“Always test”, my NP told us as we began using the DexCom 7+, “the CGM can’t take the place of your meter”.

 

I’ll admit that some days I am tempted to trust it and calculate a bolus based on the CGM number but I’m glad that I haven’t and here’s why...

 

Last night at 3:30am (oh diabetes how you love to not let me sleep) Arden’s CGM beeped, when I checked her it said that her BG was 39! I reached for a piece of extra sugary candy and asked Arden to sit up and eat it while I tested her.  A few moments later her OmniPod PDM reported that her BG was actually 117.  

 

When the 117 came up on the PDM screen, Arden, without missing a beat said, “I’m not low” and she took the candy out of her mouth and flopped her head on the pillow.  It was very cute the way she delivered that line.  She was so deadpan and matter of fact about it.  

 

Please don’t get me wrong the DexCom is a fantastic and stress reducing diabetes management tool that I highly recommend to anyone with type I.

 

Moral of the story, CGM aren’t meters, test, test, test.