Just wanted to say “hello.”
I just got out of the hospital with hypoglycemia. I have adult onset type 1, along with other autoimmune diseases. My son is also type 1 and it looks like my daughter will be diagnosed soon as well.
I’ve been reading up on the CGM threads (I have a Dexcom G5) and it all seems very helpful. I look forward to having people to talk to about this. It can be confusing.
Sorry to hear about your hospital stay, but glad you found us. Welcome to the family 
As for confusion . . . don’t feel singled out. If diabetes can’t confuse you, I don’t know what could. 
Thank you! I’m not on insulin yet as my bg won’t go up unless I eat simple carbs and lots of them. Also, my main problem right now is low bg.
I’m trying to figure out how to keep my bg up throughout the night. Last night I dropped to 44. Being in the 50’s all night is not uncommon.
I’ve read that starting insulin early could preserve beta cells but is this a possibility when you tend to be hypoglycemic?
Chronic hypoglycemia is an animal I’m not familiar with. Hopefully others who are will chime in.
The business about saving beta cells derives from the traditional treatment of Type 2 diabetes. For years one of the most widely used protocols was to prescribe sulfonylureas or similar drugs whose function is to stimulate the pancreas—in effect, to kick the beta cells into overdrive and spur them to produce extra insulin. There is a widely held suspicion that years and years of this may exhaust the beta cells, in effect burning them out, so that eventually they produce little or no insulin at all. At that point exogenous insulin becomes necessary. The idea is that by intervening with exogenous insulin earlier, effectively giving the beta cells a rest, they’ll last longer and possibly even recuperate somewhat. That is Bernstein’s belief, and many others share it. Including me.
Welcome! Make sure you don’t SHUT DOWN your G5 when you’re changing out your sensors! I have had to turn in 2 so far due to ERR121 errors (from shutting down after removing one sensor, and installing a new sensor.)
Welcome to TuD!
Oh wow, that’s exactly what I did with the first sensor (I just got the CGM and it was knocked out of my stomach after a week). I turned the sensor off before putting the new one in. However, it seems to be working okay, or at least it’s within a few points of my finger stick BG.
I think I said all that right. I need to learn the lingo.
Yes, the proper protocol to follow when changing out your sensors is to just “Stop Sensor”, change out the sensor, then “Start Sensor” after the new sensor is installed. Make sure you never click the “Shutdown” option DURING sensor changes.
Okay, I double checked my receiver and the one I did is “stop sensor” not shut down. Whew!
If you Shutdown, you will know it…because it will be unusable and you will have have to have a new one shipped to you because it will totally crap out - ERR121 requires you to ship them your broken receiver and for them to ship you a new one. Glad you learned by my mistakes! lol
It’s crazy how much I’ve learned in the two short days I’ve been here! What a godsend forums are.
Same - and I continue to learn a lot each day. TuD is an amazing community filled with helpful, sincere and REAL (real diabetics) people so it’s the most invaluable resource other diabetics can receive, I feel.
WELCOME!
I hope you find the community as useful as I have.
