I am only reaching the end of my second month using a continuous glucose monitor. I postponed the decision to wear yet another device for more than two years for many reasons:
- Not wanting to carry another thing on me, on top of the pump, the glucose meter with test strips and all the backup gear (extra meter, insulin pens, extra lancets if I feel the urge to change them, etc).
- The fact that I changed jobs twice in the past two years. Changing jobs led to changes in my insurance coverage and, as we know, this can sadly be the reason why you opt for or against a diabetes treatment option.
- The precision offered by devices in the market hadn’t gotten to a point where I felt it was worth the extra gear and the extra financial sacrifice (in spite of the insurance coverage).
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Sounds familiar in many ways…even the use of the word “plunge”. I hadn’t realized you started just weeks before Caleb. I hope to be posting more soon about our experiences. We had a good use of it today at school. It helped avoid a lot of extra finger sticks (and anxiety). Looking forward to hearing more from you as well :).
Making the loop go full circle :)…
Great post, Manny:) You summarized the pro’s and con’s very well. I am at the end of 1 month w/ CGMS…it has been invaluable AND frustrating. I suspect that I will be happier w/ a more accurate device…I am trying at least 1 other type (DEX) before making a decision. I have insurance…just not complete coverage and actually tried the MM on my own.
I hope you’re having better results with yours than I have with mine…
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Now, I realize technology isn't perfect, and my main aim of wearing this is to see trends of what is happening for me at night, but I could do without these sorts of little "inconveniences" :) I don't expect perfection... it just needs to perform slightly better than a random number generator...
Oh yes I confirmed it… I was never low, never dropping… no idea what happened with the sensor. I re-calibrated it and it seemed to be okay for a while, but that sensor started giving me nothing but ??? a few hours later… I’m actually about to call Dexcom about it and get this one replaced too - they just replaced one yesterday, this one had only been on me for about 6 or 7 hours.
It’s great when it works… super frustrating when it just won’t 
Manny: I am happy to welcome you to the CGM users! If you haven’t done so yet, spend some time with the new software which gives you an enormous amount of useful information to fine-tune your control. For exasmple: The relationship between the Estimated Standard Deviation and the low on any given day is getting a lot of attention (ESD less than 3 times the daily low) is by many considered a useful yardstick. When you work with upwards of CSG’s 280-plus measurements a day the glucometer software seems irrelevant. I am looking forward to the day when CGM accuracy reaches a level where glucometers (and their expensive test strips) become superfluous.
