[pooh3465]

Hi everyone, ok I went to the omni pod site and they had an offer to send me a sample omni pod so I could see the size and try wearing it. I have to be honest with you I think I would absolutely love it. It is smaller then the minimed pump I wear attatched to my jeans or where ever and the thought of having no tubing is just a thrilling thought but here is my problem I am really bad at taking my bloodsugars so I was really thinking about getting the continuos blood glucose monitoring system.
My doctor tells me my eyes have started bleeding and I need to get my sugars under control so I am not sure which machine would benifit me more.
Does anyone use the continuos glucose monitoring system ?how do you like it? Has it really helped get your sugars under control or is wearing the extra machine a big pain?

[ant hill]

Hello Pooh, What is you A1C like? And has the BG's been steady. If you suffer from dramatic up & down BG's then the CGMS would benefit you as now that you are getting eye problems.
Complications are delayed with good control!!! Also exercise will help you get that control. If you do go and exercise, Be sure that you have something that can get you out of a low and physical work will do that.
Having a pump is good but it can be annoying. How many tests that you do in a day as micromanaging is done by type 1's is very common.

[pooh3465]

Originally Posted by ant hill

Hello Pooh, What is you A1C like? And has the BG's been steady. If you suffer from dramatic up & down BG's then the CGMS would benefit you as now that you are getting eye problems.
Complications are delayed with good control!!! Also exercise will help you get that control. If you do go and exercise, Be sure that you have something that can get you out of a low and physical work will do that.
Having a pump is good but it can be annoying. How many tests that you do in a day as micromanaging is done by type 1's is very common.

I am a very brittle diabetic, always have been. My last a1c was down to 10 I think. Yes I know I need to do better I am a spoiled brat. I have always made diabetes my enemy therefore my diabetes runs me not the other way around.

I did try the exercise but I have drop foot from a hip surgery gone bad and in the course of walking I guess I stretched or shrunk the muscle from my heal to my arch and then I couldn't walk for about two weeks, yes I know this is just an excuse and I really need to find different exercise.

God has been good to me it is myself who keeps trying to kill me. I figure as long as I don't give up I am not out of the race though, but you are probably right I bet the cgm will be better for me. Thanks for the input April

[BlueSky]

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.
My doctor tells me my eyes have started bleeding and I need to get my sugars under control so I am not sure which machine would benifit me more. ...

Please take this in the spirit it is intended. The harsh reality is that machines are not going to do it for you. Most important is motivation and a willingness to do what it takes to improve control. The problem with getting new toys is that they are a distraction. It enables you to put off doing what really needs to be done. IMO, things you should do before you get any new technology include testing/tweaking your basals, testing regularly, improving food choices, and refining your insulin:carb ratio. You need to do all this anyway. And it doesn't require fancy technology.

[Funnygrl]

How often, exactly, are you testing now?

I'm not really a "believer" so to speak in brittle diabetes. I think some people have it harder when it comes to gaining control. I know of people who work way harder at control and still have wider fluctuations than I do. But usually brittle = noncompliant.

A CGMS isn't a replacement for fingersticks, and if you aren't willing to test frequently you shouldn't be on a pump either.

[pooh3465]

Originally Posted by Funnygrl

How often, exactly, are you testing now?

I'm not really a "believer" so to speak in brittle diabetes. I think some people have it harder when it comes to gaining control. I know of people who work way harder at control and still have wider fluctuations than I do. But usually brittle = noncompliant.

A CGMS isn't a replacement for fingersticks, and if you aren't willing to test frequently you shouldn't be on a pump either.

Well from what I understand about the CGMS is that you only have to check your sugars with a finger stick when your sugars are seeming to high or registering to low.

To say someone shouldn't be on a pump if they are not testing frequently is totally not true, and a very dangerous statement. One day it may be your child or grandchild who cannot grasp dealing with diabetes at a time in thier life and according to you they will not deserve to have a pump to try and make their life better?

I know how I felt and how my sugars ran before I had the pump and I know how I am now that I am on the pump my sugars are one hundred percent better.

Perhaps your opinion of no such thing as a brittle diabetic is because you have never been one so to you they do not exist. Everything and anything I do affects my sugars especially my moods. You sound like a friend of mine who thinks everything in life is black and white simply because they have not had the problems that others have had in dealing with things.

When I am able I test about 4-6 times a day....I stay very busy and do let my family get infront of my diabetes but that is a habit I have not been able to break yet.

[steamfan261]

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.

[Funnygrl]

Originally Posted by pooh3465

Well from what I understand about the CGMS is that you only have to check your sugars with a finger stick when your sugars are seeming to high or registering to low.

And before meals. And before bed. And when you wake up. And before and after excise. Any time that you would otherwise be testing, in other words.

To say someone shouldn't be on a pump if they are not testing frequently is totally not true, and a very dangerous statement. One day it may be your child or grandchild who cannot grasp dealing with diabetes at a time in thier life and according to you they will not deserve to have a pump to try and make their life better?

If it was a family member or close friend of mine with diabetes who wanted to be on a pump and wasn't testing I would ABSOLUTELY say they should NOT be on the pump. If you're not testing, a pump is dangerous. End of story. What if your tubing kinked? You could go into DKA without noticing you were high before it was too late. If you're on Lantus or Levemir, or god-forbid NPH, at least you know you're getting your insulin.

I know how I felt and how my sugars ran before I had the pump and I know how I am now that I am on the pump my sugars are one hundred percent better.

I'm glad you feel better, but I don't consider that the "gold standard" so to speak.

Perhaps your opinion of no such thing as a brittle diabetic is because you have never been one so to you they do not exist. Everything and anything I do affects my sugars especially my moods. You sound like a friend of mine who thinks everything in life is black and white simply because they have not had the problems that others have had in dealing with things.

I may not be brittle, but I test 12 times a day, bolus every time I eat, consider all activity with temp rates and extra snacks, and count carbs meticulously to get that way.

When I am able I test about 4-6 times a day....I stay very busy and do let my family get infront of my diabetes but that is a habit I have not been able to break yet.

Yes, but how often is a "typical day?"

When I used a CGMS, I actually tested more than when I didn't. I tested to confirm every alarm- which was often. I tested at my usual times, because I couldn't trust it. I tested to see when I was stable so I knew when to calibrate.

[fgummett]

I have to agree with above posts that the pump and CGMS are just tools which can help you, BUT only if you are willing to work with them.. and for most people that means MORE work, not less. There is no such thing as an artificial pancreas yet where an ultra-sensitive CGMS controls the pump through a continuos feedback loop. The vital missing part of the equation is your willingness to test OFTEN... rather than 4-5 times "when you are able" (what does that actually mean?) a pump can require 8, 10, 12 tests a day especially when you are first starting out with it and even more especially if your control is brittle.
Sorry if I also sound harsh but you are using words like you are "spoilt" which to my thinking doesn't really apply to Diabetes... you are not treating yourself (or your family) well by not testing and taking good care of yourself. It's great that you are researching tools that could help you but unless you are willing to step up to the plate, they could at worst cause you (and your family) harm or at least be a waste of money.
You say, "on the pump my sugars are one hundred percent better", but at the same time your last A1c was 10%, what was it before?

[fgummett]

Using the converter on this site:

An HbA1c of 10% is equal to an average blood glucose of 278.7 mg/dl (15.48 mmol/l). Poor control, action strongly suggested.

Please post again and let us know how you are doing... there really are people here who give a darn... will help and support you... and care about you taking better care of yourself

[pooh3465]

Well that help A LOT on all the information videos I have seen (or I guess maybe the parts I have wanted to see) it said you did not have to do the actual finger sticks as much. If I have to take them more I am not sure I can make that. I suppose I have time to figure that out. Thank you for giving me more info about what it entails I have a nurse at my doctors office that said she had it but she says it just wasn't for her. This gives me a lot to reconsider.

[fgummett]

Best wishes, and please let us know how you make out

From what I have seen of the MM CGMS system you do need to keep testing BUT I love the trend graph and the fact that you can see which way your BG is heading rather than just what it is

~ Frank

[notme]

If I were you, I would try and gain control and a better A1C before getting the OmniPod. If you think it would work for you better than a MiniMed then that is great, but to change from one technology to another isn't going to change your testing habits. I think before you try another pump, you should decide if you are counting too much on technology to fix what may be a compliance issue.

I can sympathize with your inability to test more. Some people seem to have the personality of taking charge and others (like you and I) do the denial thing for many years. I still have compliance problems on occassion, go on spurts of doing much better and then fall back into my bad habits. I agree that the pump has improved my life and my A1C, but I know that compliance can still be my issue if I don't force myself to what needs to be done.

As for being "brittle", my doctors used to tell me the exact same thing. I also don't believe there is such a thing. People who don't suffer from wide swings in blood sugar may produce a small amount of insulin. Their body size may be smaller or less resistant to insulin that is injected. Some are just better at compliance than we are. I KNOW that some are better at understanding and charting and seeing trends than I am.

The pump is a tool. We are in charge of that tool and we need to know how to use it properly. Long story short, I think you should learn to use the tool you have and when you do, get the CGMS to tweak those numbers. The OmniPod will be there if you decide that you don't need the CGMS and you could change then.

Good luck Pooh. I really understand.

[Funnygrl]

I also want to emphathize that I've been there before as well- we all have. I'd had days where I haven't tested as much as I should or taken my insulin as I should- and it shows in my blood sugar control.

It sounds like you know you need better control and want to get there. I just don't think changing the technology is the way to do that.

I'm sorry if I sounded harsh before, but I just had a patient last night who ended up in DKA because her pump malfunctioned and she didn't catch it soon enough.

[pooh3465]

Originally Posted by fgummett

I have to agree with above posts that the pump and CGMS are just tools which can help you, BUT only if you are willing to work with them.. and for most people that means MORE work, not less. There is no such thing as an artificial pancreas yet where an ultra-sensitive CGMS controls the pump through a continuos feedback loop. The vital missing part of the equation is your willingness to test OFTEN... rather than 4-5 times "when you are able" (what does that actually mean?) a pump can require 8, 10, 12 tests a day especially when you are first starting out with it and even more especially if your control is brittle.
Sorry if I also sound harsh but you are using words like you are "spoilt" which to my thinking doesn't really apply to Diabetes... you are not treating yourself (or your family) well by not testing and taking good care of yourself. It's great that you are researching tools that could help you but unless you are willing to step up to the plate, they could at worst cause you (and your family) harm or at least be a waste of money.
You say, "on the pump my sugars are one hundred percent better", but at the same time your last A1c was 10%, what was it before?

NP about sounding harsh, before the pump I was walking around with blood sugars in the 4-500's everyday. I had conditioned my body to live at that level of bloodsugars and I am sure God helped keep me alive. When I got on my pump after the first week my son at 9 said mom you haven't yelled for a week. I often forget to take my insulin trying to make others happy.
Now before you all get on the bashing band wagon, I do hate diabetes but I had an abuser who used my diabetes as a reason for the abuse. So long ago in my mind I equate diabetes with self hate- ex. if I didn't have diabetes I wouldn't have been molested. so before you start trying to tell me to grow up you need to understand I have come along way in my journey and I am growing up I may not be doing it at the rate everyone else thinks I should but that is ok
I guess I am looking for something to come along and just magically take care of this **** but I have to take care of everyone else from my mom to my sister to my son. I think sometimes I am the **** bucket for the family lol I want to be healthy and I want to have great blood sugars but that would entail me cutting alot of my family out of my life and I am not willing to do that. So anything I can find to help me improve my bloodsugars and make me more aware of where they are at each hour I thought would help me pay more attention to them and maybe help my family to understand that it is not a disease I can turn off and on like I have been doing for the past 33 years.

I am not asking for pitty or sympathy I know every decision I have made in my life has been made by me and what I precieve to be my duty. As for living long so I can continue to help them, it doesn't matter when I die someone else will take my place I just want to be a good daughter, mother and sister while I am here on earth. And yes I do see a therapist for many more things then I care to list here and yes I know if you have never dealt with depresssion or abuse this will seem like a really stupid way of looking at things, right now i need to get off my butt and exercise so I am working on that. sorry I do appreciate all you comments and replies it helps alot to speak with people who have been taught to pay attention to thier diabetes and not to pretend it does not exist....................... thanks again April

P.S. don't hate me because I am an idiot, just talk to me and bring me around to your way of thinking as a friend