The CGM Experience From a Professional and Personal Perspective

The continuous glucose monitoring system, which is referred to as CGM for short, is a diabetes management tool that measures your blood glucose on a continuous basis.

CGMs are a new trend in diabetes management

With a CGM, a sensor is placed on your arm or stomach (depending on the brand of the device) and sends blood glucose readings to a monitor or use your own phone where you can view the data from your CGM. Using a CGM to measure your blood glucose readings in place of a blood glucose meter is the latest trend, and this is a good trend. You may have seen commercials for Dexcom or Freestyle Libre, both of which are continuous glucose monitoring systems.

My experience as a patient and educator

Full disclosure, before I offer my experience using a CGM, I have type 1 diabetes and am a diabetes educator. I have experience using both Dexcom and Freestyle Libre systems, and many of my patients with type 2 diabetes have used these CGMs. Unanimously, we have all loved having a CGM as part of our diabetes management toolbox!

CGMs gives you more information about your blood sugar

The key message to using a CGM is that knowledge is power. A continuous glucose monitor is more like a video of your blood sugar readings instead of a snapshot or a photograph of one reading here and there which is what you get with a blood glucose monitoring system (where you check your blood sugar from your finger or forearm).

The information on CGMs is always available

You may have experienced that blood sugar management is not the same every day or all day long. There are so many variables that affect our blood sugar. By having the information readily available from a CGM, you can make tweaks in your diabetes management whenever it's appropriate. It is easier to notice trends, and when you see trends that are driving your blood sugar too high or too low to adjust either your medication or eating patterns, or exercise.

Understanding the factors that affect blood sugar

A CGM paints the whole picture of how your lifestyle, such as physical activity, food consumption, medications, and stress, affects your readings. The CGM connects all the dots between an individual blood glucose monitoring check. You can see your blood sugar trends more clearly using a CGM. You can also see daily your time in range (TIR).

Readily available data to guide your choices

All this data was helpful in tweaking my day-to-day management. For instance, I was able to see when my blood sugar levels were rising more than two hours after a meal and when I added a walk with my dog, my blood sugar levels came back to target range. By looking at trends in my blood sugar during the day as well as the evening I was able to adjust my medications and my eating patterns to help keep my blood sugar in the target range.

Combating the Dawn Effect with CGMs

Many people with diabetes experience the Dawn Effect. That is when your blood sugar is in target before bed but is above target when you wake up in the morning. With the CGM it is so nice to be able to see how your blood sugar reacts through the night without setting an alarm clock to wake you up to check your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

Convenient built-in alarms

The CGMs have alarms to alert you if your blood sugar is starting to go below target or above target and this is extremely helpful. You now can be proactive in managing your blood sugar levels. It has been great to know if my blood sugar is trending low before my morning walk. If it’s low, I’ll know to have a snack or to hold off on my exercise until my reading is at a safer level.

Consult with your doctor about a continuous glucose monitoring system

If using a CGM as part of your diabetes management piques your interest, the next step would be to discuss this option with your doctor and or diabetes educator and check with your insurance plan about coverage.

Give a CGM a try, you may like it! I find that knowing what your blood sugar is at any time of the day or the night is reassuring.

Do you currently use a CGM? What is your experience like?