CGM Trial Day ????

I'm sorry for the long delay in posts. I have been traveling and have had a heck of a time catching up after the holiday.

I had to remove the sensor and transmitter before I boarded the plane. I also had to remove the battery from the transmitter and "unlink" the receiver from the transmitter, so no radio signals would be flying around during flight. Not so technical, but generally accurate.

Other than having to take off the sensor earlier than the five days, this was not much of a problem. My travel schedule allowed me to re-apply the sensor and transmitter when I arrived and by early morning the following day, I was tracking again.

I went to Jackson Hole, WY and I am from Texas, so imagine the weather shock! I found my blood sugars ran exceptionally high during the trip and I had a heck of a time adjusting my ratios. It was nice to have the CGM, but to see constant 200s for hours on end was frustrating. I’d try a third bolus correction in an attempt to bring it down, eventually crash to 50, then bounce right back up again to 200. Not much time was spent above 300, but my insulin just didn't seem to work right at 9,000 feet.

The screen now has a dark spot on it, probably from being in my pocket, but that is where I keep it and it should hold up better.

Also, the adhesives I was provided to cover, and keep the transmitter/sensor affixed to my skin have permanently affixed themselves to the transmitter surface. I have tried to get the gunk off, but it won’t budge. The trial folks specifically told me NOT to use Unisolve, so I will ask at my next follow up visit about keeping the unit clean without damage. They say to use alcohol swabs in the manual, but that does not work.

I have checked my blood sugar against the unit several times and it is still reading within 10 mgdl. I am impressed with the accuracy; however I had two instances where I got a “Projected Low Glucose” (a 30 minute projection of a low that can also be set for 10 or 20 minutes) at about 5:00 a.m., I drank a juice, even though I was about 150 and then just climbed from there. As I said this only happened twice and I wonder if my hormones kicked into gear increasing my blood sugar around the same time my insulin was peaking and starting to show a low glucose trend. It hasn’t happened since, so who knows.

I will post some photos of inserting the device tomorrow. I will also post some photos of the dark spot now on the screen.

I did not have any problems with the unit because of the cold in WY, but that is mostly because I wore it on me. I went dog sledding and it saved me from a low!

Now I am just trying to get over the holidays, and get back on a schedule where I can take advantage of always knowing my blood sugar. The holidays are always tough when it comes to food, and having the CGM was a blessing, but I can’t say it was any easier to control my consumption!