors (which still aren’t covered on my extended medical plan). I’d like to have something CGM-ish at night that I could remove during the day.
It also sort of acts like a coach as mine seems to provide more accurate data when I’m really conservative and don’t engage in as many wild junk food excursions as I might be inclined to otherwise? After a while, a nice “line” is sort of “precious”, in the Gollum sense of the word and, after a while, it’s tomorrow…
The alarms are a PITA at night when I’m sleeping and they keep going off; but the alternative is much worse so to me it’s a no brainer. I have had only a handful of dangerous hypos since going on the pump in January 2010, where before that I would have at least one a month. I am pretty much hypo unaware, and often during the day I will get an alarm telling me I am heading dangerously low when I am clueless. The Dex reports have helped me fine tune my basal rates too. My insurance didn’t want to pay for my Dex anymore and I fought it and won, I can’t imagine life without it now.
CGM has been a stress reducer more than a stress creator. For one thing, my day care provider was always leery of pre-meal bolusing because she’d never have a good sense of where his BG was headed, but with the CGM, that issue has evaporated – she feels reassured enough that the alarm will sound if he goes really low that she is a lot more confident giving him insulin before his meal. For another, I can sleep better knowing that the alarm will wake me if he goes too low/too high. Before we got it, I never really allowed myself a deep sleep because of my anxiety over not waking should his BG shoot the moon or crash – because though most of the time HE would wake me up (crying, or else just coming to my bedroom because he felt bad) there were many occasions where he did not wake up despite being seriously hypo/hyper. For almost the first year post Dx, I never slept in my own bed – I slept with him in his, because his sweating would wake me and alert me to a low (restless sleep and thrashing were the high signs.) Now that he has a CGM, I can’t say I spend every night in my own bed, but I do spend most of them there!
It’s not perfectly accurate, that’s for sure, but I find that it’s more accurate when I allow the sensor more-than-adequate time to “wet”. Medtronic recommends 5-10 minutes in their literature, but I generally give it no less than 10 and usually ~12-15 before I put the transmitter on. The longer the pre-wet time, the better the accuracy… though it’s something of a trial keeping a wiggly little boy still for that long (works best if I set the sensor while he’s sleeping). And like some of the other people said above, as long as you look at trends and not at actual numbers, it’s not a source of aggravation.
The only thing that really annoys me about it is that I “hear” the alarm sometimes when it’s not actually sounding – even sometimes when he’s not in the same building I’m in – but that’s a small price to pay.
Hah here I thought I was the only one. 
I was so stressed out by the CGM that I stopped using it. I couldn’t handle the constant alarms “you’re up, you’re down, oh wait now you’re going up, oh oops down again.” It’s nickname quickly became “the nag”. I also got way too stressed and preoccupied with all the charts, I tend to be obsessive about being perfect, and the chart was a constant reminder that I wasn’t hitting it.
I wore the dexcom for about half and year and then switched to an alert dog. While the dog alerts just as often it’s not such a cold abrasive alert so I’ve been more apt to pay attention and not ignore it like I began ignoring the CGM.
I have a built in glucose meter. Here’s how it works, if feel irritable inject a few units if I feel panic and anxiety eat a few carb grams. Wait about 10 minutes… If I don’t feel better just do a reverse. I’ve been doing this for years and its about 75% accurate and doesn’t cost me a cent.
Stress-yes, but manageable unless in crisis mode (which I have been lately) My biggest thing is lack of sleep with low BGs overnight, but honestly–it is better than the paramedic visits. I highly recommend it. Sometimes it is right on and sometimes not, but it keeps me aware of trends and problems. And it makes me more secure…
My CGM only takes away the stress of wondering “what is my blood sugar doing” 24 hours a day. It is spot on 90% of the time and has really made me a much more confident diabetic. I love love love my Dexcom and could not imagine having to go a day without it.
I am only a few months into using the Dexcom, and it is a mixed blessing for me. For me, it is highly accurate, and I do find the trends to be REALLY helpful. It has helped me fine-tune my basal settings, and realize I need to bolus BEFORE a meal (at least 30 minutes before breakfast). But it has been an overwhelming amount of information at times, and it also made me realize that my control is not nearly as good as I thought it was when I just did BG testing 8-10 times per day (and have had consistent good A1cs), and that knowledge that my control sucks more than I really care to admit has caused a few days of just being bummed out. But, overall, it really is awesome, so it does not “just add more stress” for me.
I had a similar feeling when I got the CGM! I was like “I’m doing great!” but discovered what I would consider to be “opportunity areas” all over the place. It makes me feel useful and productive, like I’m taking things under control, to make progress in any area so anything that helps me identify them is useful for me?
Totally agree, Mr. AcidRock. I really have been able to use the Dexcom to tweak and make progress. A few bummed out days here and there, mind you!
I think those of you who are using the Dexcom Have far less stress issues than those of us on the MM CGMS. I am on vacation in GA and I deliberately took a CGMS vacation, just yesterday because it is Too much info for me to handle while here with my family ( elderly parents)…The alarms to calibrate it are annoying and confusing to my mom, who at 83 kind of thinks my diabetes is “worse” because I have to do so much more than back in the one-shot a day no glucometer era…and I did not “beep” all day!!!
I will be glad when I can get a more reliable, less invasive model than the MM. I do like that it is all-in-one with the pump, and keeps a record of data that I can download and review. That has been very helpful to me in resetting my basals and insulin sensitivities for difrent times of the day.
When this CGMS is on the spot, it is VERY accurate. But when this CGM is OFF… it is WAAY off… I cannot depend on it to catch an approaching high, so I just have to keep finger stick testing anyway.It seems like more than I did before the CGMS It kind of irritates me that I have to wear this thing, calibrate it 4 times a day, and it stil isn’t accurate t catch the highs…GRRR…I actually feel more confident testing to find out. So yesterday I took my mom to see the movie “The Help” ( great, my second time seeing it… I refused to weart the CGMS, had about 3 cups of popcorn, tested my blood glusoses pre- and post meals and pre-driving, and was not out of acceptable range… All without the CGMS.
I will put it on to day, as I am going to a Fall CArnival with my little nephew. and need to be safe for all activities ( a lot of movement and playing); but I really find it a bit superfluous at times…Or maybe I feel irritated because I am a bit “trigger happy” with corrections and can and will over bolus at times… When .Is too much info, too much info?
God BLess,
Brunetta