Proud to be erratic
Well-Known Member
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 3c
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm almost 2 yrs into this "challenge". I kept a logbook of carbs and insulin for a year, then Libre 2 came along. I also used the MySugar app for c.6months, since I have an Accu-chek Mobile tester; this is the model with a cassette of 50 test strips and a finger pricker that includes a cartridge of lancets, but also provides a WiFi attachment that transmits to MySugar. Hence a natural move to using MySugar, which I liked. Then keeping Libre 2 up to date became a (necessary) full time job and MySugar slipped away!
Barbara @rebrascora sums up for me the benefit of Libre 2: flexible and reactive. I have the Diabox app on my android phone converting the flash readings into CGM, which makes the reactive component even easier. When I want a quick (immediate) read of Libre 2 the reader wins every time; get it somewhere near and the reading arrives; phone scanning is pot luck - it may work first time but still takes forever to display, but frequently gives a scan error. I have no idea if that's because my Samsung 5 is elderly and cranky or just a feature of Libre scanning. But Diabox CGM is there, constantly and for me this makes the transition from finger pricking to flash scanning seem primitive!
However this is a slight digression. My reason for picking up on this thread is the "reactive" component. Having technology that gives such quick visibility, without the tedious, slightly painful, business of finger-pricking is I suspect introducing so many more people into a new way of managing DM. I certainly watch my CGM screen while I'm eating.
As a T3c I sometimes crash more rapidly than I can fend off; my timing between pre-bolus and eating is erratic and becomes very rapid changing - but I can react. For instance I regularly (almost always) have a high carb breakfast of cereal, milk, fruits, nuts, seeds and cream (my indulgence because I can!). If I'm crashing before I've poured the cream I'll omit that to allow more rapid digestion. If the cream is already in the mix, I'll eat all the high GI bits first - whatever, I can see the BG response, both as it happens as well as retrospectively in the stored data. Reactive! During the day if I get a sudden fall my alarms tell me and I can react. While driving I periodically go close or into hypo territory; now I can react. Before Libre 2 with Diabox, I didn't know until I was hypo and pulling over when on the M42 at peak traffic time is not an experience I want to repeat.
It also occurs to me that the relatively new "measure" of Glycaemic Variability Index (GVI) [lots of articles on this within google] will become a standard in the future as more and more people can get this from their CGM. Diabox provides me with my GVI on the main display screen (for 1, 7, 14 days or 1 & 3 months); I score 2.0 (=F+/-) across all time periods which doesn't surprise me; my DM is very erratic. My challenge to myself is to reduce this erratic behaviour and my measure to see how I'm doing is no longer subjective: GVI confirms so far not much improvement, but it's a target.
I recommend the Diabox app (its free) for anyone with an android phone (not currently available for apple phones - licence problems, but the developer (a T1) is wrestling with this). Diabox has better alarms than Libre, 2x upper and 2x lower (essential for me) with a more sensible upper limit for the lower alarms - I set @6.8 to advise me I'm dropping (which I can choose to ignore or react) and an Urgent really low alarm (ignore at my peril!). The alarm sounds are plenty and varied and I choose them. Better display options than LibreLink on my phone. Having CGM is really useful and informative; but like most technology it can become intrusive, I can spend too much time looking at trends etc.
Barbara @rebrascora sums up for me the benefit of Libre 2: flexible and reactive. I have the Diabox app on my android phone converting the flash readings into CGM, which makes the reactive component even easier. When I want a quick (immediate) read of Libre 2 the reader wins every time; get it somewhere near and the reading arrives; phone scanning is pot luck - it may work first time but still takes forever to display, but frequently gives a scan error. I have no idea if that's because my Samsung 5 is elderly and cranky or just a feature of Libre scanning. But Diabox CGM is there, constantly and for me this makes the transition from finger pricking to flash scanning seem primitive!
However this is a slight digression. My reason for picking up on this thread is the "reactive" component. Having technology that gives such quick visibility, without the tedious, slightly painful, business of finger-pricking is I suspect introducing so many more people into a new way of managing DM. I certainly watch my CGM screen while I'm eating.
As a T3c I sometimes crash more rapidly than I can fend off; my timing between pre-bolus and eating is erratic and becomes very rapid changing - but I can react. For instance I regularly (almost always) have a high carb breakfast of cereal, milk, fruits, nuts, seeds and cream (my indulgence because I can!). If I'm crashing before I've poured the cream I'll omit that to allow more rapid digestion. If the cream is already in the mix, I'll eat all the high GI bits first - whatever, I can see the BG response, both as it happens as well as retrospectively in the stored data. Reactive! During the day if I get a sudden fall my alarms tell me and I can react. While driving I periodically go close or into hypo territory; now I can react. Before Libre 2 with Diabox, I didn't know until I was hypo and pulling over when on the M42 at peak traffic time is not an experience I want to repeat.
It also occurs to me that the relatively new "measure" of Glycaemic Variability Index (GVI) [lots of articles on this within google] will become a standard in the future as more and more people can get this from their CGM. Diabox provides me with my GVI on the main display screen (for 1, 7, 14 days or 1 & 3 months); I score 2.0 (=F+/-) across all time periods which doesn't surprise me; my DM is very erratic. My challenge to myself is to reduce this erratic behaviour and my measure to see how I'm doing is no longer subjective: GVI confirms so far not much improvement, but it's a target.
I recommend the Diabox app (its free) for anyone with an android phone (not currently available for apple phones - licence problems, but the developer (a T1) is wrestling with this). Diabox has better alarms than Libre, 2x upper and 2x lower (essential for me) with a more sensible upper limit for the lower alarms - I set @6.8 to advise me I'm dropping (which I can choose to ignore or react) and an Urgent really low alarm (ignore at my peril!). The alarm sounds are plenty and varied and I choose them. Better display options than LibreLink on my phone. Having CGM is really useful and informative; but like most technology it can become intrusive, I can spend too much time looking at trends etc.
