Sometimes I have no idea what we would do without Dexcom. I am torn about the issue of relying too heavily on technology but when it works like this I don’t see how not to. He was at 47 and going down. He was sound asleep and had no idea. I had put my phone on silent because I kept getting high notifications and he was just eating dinner at 10pm. So I “knew” he would be elevated all night. Well it’s a good thing my husband was at work at 130am and was able to call and wake my daughter who then woke me up. I jump out of bed seeing the RED 47 and go to his room and he is sound asleep while his dexcom alarm is going off.
I wake him and he instantly realizes he is low. He is shaky and sweaty. It was so unexpected. I asked him if he may have over dosed for the soup he ate at dinner but he said he calculated exactly for it and he ate a few pieces of candy even. Anyhoo he had a
Granola bar and milk and we all settled back into bed but it just makes me think about all the what if’s.
hi @Lburg86, good work catching the low before something bad happened, There are so many things that could make an “exact bolus” not so exact… things like any activity within the last day (yes day) or any changes in stress, illness, how much fat was in that soup, what the weather was like that day, what kind of carbs were in that soup, (even highly processed food has a large tolerance for error on reported “total carbs”) and of course, how accurate the blood sugar data was before the meal. CGM can be significantly different that real blood sugar (so can a finger prick by the way).
you will develop a “sense” about types of activity types of stressors, and potential going high and low after a specific kind of day. You can develop these senses without CGM as well, it just takes longer.
there are plenty of “what if” scenarios with anything to do with kids, yea maybe more with type 1 involved, but there will always be a ton of stuff on our minds as parents. go easy on yourself during this “learning curve” time of your life.
Yes Linda @Lburg86, as is said, “the family that plays together …” Your family worked as an all-star team.
I won’t try guessing why he dropped so quickly but will offer in-sight from my personal experience:
I have difficulty balancing insulin with soup; sometimes I drop after [too much insulin] and other times my BGL rises and stays there.
Exercise: if I engage in an hour or two of “resistance training” my BG drops sharply about four hours later. Was Joshua’s late supper because he played a great game of basketball or hockey?
I know what you are thinking when you say torn about relying on technology - I am too, but my CGM, which I began using only 18 months ago, has greatly helped me increase my time-in-range. I’m really happy that your son did recognize that he was low once he was awake - many a night that my wife has rolled into me and felt my perspiration and heat and awakened me - during the last 53 years she has been my “human CGM”.
We did a study at the Barbara Davis Center. Those PRA’s (pre-med students) had to watch hours of kids sleeping through alarms! My son just put a pillow over it and kept on sleeping. I am SO thankful to Dexcom and all who have worked on Open APS systems (Thank you Dana Lewis!). I am also thankful that he is now grown and married to a wonderful woman who is a light sleeper!
One thing I do want to mention though is that we should have different tones for the alarms. I have a friend who is deaf in the high range and can’t hear the alarm. We should be able to set multiple different tones for various alarms. Also, I just used the “Find My Phone” app and found my phone in my golf cart (turned it off for play and forgot to turn it on). It will ring for 5 minutes very loudly if you use the app - even if you had it silenced. It would be great to have a “find my CGM” app and also an override tool if you set it at - say 60?
Maybe we can continue this string and see if we can put together ideas to send to Dexcom?
One of the key things I have done to stop the readings from doing that at night is to snack literally right before I go to bed. Doesn’t always work, but in the overall it does. I was sleeping in 2-3 hour shifts, up eating back to bed then up again 2-3 hours later. Not a good sleep pattern at all. It also helps me to sleep 6 hrs through so better than before.
Other thing that has helped is eating meals a regularly scheduled times. For the most part I try to eat at the same times every day on a schedule. It helps quite a bit. It also helps me when I can’t ear at regular times. I do try to snack on something at the regular time if I can, so that when I eat late, it doesn’t seem to affect me so much.
But regardless of that, I still just drop for no reason at all. The other day, I was resting on the couch, waiting to get cleaned up before going out to dinner. Checked BG at 114, went to bathroom, checked myself out, combed hair, changed pants, tops 10 minutes, got ready to leave, jacket on and was literally opening the door and bang alarm goes off. I had dropped to below 55. Why, no clue, only can say I did.
Hopefully, you won’t get any more of those!
Charlie
