Samantha Walsh has lived with type 1 diabetes for over five years since 2017. After her T1D diagnosis, she was eager to give back to the diabetes community. She is the Community and Partner Manager for T1D Exchange and helps to manage the Online Community and recruit for the T1D Exchange Registry. Prior to T1D Exchange, Samantha fundraised at Joslin Diabetes Center. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelors degree in sociology and early childhood education.
Every “night” – sometimes I sleep during the day, other times my schedule allows me to be a regular person and sleep at night. I also have my alarms set to a very narrow range – 60 for low alerts and 120 for high alerts (I like to nip highs in the bud)
Used to be almost every night, multiple hours of management even on closed loop. Most common was compression lows that led to turning off basal and subsequent highs OR poor communication between devices putting it in limited mode.
For highs or lows rarely woken up.
However I am woken up every 3 days at 2:00am by OmiPod telling me my pod is about to expire. Wish this was an alarm that could be disabled!
Can’t win. On MDI. Was injecting long acting in the morning but kept waking up with rising glucose. So switched to night time. Now having lows. Working on it. In process of switching to a tandem pump. Lots of paperwork. Even want a c peptide.
Before tresiba, I would split my long-acting dose to a morning plus an evening dose. That worked pretty well, but tresiba is better. Good luck with the pump.
I have gotten into the habit of checking my BG at bedtime. If it is approaching low I will eat a snack before going to bed. This has helped avoid night time lows for me.
I have used Dexcom for years and every night I get woken up from alarms, usually 1-3 times. A few months ago, I removed Dexcom and went back to finger pokes, ~20-30 times a day. My sleep has significantly improved. Perhaps the cost of this is a high in the night that I don’t correct for and we’ll see how my HbA1c has changed. I have a feeling it will be slightly higher, but not by much. I’m wondering if it’s better to get a good night’s sleep or better glucose control. I’m in a sleep study right now for T1Ds and I have come to appreciate the value and benefits that come from better quality sleep. A few months ago I would have never considered not using Dexcom and thought that was crazy. But, I’m really starting to like not using it because my sleep has improved significantly and as a result my health should too. I would be interested in what other’s thoughts are on this and whether you think I should go back to using Dexcom.
I stopped using Guardian sensor for this very same reason. Also gave up the pump and now use Libre 3 with MDI. Way better sleep, way less expensive and still good control. 86% in range after some trial/error.
I also value a good night’s sleep. Cognitive behavioral therapy and a CPAP machine helped me overcome sleep apnea and chronic insomnia. On my endo’s advice, I turned off the high and low alarms on my pump (Tandem with Control IQ). I rely exclusively on my phone alarms, which are set to vibrate. Unless something unusual is going on, my BGs stay within range through the night and CGM alarms almost never wake me up. The benefit has been lower blood pressure, higher energy, and a general sense of well being.
I answered “3 or 4 nights per week,” but could have easily been “5 or 6 nights per week.” Recently, I’ve been making adjustments to my basal rates after having lots of lows. But, when my alarms go off during the night, it usually doesn’t even measure in my mind unless I’m going very low or very high.
I have the alarms set on vibrate because they were disturbing my spouse and our cat. When they wake me it’s rarely because of a high or low alert.My bg level 3 hours ago is not of any value in the middle of the night. Fortunately CIQ works well to keep me around 110 most of the night. I check CGM before going to bed and either take a correction bolus or eat a small snack to prevent a low while sleeping.
If I go to bed without a bunch of Basel insulin on board, the Tandem algorithm will stop/decrease my Basel insulin so I stay between 90 and 110(ish) all night
Typically for compression lows rather than real low BG. Depending on sensor placement, this may happen once or twice a week or 5 times in the one night.
I’m an extremely light sleeper (wake when my cat comes in the pet door across the house), so waking comes easily. My alarms are set 70-130, kind of tight and while Medtronic’s algorithm does great one thing consistent with diabetes is change…
I clicked 3-4 times a weekly, sometimes for a low (lemonade is on the nightstand), or a trending rise (count the “autobolus, do an easy correction with a pump and roll over).
Of course there’s no such thing as a typical week living with T1D! I can have weeks with no alarms waking me now I’m using Guardian 4s but
occasionally I’ll have a bad night with 5 or 6 alarms.
Every “night” – sometimes I sleep during the day, other times my schedule allows me to be a regular person and sleep at night. I also have my alarms set to a very narrow range – 60 for low alerts and 120 for high alerts (I like to nip highs in the bud)
Used to be almost every night, multiple hours of management even on closed loop. Most common was compression lows that led to turning off basal and subsequent highs OR poor communication between devices putting it in limited mode.
For highs or lows rarely woken up.
However I am woken up every 3 days at 2:00am by OmiPod telling me my pod is about to expire. Wish this was an alarm that could be disabled!
You can change how far ahead the alarm will beep you I think
Can’t win. On MDI. Was injecting long acting in the morning but kept waking up with rising glucose. So switched to night time. Now having lows. Working on it. In process of switching to a tandem pump. Lots of paperwork. Even want a c peptide.
Before tresiba, I would split my long-acting dose to a morning plus an evening dose. That worked pretty well, but tresiba is better. Good luck with the pump.
I have gotten into the habit of checking my BG at bedtime. If it is approaching low I will eat a snack before going to bed. This has helped avoid night time lows for me.
I use Medtronic 770G with Guardian 4 and over 90% of my nights are very stable between 95-115.
I have used Dexcom for years and every night I get woken up from alarms, usually 1-3 times. A few months ago, I removed Dexcom and went back to finger pokes, ~20-30 times a day. My sleep has significantly improved. Perhaps the cost of this is a high in the night that I don’t correct for and we’ll see how my HbA1c has changed. I have a feeling it will be slightly higher, but not by much. I’m wondering if it’s better to get a good night’s sleep or better glucose control. I’m in a sleep study right now for T1Ds and I have come to appreciate the value and benefits that come from better quality sleep. A few months ago I would have never considered not using Dexcom and thought that was crazy. But, I’m really starting to like not using it because my sleep has improved significantly and as a result my health should too. I would be interested in what other’s thoughts are on this and whether you think I should go back to using Dexcom.
I stopped using Guardian sensor for this very same reason. Also gave up the pump and now use Libre 3 with MDI. Way better sleep, way less expensive and still good control. 86% in range after some trial/error.
Tim in range matters and the
cgm is better for that. Seems you need to have some help adjusting your basal rates so you alarm less.
I also value a good night’s sleep. Cognitive behavioral therapy and a CPAP machine helped me overcome sleep apnea and chronic insomnia. On my endo’s advice, I turned off the high and low alarms on my pump (Tandem with Control IQ). I rely exclusively on my phone alarms, which are set to vibrate. Unless something unusual is going on, my BGs stay within range through the night and CGM alarms almost never wake me up. The benefit has been lower blood pressure, higher energy, and a general sense of well being.
Didn’t have an option for how many times a night….
Yes, some nights are bad.
I answered 5 or 6 times, but that is not exclusively glucose level alerts, many are “loss of signal” alerts from my G7 sensor.
I answered “3 or 4 nights per week,” but could have easily been “5 or 6 nights per week.” Recently, I’ve been making adjustments to my basal rates after having lots of lows. But, when my alarms go off during the night, it usually doesn’t even measure in my mind unless I’m going very low or very high.
I do not have alarms on my CGM but do keep it beside me at night and check myself during the night.
Most common wake up is due to loss of contact with sensor.
I have the alarms set on vibrate because they were disturbing my spouse and our cat. When they wake me it’s rarely because of a high or low alert.My bg level 3 hours ago is not of any value in the middle of the night. Fortunately CIQ works well to keep me around 110 most of the night. I check CGM before going to bed and either take a correction bolus or eat a small snack to prevent a low while sleeping.
I answered 3-4 times a week but 2-3 times is more typical. I love those weeks with no alarms at all so I sleep better!
If I go to bed without a bunch of Basel insulin on board, the Tandem algorithm will stop/decrease my Basel insulin so I stay between 90 and 110(ish) all night
Typically for compression lows rather than real low BG. Depending on sensor placement, this may happen once or twice a week or 5 times in the one night.
When I take my hearing aids out I can’t hear them.
I’m an extremely light sleeper (wake when my cat comes in the pet door across the house), so waking comes easily. My alarms are set 70-130, kind of tight and while Medtronic’s algorithm does great one thing consistent with diabetes is change…
I clicked 3-4 times a weekly, sometimes for a low (lemonade is on the nightstand), or a trending rise (count the “autobolus, do an easy correction with a pump and roll over).
maybe there is something wrong with me but my CGM alarm goes off more than 6 times a week, I think
Of course there’s no such thing as a typical week living with T1D! I can have weeks with no alarms waking me now I’m using Guardian 4s but
occasionally I’ll have a bad night with 5 or 6 alarms.