Track Changes.
One of the best things though about having a CGM is being able to track my numbers in the downloads. I’d never really been a person who downloads their CGM frequently before I started seeing a new doctor here in Portland. Her office does it the second I walk in for my visit, and that, along with my pump download, is the basis for our visit. We look for trends and patterns and discuss areas that need troubleshooting. Since I put the pressure on lowering my A1c a few months ago, I’ve started doing downloads at home as well, about every two weeks or so. And it has made all the difference in my management these days.
I’m a person who weighs herself most days of the week. The reason I do that is because I like to stay on top of any weight gain before it becomes a “whoa, how did that happen?” situation. When I see the scale creep up a pound or two, it reminds me to make healthier choices at the next meal. I know that for many people, weighing themselves this often would drive them crazy - or worse, drive them to anxiety and I don’t recommend it for everyone - I’m just saying that this is what has worked for me.
Similarly, downloading my CGM every two weeks or so and looking at the last week of numbers - and in particular the average BG - has helped me prevent the same kind of “creep up” in my numbers, just like my weight. A week ago I noticed that my average BG had gone up from 124mg/dL to 134mg/dL over a 14 day period. Not a huge jump, but that could be the difference between and A1c that’s under 6.5% or not and that does matter to me. When I see that uptick, I can also examine the download to see if it was just one off day or two that may have thrown the average off, or a pattern that needs work. In this most recent case, it was very clear that the higher average was caused by one day with a bad infusion site as well as the baby shower/delicious-carby-food-all-day situation that preceded said bum cannula. If I hadn’t isolated the causes in that way, I would have known that the rise in BG was due to my management decisions, and I can then proactively work to get it back down. With a CGM that’s providing almost 300 readings a day, it’s much easier to predict what your A1c will be than from a meter average with fingersticks only.
For me, checking in on my download reports has helped keep me motivated and on point. And again, I know it’s not for everyone, but checking in often on my weight and my numbers has worked for me, because it helps me get back on track before I veer off too far. And since we all know that “cruise control” doesn’t fly for diabetes management, that’s been a helpful resource for me. Do you all download your CGMs often? Or save it for the doctor’s office?
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The best way I have found for me to keep on top of things is to manually fill in an excel spreadsheet with all my blood sugars from the previous day. It sounds a little much, but like you said, it forces me to check in and look for patterns once a day.