I have had this Dexcom for 9 months now…and he sure does like me. Since getting him my A1C’s have been 6.0, 6.1 and 6.0---- prior to Dex I ran btw 7.0 and 7.3 very consistently.
I am convinced that never staying high for more than an hour or 2 (of course there is the occasional all night long at 200), and my ability to target 100 durning the night without suffering severe lows has contributed to my success.
I also know that i have changed my habits greatly since Dex arrived…bolusing long before i eat—25-40 minutes, and being somewhat successful with the combo/dual wave bolus.
Finding this site didnt hurt anything either…i know since coming here, i have learned many many tricks of the trade and put them to good use. One of the best for me has been, treat all lows with glucose tabs, then wait 15 minutes—this provides me much better results than sitting down with the box of Fruit Loops and eating until the low symptoms are gone—then 3 hours later hitting 500+.
I am by no means a perfect diabetic(as if there is such a thing)----i still hit 300, 350, 400. I still have days where it seems no matter what i do, i cannot get below 180—and other days that seems like i cannot get above 80. I still hit 40, (but at least i get a chance to head if off). I forget to bolus. I forget to eat. I under bolus, over bolus, and make down right bad decisions at times. But overall, i find that i do this less and less and that is where i think the biggest difference is.
Way to go Mollie! Diligence does pay off…I have my first A1C this Friday, since being on the Dex. I’m not as confident I’ll be at 6.0, but I know it will be down some. You learn so much from watching trends. Two things that have really stuck out to me is how quickly food hits your system (like you mentioned, bolus early) and that I really spike after breakfast, but not really any other meal of the day. Things I would’ve never really noticed without Louise (cgm).
I wonder how many other diabetics have the after breakfast spike…i did for years…i always thought is was ‘the dawn affect’ but many say it is not…I made several small changes to finally get it under control.
First, I eat breakfast at the same time everyday, and adjusted my basal rates to go from .350 to 1.350 starting 30 minutes b4 i eat.
I also eat the same thing every day. Kashi TLC granola bar–19 carbs, 4g fiber, 7g protein— (so boring but it works)
And i bolus for the carbs 30 minutes b4 I eat.
what stinks about it, is that if i waver from the granola bar and throw in some fruit or yogurt—i sky rocket…it is almost like i cannot take enough insulin to keep from jumping to 300…so i just dont waver… (as a side note, my weekend basals are totally different than weekdays…i am more active and i get up about 1 hour later, I still have to account for the basal increase but it needs to happen later)
I have no idea how i survived high school or college eating Fruit Loops, Capn Crunch, Lucky Charms for breakfast everyday, and usually a glass of OJ too…plus bolusing most of the time AFTER i ate.
