My day started with a Leg / Ab session at the gym. Very short, about 40 minute, as I had some work to take care of quite early on. Afterwards I went to my mums to have breakfast and shower etc. At this point I was really excited because I knew that in a few hours I would be learning how to use my new CGM; less finger pricks and a more accurate reading of my blood sugar. I also felt really positive that it would help me fix my night time blood sugar mishaps – highs, lows – waking up sweating etc.
I arrived at the diabetes clinic at 9:40am with the intention to start at 10am. I was early and in need of some coffee, so I went to the Costa which was shut so I had to quickly run across to Starbucks. I felt like I was cheating on Costa, but I wanted my Americano.
Anyway, when I got back to the diabetes centre 9:50am I was sat in the waiting room wondering who was going to be on the course with me. It turned out to be everyone apart from 1 person. Lol. There was 6 of us in total. 2 males, 4 females (including myself) of mixed ages. Plus 2 nurses and 1 extra male who was the partner of one of the girls.
As I walked into the meeting room I saw that the boxes were all laid out for us. Similar to when I started the course for the pump. We were given a brief talk about how the sensors work with the pump, what the arrows mean and how long you could expect each sensor to last. I was told that they would last for around 1 week, or two weeks at a push. If you already have a Dexcom, is this accurate?
Next, it was time to get connected – Individually, we went into a room with a nurse who helped guide with inserting the sensor. Everyone was given the choice as to where they would put the sensor. I chose to do mine in my arm so she literally had to do it for me because I couldn’t grab my skin and put it in at the same time. I thought it was going to hurt but it didn’t. It was virtually pain free, just a little scratch. It hurt much less that the pump infusion sets.
After waiting for a few hours I was able to see my graph. I had to enter 2 separate blood sugars within a 5 minute time frame in order to calibrate the CGM. I was 4.4mmols and then 5mmols.
Not only will this little sensor help me with my night time difficulties, it will also settle my curiosity as a researcher by allowing me to experiment with exercise in more detail; dance, weight lifting, pole dance, yoga, HIIT and walking. I’ll be sharing results on my blog so keep an eye for future posts.
What difference does a continuous glucose monitor make to your life?
Rowena x
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