Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard (nee Tackett) has dedicated her career to supporting the T1D community ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
Sarah and her husband live in NYC with their cat Gracie. In her spare time, she enjoys doing comedy, taking dance classes, visiting art museums, and exploring different neighborhoods in NYC.
I’d feel a tremendous amount of stress if I was without a sensor for a full week because my Tandem pump uses the sensor data in the Control IQ app.
It would be very stressful since my Loop uses Dex readings to function. I don’t even want to think about going back to the PDM to run Omnipod.
I would have much less stress. I very much value the information but they fault and spit out errors that they dont need to. I have even turned off all alerts they were so bad. So I just look at the pump more.
I don’t link to a pump but I use my readings constantly to adjust injections. I feel like once you’ve had a CGM, you’d never want to go back. I wish our healthcare system allowed the price to be such that every diabetic could get one. To me they are a gamechanger and I’d feel very odd not knowing what my levels are at all times. I hate being in the dark for the 2 hour warm-up!
I like having the CGM information but after 40+ years without a CGM I would be ok without it.
Due to an insurance screw-up and the pandemic, I went about six months without my CGM last year. It made me insane.
I had that happen recently. I thought I had another box of 3 Dexcom sensors. What I actually had was the empty receiver box. I used finger sticks until my order arrived and it was fine most of the time. I did worry about night time lows, so I made sure to be conservative on the boluses in the evening. I don’t get those lows very often, but it does happen some times.
I can live without oxygen for 6 minutes. I can live without water for 3 days. I am also so dependent on CGM readings — much like heroin addicts depend on heroin — that I doubt I could live for over 6 minutes. It’s a tie between oxygen and CGM readings. ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ
No CGM, no looping. I’d freak. Just started looping and my CGM is a key element in being able to do this successfully
I would feel some stress. Before the cgm, I tested about 10 times a day and sometimes discovered I was very low at night. I am a very active person and I do not have consistent planned days.
I am off charts stressed out without a CGM. Much like a weekend without Sirius XM. Yes it is additive, but it adds so much to my life. I love my Medtronic CGM
Dex G6 and Tandem X2, Ice Storm delayed delivery more than a week and my fingers are feeling like it’s the 1980’s again
Much like Kristine C., it is not only the insurance, but also Medicare, the Supplier and my Doctor that is the problem. Getting them on the same page is impossible. Fortunately I have been without my Dexcom for only 2 weeks, not Months like Christian C. Even so, the stress is unbelievable.
Just before I got my first CGM, I broke my leg from a fall because of a low blood sugar. At that time, I was doing 10 to 12 blood tests daily, and it still was not enough to prevent low BS’s. Not to mention that Medicare does not cover the cost of blood test strips and lancets if you use a CGM. BIG STRESS.
I live alone with T1D and depend on the Abbott Freestyle Libre readings. I depend on this CGM day and night and love the convenience and so do my fingers. I clicked #5.
I have hypoglycemic unawareness so it would be a problem especially at night.
I get stressed just being without my CGM during the every-ten-day 2-hour warmup period. Being without it for more than that would quickly run me out of test strips. Recently I went to my endo appointment and he had a temporary nurse working that morning. She asked me, “what was your blood sugar this morning”, and I looked at my phone and said, “right now it’s 86”. She looked at me like I was crazy. Obviously used to non-CGM users!
As said by Daniel B and Jared: i managed for 55 years without a cgm, so after a day or two I could get back in the old groove. But, I really make good use out of the cgm and find it so much better for making insulin adjustments. I really dislike being without it.
My transmitter failed with six weeks left on it. I’ve been without my CGM for a week and a half now and my new transmitter isn’t due to arrive until tomorrow. I marked 5, it has been very stressful.
If anything, I think I would feel less stressed. Last night my alarm went off for BS of 55(Dexcom G6); finger prick was 143. No way this tech will be allowed to dose my insulin automatically until that changes!
STRESS!!! YOU BET!!! I’ve gone without CGM supplies for 3 days and my fingers were sore like they used to be! (I kept asking myself why and how quickly I forgot what life was like before the CGM!) In 1954, when I was diagnosed T1D, the only way they knew I was diabetic was by a urine test!!! And then keeping track by venial blood testing. HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET. And how quickly we adapt to marvelous inventions!
I have to admit that I pretty much check my blood sugar levels every time I look at my phone throughout the day. That’s about 226,371 times a day between spam phone calls, text messages, emails, news feeds, and playing music while I work or drink.
37 years of diabetes.. control has always been an issue.. I have heard alot of people do not like minimeds auto mode. I guess I am 1 of the 100 it works for. But not without the cgm.
For me CGM is next to insulin in diabetes management. Before CGM I was testing 8-12 times per day. For 20 years acting on those individual tests not knowing whether I was going up or down. I kept good A1cs but my variability was quite high and I had many lows. I now have low unawareness. Having a CGM is paramount. Otherwise I would have to get a trained service dog to be safe. I love my CGM. It gives me my life!
I know you can control BG levels and manage your diabetes without a CGM, but I have used the Dexcom CGM for over 8 years now and have maintained 6% or A1C for that period of time. I even get stressed during my 2 hour warm up period.
In fact, I’m starting to stress out now. My insurance switched to a new provider of my Dexcoms. I should have received the order over a week ago. I have a few days left on my last sensor and won’t get replacements for another week. Fortunately my doctor had a sample Dexcom and let me have it so I wouldn’t go without. Just need the transmitter battery to hold out.
Any of your D infrastructure, once you’re accustomed to it, seems very threatening to lose. I had a pump break down a few years ago and had to go back to lantus-novolog MDI for 3-4 days. Hey, I’d been doing that for 10 years before getting a pump. Was it stressful? YES. I used a pump for 4 yrs before getting a CGM. I did ok. Would it be stressful to go without the CGM? YES. I was on R/NPH MDI for 20 years, and, yeah you ca survive on it. Would it be stressful now? YES YES YES!!! In fact I don’t know if I could handle it at all. Ugh.
Would I survive? Sure. I remember when I just could do finger sticks and I did manage to go day to day without a CGM. Would my a1c suddenly soar? Yes because so much of the way I treat my T1 today is based on not just knowing my BG at any given time, but also how it is trending and comparing that to my IOB. I wouldn’t be willing to chance going low at night (or at work etc) and would move my ideal glucose WAY higher than it is today.
I could deal with it for a week. I certainly would miss the trend arrows and the ability to more tightly manage my bg’s. I CERTAINLY would be grateful, happy, breathe a sigh of relief when I got it back.
Stress level 5. I fully depend on functional integration of Tandem X2 CIQ with Dexcom G6. Occasionally I experience 2 hour warm-up stress, especially when BG is in influx. Then I may finger stick test q 15 minutes to keep tabs on what my body is doing until the sensor kicks in.
I would never go back to finger sticks – even after 50 years. Dexcom is a life saver and I can go to bed safely. Alarms can be annoying but better than finger sticks.
I have been without the use of my CGM for a week now, and I have become a lost soul! Numbers are crazy, and I never feel like I am in the “know .” Service problems with my supplier!! Ugh!!
I would be very stressed- Dexcom separation anxiety would ensue. I lived with T1D for decades without it, but was in danger of severe hypoglycemia. I have not had a paramedic in my bedroom since I started on Dexcom CGM- my wife sleeps better as a result. ——————— description of Dexcom separation anxiety as follows:—- The feeling of overwhelming anxiety, often accompanied by a sense of dread and foreboding, when a Dexcom user discovers that they no longer have access to the vital information that they have come to rely on from their Dexcom. Possible causes include dysfunction or loss of the receiver, failure or sudden expiration of the transmitter, running out of sensors, the unexpected failure of a sensor (fortunately rare), the incompetence of an insurance provider or mail-order pharmacy, or postal delays. The most common cause is leaving the receiver at home, school, or work. ——————- Sufferers describe the sensations as one akin to having become blind or powerless, associated with a feeling of vulnerability, panic or dread. They will go to great lengths to get back in receiver range, and have been known to refuse to get on a plane, turn around an hour into a car journey, or leave work suddenly. Typical statements from those who have experienced DSA include “Oh my God, I can’t stand not having it!”, “I don’t know how I ever lived without it!”, or “I never leave home without glasses or my Dexcom, because I cannot function without either one!” ———- While symptoms can be slightly reduced by the sufferer checking a fingerstick every hour, anxiety reducing medications are completely ineffective. The only effective treatment is restoration of the connection between receiver, person with diabetes, and sensor. Those who have experienced DSA often developed obsessive stockpiling behaviors in an attempt to prevent further episodes. While violent behavior has not been reported, physically standing between the victim and their Dexcom is ill advised, and sufferers have been known to threaten to perform unsavory acts on the perceived offender, usually an insurance company…. 🙂
CGMless for first 38 years of living with T1, and living with Dexcom approximately 8 years. I know I can live without it but this little gem has changed my life for the better. I’ve had lows but not the kind that require someone’s help. The trend arrows are a game changer. Living without a CGM is like driving in pea soup fog. I wish it was affordable for all T1s.
The stress I would feel would be from pricking my fingers before /after every meal and before bed, and hmmm am I going low or not?
Even though mine (Libre) doesn’t have an alarm, I’m so used to checking at 2 or 3 a.m. (often awakened by a low) that I worry that I’ll have to get up, trudge downstairs and test with a finger stick. Hate it.
I love the CGM, especially the Dexcom G6! I get freaky about testing during the 2 hour warmup because I don’t know my SG level! LOL! A whole week without it would make me a nervous wreck with bruised and sore fingertips! LOL!
I use a closed-loop system that relies on Dexcom.