Ok so I’ve had diabetes for 27 years now. And in the past year I have found out that I am not aware of my low blood sugars, it very well could be at lot longer than that as I did have “epidsodes” but did not really consider them until my car accident last year. To make it a short story I was feeling really “Out of it” knew somthing was wrong and proceeded to pull over and hit a parked car. Also I have had blood sugars of 2.5, 2.9, 1.9mmol/L and have just started to feel something not right. I am progressing toward the pump and hopefully the CGMS, but will I get it?
So, my questions are:
I’ve been type 1 for 53 years. It seems that I become more unaware each year. My wife thinks the pump may have made this worse. I’ve shocked myself with a 54. My endo says I need a CGMS, however Medicare doesn’t think anyone needs a CGMS.
The only time I experienced this, was when I was pregnant. Completely went from feeling great to having paramedics standing over me. It is very scarey. I hope you will be able to get the Glucose monitoring system. I understand there is a 5 mintue delay in the blood sugar reading, but at least you will have an alarm go off if it is starting to get low. In other words, you can set it at about 90 to warn you. I wish you luck.
A 15 min delay or aleast being able to set an alarm as you BS approaches the low is lot better than not knowing at all. I have tried to reset my “body” by running higher BS for a couple weeks and then a month but it has not had any effect. I am really looking forward to the pump and CGMS as it seems to be my only solution other than the human pincushion.
My Diabetes Educator says a lot more insurance companies are now covering CGMS. I am currently in the process of getting a pump AND CGMS, and she says she doesn’t see an issue with either. However, I have good insurance with United Healthcare, but she didn’t even know this and still said it wouldn’t be a problem. I think it’s proving that you could benefit, which you could with your unawareness and if you check your blood sugar several times a day. And yes, there could be a delay but you could also get that warning when you are headed for a low. My educator did warn me that I wouldn’t be testing my blood sugars any less though, and in some instances, I’d be testing more to see if what the CGMS was telling me was the “truth” and I was low or high since it does have the delay. Hope this helps!
Depending on how my day is going I’m testing on average 7 times a day. On a real bad day I went through 20 test strips… thank god for health coverage. I am very fortunate I have a good health plan.
There are more of us–haven’t had diabetes that long but had frequent and unknown to me lows–have CGMS now–lifesaver–dr reccommended CGMS–we documented lows and fought hard and one—more insurance companies are coming around thought so hopefully less of a fight for you.
