Dexcom Magic
The Dexcom sensor is magic and the days of manually checking my blood sugar are over. When I say the Dexcom blood glucose sensor is magic, I mean it.
Manually testing my blood sugar never really bothered me. Sure, I had to stab a needle into my finger, but it never was super painful to me. What I DID find problematic was the obstacle of carrying around my BG kit and then having to set it up each time I wanted to check my sugar. I know this sounds like a small complaint, but ultimately it did impact my day. See, every time I had to manually check my BG, it felt like an interruption to the normalcy of my day. Regardless of quickly or efficiently I could test my BG, it still required the process of doing so. People without diabetes do not have to check their blood sugar, and whenever I had to do so, it reinforced that I was somehow different than others. Maybe this is a small point, but I feel like psychologically it’s an important one. Simply put, testing my blood sugar made me feel different.
Personally, I believe the Dexcom sensor shines in its ability to efficiently read my blood sugar and let me know what direction, either high or low, that I am trending. Instead of a medium sized black box containing my blood glucose kit, now all I have to carry around is a pocket sized Dexcom monitor. Even better, is that I don't always need to carry that monitor around. See, the Dexcom sensor has built in Bluetooth capability and an application for my Iphone that does not require the monitor to be present. This allows me to use my Iphone and my Apple Watch to monitor my blood glucose levels throughout the day.
The sensor itself is relatively small compared to insulin pumps I have used in the past. They last around 10 days, and take about 2 hours to calibrate. In order to avoid any interruptions in my BG monitoring, I have elected to change my Dexcom sensor right after I shower before bed. This insures that I don't need to change anything during the day, and that I still have blood glucose monitoring capabilities during the night in case my BG spikes or plumets.
The Dexcom sensor has greatly increased my quality of life. More importantly, it’s increased the “normal ness” of my day to day.