I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in my late 30s, precisely 3.5 years ago. Medically this is called LADA – Latent autoimmune diabetes in adults. In LADA, the pancreas stops making insulin for a variety of reasons which no one is aware of. This happens slowly over the year or maybe faster – we don’t know but this is an autoimmune disease with no cure.

When I got diagnosed in India, I was looking for someone like me. Someone who is diagnosed at a later stage in life and so I could see how others in my condition are managing their life. All I saw were adults who were diagnosed in the early years of life and they had a lifetime of experience living with it. I was questioning myself, ‘how am I to understand my full-blown life with a lifelong autoimmune condition?’ and consuming content from these people.

One thing I found common in all of them was a cgm and an insulin pump. Perfect!

Not only was I this weird type in the community and I was also on insulin pens and finger testing. It was working fine for me but when I moved to the USA, we realized that having a CGM may give you a better picture of your blood sugar without pricking. And we are thinking of starting a family soon so my doctor advised for an hba1c of less than 6 which I have not been able to do at all to date and I think I have good control over my blood sugar.

So, the decision to have CGM was made. We discussed between a libre and a Dexcom and finally Dexcom was chosen. At this point, we are not emotionally invested in any of these and want the cheapest and the best product for us ( these are not cheap btw, even with insurance).

Today was the completion of my first 10 days of using Dexcom CGM. For those who don’t know this, the Dexcom sensor is for 10 days, and every 10 days you have to inject a new one. Finally, my thoughts of these first 10 days –

-It is very easy to inject and literally painless. I did feel like I had something on at all times but that is expected, right?

-You can shower and do anything wearing this. The adhesive is really strong and in fact, I had a little hard time taking it off today. I am considering shaving my belly so my hair won’t pull so much when I remove the tape.

-It beeps when you are going low, going high and that is very helpful. So far the results have been accurate with an exception of 2 times in the last 10 days when I had to calibrate.

-The graph is the highlight of having a CGM. It tells you if you are trending high, low, stable, etc which is so helpful in making small decisions but also motivating to try and keep yourself in range.

-You can share the live data with someone and Jonathan gets my reading. It is really helpful that he also can see and help me in potential even of danger. Also, it makes him calm that I have been in range.

-There are charts that you can see for the whole week. Now, I just downloaded the clarity app today before removing my sensor so I am not experienced in this, yet.

Overall, I am very happy with this decision of moving with a CGM. This is indeed pricier than finger testing but it gives so much control over your life. Let’s see if I ever convert into an insulin pump?

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You are also a fellow diabestie? Share your experience with me here. I am curious to see how it works for everyone.