View Full Version : Holy A1c, Navigator-Man!
Diana
10-13-2008, 07:42 PM
We had our endo visit today.
Oliver's A1c was 6.0 (down from 6.3).
I am so shocked. I actually expected it to go up because we've wiped out most of the lows. But I guess we are catching and acting on highs much faster, and that has made a huge difference.
I almost gave the endo a heart attack when I finally said, " WOW! That means I can shoot for the 5's!"
We still have some overnight basal problems. If I can fix those, the nurse said he thought we'd be in the 5's for sure.
According to the Navigator stats - for the last month we've been below range only 5% of the time and in range 83% (using 80-180). Really, he is above range more than that though because the Navigator can't keep up as his BG rises. But still.
Wow - I love CGMS.
Darryl
10-13-2008, 07:49 PM
Congratulations... and I'm not at all surprised!
:)That is great news. I would love to be in the fives. I have been using a MM CGM since August and I wonder what mine will be. I tend to run in the same range as you-low sixes and also notice that my MM CGM does not record most of my highs. I really dislike that as I was hoping it would catch those. It works well for me on the lows but never(or rarely) records my highs and if I was not testing on my own I would go way to high based on the CGM readings. I may need to call MM and see if there is a way around this issue. Anyone reading this who has suggestions pipe on in!!:confused: Ali
hold48398
10-13-2008, 11:06 PM
Awesome!!! :) :) :)
Diana
10-13-2008, 11:52 PM
It works well for me on the lows but never(or rarely) records my highs and if I was not testing on my own I would go way to high based on the CGM readings. I may need to call MM and see if there is a way around this issue. Anyone reading this who has suggestions pipe on in!!:confused: Ali
Well, maybe I should clarify. The Navigator does detect the highs. I just mean that a significant proportion of the time, once the high alarm goes off, Oliver's BG is probably already over 200. But we never see 300s anymore, and only rarely get over 250.
We have the high threshold set at 180 with the intention of catching his BG before he gets too far past 200. If he's with me, I'll sometimes lower the threshold to 150 or 160, but I can't do that when he's at school. It would go off too often since I can't vary the threshold by time of day (to deal with post meal spikes).
Well with my set it often does catch the high with a real lag time but often does not measure the real extent of the high. i.e really up around 180 and it never shows higher than 140. But the real whammy for me is when I shoot above 200 and it never registers above 135 in any of its readings so it would never alarm me in that case-I only catch because of my regular BG checks, those are the highs I would like to avoid so if it alarmed or even showed a 160 or 180 I could have cut it off before I got to 220. :(Ali
Diana
10-14-2008, 01:57 AM
Well with my set it often does catch the high with a real lag time but often does not measure the real extent of the high. i.e really up around 180 and it never shows higher than 140. But the real whammy for me is when I shoot above 200 and it never registers above 135 in any of its readings so it would never alarm me in that case-I only catch because of my regular BG checks, those are the highs I would like to avoid so if it alarmed or even showed a 160 or 180 I could have cut it off before I got to 220. :(Ali
That's not good. Our first Navigator was like that so I feel your pain! Abbott eventually replaced it for me. I called customer service a lot.
I don't have any suggestions for the MM system, but if I were you, I'd call them every time it happens.
Diana
10-14-2008, 02:10 AM
Congratulations... and I'm not at all surprised!
Thanks Darryl - and thanks for all of your help. While we can't quite use CGMS the way you do, you gave me lots of very helpful things to think about:)
ecs1516
10-14-2008, 10:03 AM
Diana,
How long have you been using your Navigator now? Great A1C!
Oh, love the title of your thread!
Mama Belle
10-14-2008, 11:43 AM
Woo hoo! Great news! Congrats!
http://www.mysmiley.net/imgs/smile/happy/happy0158.gif
Diana
10-14-2008, 02:43 PM
Diana,
How long have you been using your Navigator now? Great A1C!
Not quite two months - and the first 6 weeks we were using the one that didn't detect rising BGs very well.
Oh, love the title of your thread!
Thanks! I almost said something similar but quite innappropriate when the endo told me his A1c. I still can't believe it made such a huge difference - especially when I still see things we can improve on.
Darryl
10-14-2008, 09:10 PM
Thanks Darryl - and thanks for all of your help. While we can't quite use CGMS the way you do, you gave me lots of very helpful things to think about:)
Diana,
From your A1C, I'd say you're using the CGMS at least as effectively as we are!
My dd still has low total daily insulin, so you're job might be even harder than ours.
Diana
10-15-2008, 03:07 AM
Diana,
My dd still has low total daily insulin, so you're job might be even harder than ours.
Well, Oliver uses about 7 units of basal a day (although this can vary from 4-8 units, and last month we even got up to 11 units).
I think his TDD ranges from 14-18 units. Some days he can rack up the carbs.
He is 7 and 55 pounds. I know at some point the endo told us he was on a relatively small amount of basal for his size - but I have no idea whether that is still true.
Mama Belle
10-15-2008, 05:48 PM
Well, Oliver uses about 7 units of basal a day (although this can vary from 4-8 units, and last month we even got up to 11 units).
I think his TDD ranges from 14-18 units. Some days he can rack up the carbs.
He is 7 and 55 pounds. I know at some point the endo told us he was on a relatively small amount of basal for his size - but I have no idea whether that is still true.
Whoa. I remember the days of 7 units of basal, that was a looooooong time ago for us. Sam's TDD is around 34-35. :eek: