Listen to Me, Because I Don't

A few weeks ago, a friend who recently acquired a continuous glucose monitor asked me for some tips on how to appropriately use the device. One of the first pieces of advice I gave him was to never make management decisions based the monitor, and to always check to confirm that the monitor was correct. Ah, such good advice based on months of experience. Now, if I only I had actually listened to my own advice a few nights ago...

Love the CGM, but it's
always best to check.

I went to sleep late - 12:30am. I was closely monitoring my glucose levels because they were a little high, and I was expecting an overnight dip because of an intense 1-hour bike ride in the late afternoon and because of the adult beverage I consumed a few hours earlier. I went to sleep and, like clockwork, the pump started singing like Mariah Carey at 2:30am, and it wasn't singing "Sweet, sweet fantasy baby!" Instead, it was indicating that I was low. The sensor was new and I had inserted it after the bike ride earlier in the evening. Prior to going to sleep, I had decided to cleverly change the sensor settings on my pump so that I would be alerted at 80 mg/dl instead of 70 mg/dl because I wanted to catch the low early. I rolled out of bed to treat the low. "Ha, I don't feel low" I thought. I have outsmarted the sensor and am catching the hypo before I have the symptoms! Chalk one up for me. I stumbled to the kitchen, ate 15 carbs of Oikos yogurt. While eating, I noticed that I wasn't shaking or sweating. My heart wasn't beating rapidly. I was slightly disoriented, but that's normal when you wake up suddenly in the middle of the night. Man, this is great! I walked back to my room to go to sleep. After nearly stepping on my cat, who likes to walk under my feet in the dark, I had a thought: what if I'm not low? I decided it would be best to check since I had already taken measures to treat the low. I checked, and my blood glucose was 138. Awesome! I didn't feel low because I wasn't low. I bolused for the carbs I had consumed, calibrated the sensor, and hit the sack. When I woke up, I was sitting at 81 and the sensor had come back into a state near accuracy.

What did I learn from this little episode? Listen to my own advice and actually CHECK before making management decisions. Also, train the cat to stop walking under my feet.