So yesterday was the big day! I am connected and am using the Minimed CGM system and so far so good.
My trainer was the same person who trained me on my pump many years ago and she was a great teacher. Still is thankfully so I learned a lot and got some tips too since she is a Type 1 and using the system herself.
The funniest part of the training was when it came to an end and we found that were locked into the company property her family owns which is where we met since it is so close to work. We tried to find a way out but all the doors were locked as were all the driveways. And the barbed wire made for us to have to call and wait for someone to get it. I thought it was funny but she was embarrassed.
So last night I did my calibration when my BG was nice and stable and then had dinner. I watched the graph climb up over time and it was interesting to see the trend of my BG after I eat. If the Lakers were not on I probably would have never taken my eyes off the thing.
Before I went to bed I did another calibration so I would not have to wake up in the middle of the night to do one but guess what, it did not work because my BG was dropping so I got woken up to calibrate again. I checked my BG and I was high. Without thinking I bolused to correct and then realized that I cannot be stable if I am correcting! Duh! So instead of calibrating again. I waited an hour, checked and had come down into range. I still did not want to chance it. I set my alarm for another hour and checked. My BG was just a little lower so I figured it would be a good time to calibrate.
A little later I was woken up by a new alarm. It turns out Master P makes all kinds of cooky sounds. This one said, “Lost Sensor.” So I remembered how to “find” the sensor and took care of that. Apparently having your pump between your feet when the sensor is on your stomach does not work. No biggie. I took care of that and went back to sleep.
When my alarm when off this morning. I checked my BG, calibrated, and took a look at my graph. It was a bummer to see a gap in the graph already but I think if I eat dinner earlier tonight I should be good for bedtime.
There is a large learning curve I know I am just at the beginning of but I am hopeful that I will figure all this stuff out. Not to mention all the awesome emails and comments from you all who are helping your ninja pal out.
And I am ALWAYS open to your ideas and suggestions.
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10 comments:
Yay!! I'm so happy you got it! And it seems to be going well! I don't have one (yet) so I have NO tips for ya. Hopefully I can look to you for tips when I finally get on!
That is too funny that you guys got locked in! haha
Cool! Great that you are off and running. Thanks for posting about your experience. I'm right behind you...my training on the MM pump/CGM is scheduled for next week.
The more you get the hang of it, the less it will wake you up at night on accident :) I have been on my dexcom for almost a month and I am finally starting to get the hang of it. Calibrating when your sugars are stable is the biggest thing, glad you got that down right away. It took me a couple of weeks to figure that out, hahaha! I finally am starting to trust the readings as they are really following my trends. Hang in there if you get frustrated, it does get easier and you get better at using it.
G-
SO happy to hear your literally and figuratively "hooked up!"
Keep ups posted on all the "ups and downs!" Sorry I couldn't resist ;)
BACON
k2
The first calibration always sucks because it forces you to calibrate at 2 hrs after inserting, and then again at 6 hrs (so don't put in a new sensor before bed! Bad news!).
Here's my calibration schedule, that I stole from Gina. It works really well!
1. First thing a.m. Before you eat, before you do anything. You're about as stable as can be.
2. 4 p.m. and/or mid-afternoon snack time. For me, this is about 3-4 hours after I last ate (lunch), so again, the insulin's pretty much done working, and this is also before I either eat dinner/go to the gym, which will then mess things up.
3. Bedtime. For me, this is about 10:30/11:00 p.m. Again, this is about 3-4 hours after I have had dinner and exercised, so my blood sugar is probably about as down as I'll get. It also makes sure that I don't wake up at 4 a.m. to calibrate, because your CGM forces you to calibrate at least every 12 hrs.
You don't need to calibrate every time you test your blood sugar. I've noticed that calibrating it too much can sometimes confuse the CGM.
Wahoo!!!! You are on your way!!! I've found the opposite thing than Allison - I calibrate after every fingerstick as long as I don't have any rapid up or down arrows. And I find my CGM is almost always spot on. Well, as spot on as this technology is so far. So I guess it's another one of those things where you have to fiddle a bit and see what works best for you.
I am glad to hear that you finally got started on the CGMS. I don't have one, but would like to hear more about it in your future posts. I never realized that you have to calibrate the CGMS so often. Is there a set time when you have to calibrate or do you have to calibrate each time when your bg goes too low or too high?
So cool! A Ninjameter is born! Looking forward to putting it through it's paces on our next "In & Out Burger" run!
Theresa,
You're not supposed to test when you're low or high, at least not if your CGM shows that you are rapidly moving because that makes it impossible to the CGM to calibrate correctly. You have to calibrate when you're steady so the CGM and the meter can get on the same page.
You are supposed to calibrate at LEAST 2 times a day (every 12 hours), but many are encouraged to do it more often, because that helps the meter and CGM to stay in alignment better. Hope that helps!
This waas lovely to read
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