Myfanwy: I have my life back on track
I am an 80-year-old woman, who was diagnosed initially with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in April, 1973. I was aged 31.
In those days, of course there were no personally available meters to advise regularly of ongoing Blood Sugar levels. These were established by a single blood test carried out once every 3 months or so.
I'm sure my poor husband aged decades each of the many times he escorted me in an ambulance to hospital (along with his bicycle so that he could travel back home once I was admitted). Such trips were due to my losing consciousness because of low blood sugar levels. This carried on for many years, although my husband became an expert at recognising early signs and persuading me to have a drink of glucose as long as I was still conscious. Often of course, I was not, as we had not been side-by-side or even awake when my symptoms were becoming detectible.
Following his death in early January 2009, my caring neighbours and I set up a system whereby they could tell whether I were safe each morning. Over the years, the expert help I had received and advances made in available insulin types meant that my earlier severe hypoglycaemic episodes had reduced significantly and neighbourly help was never necessary. This had been the case as well during my husband's last years. This was even though my capacity for recognizing the onset of low blood sugar was quite impaired, evidently due to the length of time that my diabetes had existed.
From around 8 years post-diagnosis (1980s) I had less and less experience of symptoms such as sweating, raised temperature, trembling, impaired vision, feeling vague and not really "with it" and so on. There was the odd episode of friends or family happening to find me "talking rubbish" and summoning an ambulance for me, but with nowhere the frequency of those earlier times.
The most recent occurrence of family/friends "rescuing" me would have been perhaps 7 or 8 years ago. However, soon after that, I underwent a potentially dangerous series of low sugars resulting once again in loss of consciousness, including whilst driving a motor vehicle. Fortunately, this did not lead to crashing or injury to others or to me.
Most fortunately, these happened to overlap the initial availability of Continuous Glucose Monitors (Dexcom). This has been a life-changing experience for me. The beauty of the Dexcom is its warning sound on my approaching low (or high) blood sugar levels. It wakes me should I experience a decreasing level of blood sugar in sleep, alerts me if driving, at the gym or out walking, or when I am involved in gardening or any other day-to-day activities. The CGM means that I have my life back on track and can involve myself without fear in many activities. Nor do my nearest and dearest need to worry about my blood sugar levels while I live alone. This has been a life-changing development - I no longer clog up the hospital's ED or wards, I enjoy an independence that would have been improbable without CGM, and friends and family have no reason for concern. The only drawback is of course the almost $400 per month the system costs me. It would be an immense relief to receive funding for this audible alarm that enables me to continue a life independent of hospitals and/or rest homes.