Thinking about buying my teen a cgm for her paradigm pump. She has had a few lows in the night that were really scary and I am wondering if this will help or at least give me a little peace of mind as I am having trouble sleeping because I worry. Anyone have any experience they would like to share about the CGM.......positives and negatives? Is it comfortable to wear? I know I am going to have a hard time getting her to agree to having something else attached to her and another site! I am hoping that in the long term, the good control will outweigh these negatives. She HATES how she feels when her blood sugar is above 12 and likes to let herself run on the low side as she feels that the lows are quicker and easier to correct so she is brave with her bolus'......good for her but a worry for me! I am hoping that the cgm will help. Any comments would be greatly appreciated!
Yes, we started the CGM 2 mos prior to the pump, only 3 mos after diagnosis. My son was always on the brink of a low. I have a love hate relationship with the CGM. In the first week it caught 9 lows, before he was below 70 and felt awful, which was fantasic and eye opening. Id say in the three mos he has had it it has only missed one or two lows and in those instances alarmed while we were already treating. Since he tends to have a lot of lows, those are pretty good statistics.
The more annoying part is the false alarms; low prediction alarms when he is nowhere near low. As you probably know, interstitial glucose and blood glucose are not the same and will rarely be the same. (we have the medtronic revel and cgm, I have heard the dexcom is more accurate). I try not to focus on the numbers but the trends, and in that it has been very helpful in self adjusting basals and boluses. My son is 10 and was only diagnosed 6 mos ago. Many people complain about the insertion but it rarely bothers him. He doesnt complain about having another site, but we recently took a two week break because those false alarms were annoying him. Im sorry, Im a bit all over the place with my response but Im trying to think of all the pros and cons we have experienced.
All in all I think its a fantastic tool. If you decide to get it there are a lot of helpful articles and blogs about proper calibration, to get the most accurate readings. Good luck!
Thanks so much for all of the great info. I am going to buy her the cgm and see how it goes! I was looking at the medtronic website today and cant believe the price of the sensors!