"Some people swear by CGM's during exercise - I've found mine to be good for telling me how fast my BG is dropping or if it's staying level but it is completely unreliable in terms of telling me what my BG actually is at the moment."
I was wonderng if you could elaborate. I've become a testaholic and I'll be looking into a Dexcom. I was asking in their forum about lagtime between actual BG and what the Dexcom is reading during intense workouts. Is that one of the problems with CGM and while you only use it for trends durin workouts?
the CGM’s are great for me during exercise especially for trends…sometimes they are dead on, and sometimes they are +/- 15 pts…however the trending is probably correct with my Dexcom 95% of the time…a couple of times when i had sensor in on the 12-13th day, the trend was not so good…but this was probably an issue of the sensor getting old… but remember your BloodGlucose meter has an accuracy of +/- 20%…so if you are reading your sugar and the meter says 100…you could be 80 or your could be 120…i have had Dexcom since the begining 6years ago, and the machine has gotten better every 2 years when they have upgraded thier software/hardware/algorithms…
I love using the Dexcom for trends during exercise… that being said yesterday when I was doing a triathlon I got the triple ? for a big portion, which can be frustrating. Though overall I would recommend it- it has helped me become more aware of how my blood sugar makes me feel, and has really helped out during higher intensity situations when I may not be able to distinguish between a high blood sugar or a dehydrated low.
How do you get your sensors to go longer than a week?
I saw that Medronic is coming out with a new - smaller and better CGM system. I wonder if it will be bettrer for running - giving real time, or closer to, results
For me the Dexcom is fine for showing trending information during exercise, especially for showing how fast my BG is changing. But I have to keep in mind that it’s about 15 minutes behind my BG reading and that the number it shows is unreliable. I suspect, but can’t say for sure, that the physical motion and perspiration affect its accuracy.
There. It seems I just repeated what you quoted to me!!
That’s just my experience. Another issue I have with using the Dexcom during exercise is keeping it someplace where it’s easy to locate and read. Right now I carry it in my SpiBelt, but it takes some fumbling to actually get it out and read it.
Since I test frequently on long runs (every 30 minutes) I don’t really rely on the Dexcom much at all anymore to warn me of lows during strenuous exercise. I know my BG will be falling and it’s more important for me to know what my BG IS at the moment than to know how fast it got there. But I do use the Dexcom to check on whether I’m consuming enough carbs on a long run, or to check on whether the carbs are working.
