CGWhyIOutta….M.

   I’ve been stewing about this for a few weeks now.  Stewing over the fact that my CGM has this fickle, grating, uncooperative mind of its very own.  I am, to say the least, a little frustrated, angry, and generally a little disheartened by its performance thus far. 

    If you haven’t scrolled down to my earlier posts, I sport the new Medtronic 530G with Enlite – in purple, of course.  I am extremely happy with the pump.  Amazingly so for my needs and wants – I have noticed a drop in my blood sugars, I don’t have to worry about a zillion shots all day long (how annoying is it when you just want to bolus for something teeny-tiny such as 2g of carbohydrate in creamer to go along with the elixir of life and you have to whip out and waste a needle for one paltry unit of insulin?), and I don’t have to look like that drug addict one table over in a restaurant.

    But…well…damn.  I know that sensor readings aren’t going to match up with actual blood glucose readings from a finger stick – I understand that, I just thought it’d be at least in the ballpark!  (I have been assured that they should be)  My readings have been absolute WHACK.  For example, the pump will want to shut off (the Medtronic 530G is programmed to suspend if a person’s BG goes waaaaay too low, but you guys already knew that…), telling me I am 50mg/dl with double down arrows when in reality, I am 110mg/dl.  Or vice versa: I am 190mg/dl, yet the CGM is reading 349mg/dl and rising.  Did I mention this is all while I should be stable?  I mean, what the world?  Further more, there have been two calibration errors – well, yeah, that is what happens when your sensor reads 86mg/dl and you’re really 176mg/dl.  Also, it’s upsetting knowing that something so small as (unknowingly) rolling over the sensor and laying on it overnight can throw the numbers way out of sync.  I’ve gotten to the point of frustration where I’ve turned the sensor off and went CGM-free for days on end.  I’ve had about one stretch where all seemed copasetic. 

    I called Medtronic’s HelpLine today for some answers and well, I’m not 100% sure I got any real answers I can use…at least right away.  I’m going to reconnect tomorrow morning and see how everything goes…Through looking over my data and troubleshooting if I have a faulty transmitter (which I apparently do not), the only explanation I was given (besides hearing again about how numbers rarely are matchy-matchy, we’re supposed to be looking at trends here…) was that either the lot on the sensors are bad (which, again, was told probably not)…then it’s my body and sensor placement.  I’m not putting them on wrong – I made sure of that.  I do not for one second believe that these sensors hate every part of my body…they’ve been all over my abdomen and shh! I’ve tried the back of my arm (I’ve already been told that is not an approved site, don’t worry) but alas, to no real avail. 

    So, I am currently at a frustrated impasse.  They are sending me a replacement sensor to see if that makes a difference – I’ll cross my fingers.  I am very grateful that I have this type of technology at my disposal, and do think that this information is very valuable and that I want it – but I just wish it would be working better.  I don’t expect to get this technology and POOF! have it work perfectly the first time and every time; there is trial and error and kinks…but is it too much to ask for everything to at least be on the same playing field?  I’d be fine if I was on second base and my CGM were up to bat…but I feel like my CGM is off in the stands eating a hot dog with chili, onions and mustard.