Blood glucometers inaccuracy and my Dexcom CGM....

I hate the fact that blood glucose monitors are allowed to be so inaccurate. I just got a whacky reading of 171, thought hmm thats odd, rechecked...140. How the heck am I suppose to gain any stable control when a correction for 171 would have made me go low when I was really 140. I always feel weird around 140-150 and can never tell if I am high, low or ok. I have felt low at 150 several times, corrected and shot straight to the upper 200's so I always check now. Also I cannot sleep (hot, sweaty and uncomfortable) if my blood sugar is over 150, anyone else like that? I guess it is a good thing because my body it trying to tell me, hey you...check your dang blood sugar.  My average on my meter for 30 days is back down to 138 and I am so excited, hoping to get that number to 120. I am still horrified to get down to an A1C of 6.0% but I will sure try. With my Dexcom I can interrupt a low in progress, I LOVE that.  I absolutely LOVE my DEXCOM CGM, without it I would feel like a blind person trying to walk through a forest now that I have had it for two months.  I also love my Dexcom because I have had the same sensor on for 15 days and it is still accurate, go figure.  I have only used four sensors since the last week of December and I have 8 left.  Thanks to Smith & Nephew Opsite Flexfix I have the capability to wear one that many days and this tape is the sh*t!!  It flexes with movement, it doesnt pull on your skin, and holy smokes when I go to pull it off after 15 days I am amazed at how hard it is stuck to me!!  It also doesn't retain moisture and it dries fast after showers.  It's just the most amazing tape I have ever used!  Thank you to that woman who wrote that blog about her son's terrible allergy to the Dexcom adhesive, that is the only reason I got the Flexfix!  I was having terrible allergy issues with SkinTac wipes and was about to go out of my mind itching.  I no longer use that junk for anything, thank God.   

What I have learned from Facebook Diabetic Support Groups....

So after being on a few Diabetic support groups on Facebook I have learned many new things. Most importantly I have learned that the majority of Endocrinologists and General Practitioners are still practicing OLD SCHOOL Diabetes treatment plans. Most are still not even discussing putting people on insulin pumps or continuous glucose monitoring. These are the latest and greatest treatments available. Granted it is NOT for everyone and I understand that but the people who call themselves ENDOCRINOLOGISTS (Diabetes doctors) that are unwilling to put people on pumps that want to be, should have their LICENSE REVOKED! This is one of the many reasons why so many Diabetics are in SUCH BAD SHAPE!! They are being denied the most up to date treatments and these things are what will help prevent Diabetic COMPLICATIONS later on in life. There are still medical professionals and other Diabetics that think because you are on a pump you are a "really bad Diabetic" that is so far from the truth it isn't even funny!! In fact an insulin pump is the best treatment we have AVAILABLE to us and it still SUCKS at it's best. Insulin is so unpredictable and it has been around for YEARS and yet it hasn't been perfected yet!! I understand the same could be said for many medications but to eat the same things each and every single day and take the same exact amount of insulin every single day and to get a different result every single day, THIS IS WHY WE HAVE COMPLICATIONS and why it is so frustrating!! Any little swing in your blood glucose level causes damage...it's unavoidable with TYPE ONE DIABETES. Being a female, our hormones are also fighting us throughout different times of each month causing our blood glucose levels to swing in an unpredictable manner. I am just so fed up with the freaking medical field I just want to smack each and every Endo that doesn't want to do pumps or doesn't think they are a good thing....they think this only and only because they DONT WANT TO LEARN how to use them!! Many people take what they say and write it in stone when in fact there are better things out there and better ways to treat Diabetes but they just put on their blinders and go about treating it like it's 1950. I learned the hard way, my first Endo was a moron and didn't EVER talk to be about carb to insulin ratios, correction factors, active insulin or sensitivity changes, and I figured I was getting the best treatment I could!! I WAS SO WRONG!! SO SO SO VERY WRONG!! Then I met Calli, my Certified Diabetes Educator, and she saved my life!! She set me straight and got me on a pump and figured out all my settings and within a few months had my numbers in much better shape! If it wasn't for her I wouldn't know all these things, I wouldn't be on a continuous glucose monitor and I would be going down a rocky path to my health's destruction. So to anyone who knows any DIABETICS please tell them you CAN GET AS MANY TEST STRIPS as you NEED, you CAN GET ON A PUMP and you CAN GET ON A GLUCOSE SENSOR if you WANT it!! DO NOT let any doctor tell you otherwise!!! I just want to scream it from the roof tops because I am SO FED UP with the crappy American health system and their ignorance towards my disease that I fight every single second. Please don't get me wrong there are much worse diseases out there, I am not trying to sweep them under rug, but this is the one I am fighting and I want to help others fighting it as well.

This doesn't even come close to the scrutiny that Diabetic women get when they are pregnant.  I have heard horror stories from other Diabetic pregnant women, most of which are caused my medical staff.  From people being forced to remove their pumps to over or under dosing insulin.  This is insanity!  What year is it....2012 or 1950?   I mean really what is taking so long for everyone to catch up?  

I am only sharing this because I want to help others that don't even know this is possible, this is for the people that think that their insurance only giving them 4 strips a day is ok, when in fact you can get more, you just have to FIGHT!   Don't accept no for an answer EVER when related to your health...keep fighting.  I had to fight 6 months for my pump, 5 months for my glucose sensor and getting a letter written to get 300 test strips a month.  

Originally written on 2-22-12