Skip to Content

How 'bout those CGMs? And other modern inconveniences

How 'bout those CGMs? And other modern inconveniences

“How 'bout those CGMs?"

I was at the doctor's office today—not the endo's—and the nurse was double-checking I still used the Freestyle Libre.

Turns out, she has a Dexcom. I've said it before in this forum: the advances in diabetes tech are game changers. They have forever changed the way diabetes is managed. End game: more time in range (this is a fairly new concept), better AICs.

I discussed this recently with several diabetes providers for a recent story on Walgreens entering the market. They love this stuff.

But for all this technology, nothing is perfect. Take the Dexcom outage last weekend.

I don't know the details, except that users were not receiving alerts that their numbers were high or low. This was especially frightening for parents who use Dexcom to keep track of their young, sugar-free children.

It's at times like this I hope everyone has a backup meter and a paper logbook, but then, I am an anachronism.

Earlier this week, I actually did have an appointment at the endo's office, with the CDE. I checked in 15 minutes early for my appointment. Some sort of glitch (human? computer?) failed to register me. Looking up from the computer screen to see me not-so-patiently waiting in the nearly empty waiting room where I was trying to avoid making eye contact with an annoying person from another life might have solved this, but I digress.

Anywho, it turns out my chagrin over, uh, bouncy numbers Thanksgiving week were for naught. I very recently switched from using my Libre reader to scanning the sensor with my iPhone. That means, instead of uploading my numbers directly to the computer, it had to be sent, as if by magic (and electronic invitation), to some server or some such. Alas, the mobile dead spot I was in meant I couldn't get past step No. 2 (accepting the terms, for those of you keeping track.) to get all set up.

Yep, waited 35 minutes to be seen only to have no data to look at.

Comments

To comment on this post, please log in to your account or set up an account now.