Changing stuff all the time, yes, but I do think my control is better with a pump than without. I'm overall WAY more relaxed (especially when travelling - even colleagues and travel companions who knew me years ago commented on the change), and I can also skip meals much more easily (before, with Lantus, I couldn't skip lunch at all or I'd go low), and I also don't have to wake up every morning at 3:00 AM to test and dose insulin, since the basal rate handles that. I also think I'm more easily able to respond to changes due to hormones or activity or whatever than I could with MDI.
I know that I will never have "perfect" control - otherwise I'd sure I would have figured that out by now after over 23 years. But what I would like is to get to a point where I can stay between 3.5-10 in any given day and also, if possible, get an A1c below 6.5%. I'm sure it is possible, I've just never been able to do it yet, but I also haven't had CGM data availalble. I feel like there are more patterns with the CGM data than without, as others have pointed out, but I still am not sure what to do with things like overnight where I drop some of the time but not all the time. I don't know that this sort of thing is possible to predict. Two weeks ago my control went crazy due to hormones, so I think I am due for things to start going crazy at some point again in the next few days, then should be the "easy" period (where I did manage to keep 70% of readings within 4-10, which I was pretty happy with).
When I look at the last month (been using this trial unit a month already!) I have 79% of readings between 4-10! And my average is 7.7, and standard deviation is 2.8. So I think I'm doing pretty good, especially given how new this tool is. Definitely better than I was doing when I just had my meter.
Tomorrow I'm ordering my own Dexcom. I'm hoping this sensor holds out until the new one arrives (it's on day 17 now - I thought it had died yesterday but I calibrated for the heck of it and it came back!) and that the rep lets me keep the loaner receiver and transmitter until then. :)
Are you planning to keep your Ping or upgrade to the Vibe? One minor advantage with the Vibe is that you pump and CGM will be downloaded to Diasend together and will appear in a single Diasend report. I don't know how easy it is to integrate the information with a separate receiver and pump. The Vibe will also ask you when you bolus if you want to use the BG meter reading to calibrate the CGM. Although you don't need to calibrate the Dexcom more than twice a day, I usually do it around 4 times.
I won't be upgrading to the Vibe only because my beneifts cover "one pump per lifetime" so I want to save it for something good, like a next-generation pump. I don't feel like the minor convenience of having the Dexcom and pump in one unit is enough to justify using that up. Plus, I'd be paying the same amount of money whether I get a pump with 80% coverage or get a Dexcom paying full price.
Well, I don't know what happened, but with NO changes in basal rates or pump ratios my overnight blood sugars have started to flatline! The night before last I varied by 2 mmol/L and last night I varied by only 1.4 mmol/L! That's a huge change from going low all night three nights ago and varying by 4+ mmol/L on nights before that. Here's hoping this lasts!
I was hoping you had a sustained breakthrough. Oh well. You've made some real gains with the CGM. It's good you'll be getting your own system. Time is on your side. Keep on keeping on!
I just ordered it yesterday. :) So I'm hoping I'll get it in a day or two and have no interruption between the trial Dexcom and my own. This second sensor is on Day 19 (previous one lasted 16 days), so that is pretty exciting, too! I wish they made infusion sets out of whatever metal is in the sensors, because I have zero allergy problems with the sensors so far, other than getting intermittently really itchy (but I think that's pretty common).
Also, even though overnight went wonky again, yesterday I had the best 24 hours of my life, I think! I went low once which I treated with 8g of glucose tablets, but I didn't even come close to going high.
Not that I did anything different to cause this or the 2-3 great nights I had (though one was "great" because I ate 20g of glucose tablets throughout the night to keep stable). Hopefully eventually I'll understand how to actually MAKE my blood sugar do this rather than just have it happen as a random fluke.
That's a great line! And I don't think it was a fluke. You just haven't figured out the complete cause and effect yet. Given enough time and effort I'm confident better results will become a more willful exercise.
Diabetes is a wily and belligerent foe. That's why making it toe the line is such a sweet victory! Sorry if game-ifying or military metaphors are not your thing.
By the way, did you really only eat one meal on Monday? Perhaps you only used the ezCarb bolus once.
I love metaphors. :) I recently read a book about gamification, and it included a chapter about gamification and health issues, which was interesting.
I ate three meals on Monday (breakfast at 7:00, lunch at 12:30, dinner at 6:00) plus one snack, but I haven't downloaded my pump data, so the only one that shows up is the time I ate glucose tablets without a bolus.
I just replied to that discussion. I don’t think I’m having major site problems right now, but in the past I’ve definitely had major issues due to allergic reactions to the material the cannulas are made out of (and to a lesser extent to metal sets as well).
