WEARING A CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITOR IS HELPING

Sometime last summer, my endocrinologist prescribed the Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitoring system for me. My insurance paid 100% of the cost, and now there's no need to prick my finger. Woohoo! Just like the commercial says, it is painless and easy to do. Every ten days I must change the sensor that is stuck to my upper abdomen. It comes with a little device to implant it and adhesive strips already attached. It truly is painless and I have never had any medical problem with the device or the adhesive.

The Dexcom is pretty easy to set up, just follow the directions in the booklet or call the 800 number they provide. This system came with a small monitor that displays my info and there is also an app for my phone - I use both. I like keeping the small monitor in my pocket and I can pull it out anytime and just push one button to see what my blood sugar reading is. Super Easy! I also like the app on my phone because it can give me all kinds of reports and I am in control of what information it displays. The phone app can also send my information to my doctor, which keeps me honest. Also, there is an app for someone in your life to "Follow" you and your meter. I downloaded this app on my husband's phone, and he can look at it to see what my blood sugar is doing anytime, anywhere. It also has alarm settings in the app, so if I get dangerously high, or am rapidly crashing, he gets an alert. Cool, huh.

Whenever I cheat and eat something sweet or carb heavy, or even when I eat my resistant starches like sweet potatoes and parsnips, my monitor screeches loudly when it hits the threshold that I set. I set mine at 200, and I had no idea how easy it was for me to reach this until the Dexcom. It will also screech loudly if I hit 70 and am still dropping. Nothing like being awakened in the middle of the night because I had popcorn before bed and now my blood sugar is above 200! Turns out, the screeching is very good motivation. My husband can sit next to me and eat his bowl of ice cream, and when he offers me a bite I can say "no thanks, I don't want my monitor to screech."

This monitor makes it super easy to learn even more about my diet. What foods can I truly eat? Does how I cook them make a difference? How quickly or slowly do I digest certain foods? I'm a research freak and this monitor gives me so much info. I highly recommend getting a continuous monitor!