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Originally Posted by pooh3465  ...my problem I am really bad at taking my bloodsugars so I was really thinking about getting the continuos blood glucose monitoring system. |
I hate to tell you this, but CGMS may not help you at all. From the outset they tell you: do NOT base treatment decisions on the CGMS sensor values. Always, always test to confirm your BG before selecting a treatment option.
That having been said, my CGMS (not a separate thing, just a sensor that talks to my Paradigm 722) has been pretty accurate. The CGMS measures glucose level in the interstitial fluid between your body's cells. The glucose level in this fluid lags behind your blood glucose by as much as 10 or 15 minutes.
What the CGMS is wonderful for is monitoring trends. I've learned more about how my body reacts to insulin and to carbs in two months of CGMS than I ever thought I'd know. I've also tested my blood sugar far more often than I used to.
You have to enter calibration values into the system. Test your blood sugar, and enter the value into the CGMS system. They tell you during training that you should ONLY calibrate when your blood sugars are fairly stable (before a meal for example). If you calibrate when your BG is changing rapidly, the CGMS will not be particularly accurate.
Choosing good times to calibrate and doing so consistently will greatly enhance the accuracy of your CGMS. Mine is within 10mg/dl of my Accucheck Aviva meter about 95% of the time.
If you understand how CGMS works and what its limitations are, it can be an astonishingly valuable tool to help you manage your diabetes. If you expect it to work exactly like your meter, you will be disappointed.
I'm new to CGMS and the pump, so please bear that in mind when you consider my remarks. I regard the pump and CGMS as the best thing that's happened to my health in a long, long time.
I guess I should also say a couple of words about wearing the sensor. The sensor has been more of a problem for me than the much maligned Quick-Set infusion set. I've NEVER had any problems with the Quick-Set since my initial training but the CGMS sensors are another story altogether.
They're wonderfully reliable, and relatively easy to insert, but the insertion procedure can be frustrating. In the first box of 10 sensors (at $35.00/each). I got seven successes and three failures. The first failure was a result of not following the procedure correctly, I failed to pull of this little plastic thingie that covers the adhesive on the sensor and didn't realize it until the sensor pulled out of my skin when I tried to connect the transmitter to it. The second failure was a result of a really bad choice of location, and the third was a truly defective sensor. Medtronic replaced all three sensors, by next day air, no questions asked. (Well some questions, but they were friendlly).
So...how did I improve my technique and become an utterly reliable inserter of sensors? Pretty dumb but what I did was to put the training CD in my laptop, and find the part about inserting the sensor. There's a little video that shows everything, and I played the video (pausing it after each step) and did what it said. After a couple of run throughs that way, it is a simple, straightforward procedure that works every time.
One other sensor related item: my tiny granddaughter (8 mos) seems to have an unerring instinct for placing her tiny pink foot on the sensor and trying to stand on grandpa. This should be avoided.
Another happy note: if you get the Medtronic Paradigm system (522 or 722) they'll send a bunch of samples of something called IV3000. It's an adhesive thing that's supposed to help hold the sensor in place. Throw it in the trash, or find a particularly annoying domestic animal and stick it to the animal (just kidding). It is expensive, and next to useless. 3M makes a wonderful surgical tape called Nexcare. Try it.
Anyhoo, I'm a newbie who paid attention in class. I am very happy with the 722 and CGMS. I've NEVER had control this good and I'm liking it a lot.
