cgm in the cloud

Improper Reliance

/ Christopher / 1 Comment

I’m preparing for my endocrinologist appointment in a few days and have started to download/upload/analyze data from my various diabetes devices. While I might not be able to make the most sense out of what all these numbers will mean, it will help focus some of the questions I will bring into the appointment and some of the objectives I hope to accomplish by the time the appointment is over.

I want to have a solid gameplan for how to approach my diabetes care in 2015. I need some back-and-forth to go along with the material supplied by ‘Pumping Insulin‘. I know the results of this data download and accompanying blood tests will not be stellar, but I know I have the ability to put everything in order and figure this diabetes thing out.

But when I look at the averages from my blood glucose meter, I worry. The 30 and 60 day averages indicate 2 blood glucose tests per day. Yikes. What happened to 6-10 times per day? It looks like I’ve been relying on my CGM for far more than the occasional corrective action. The FDA, and my doctors, say the blood glucose meter result is the be-all, end-all number that informs diabetes management – I haven’t been following those instructions.

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No Longer Waiting: Why I’m Taking My CGM to the Cloud

/ Christopher / 3 Comments

Before I explain my perspective on the CGM in the Cloud movement, the technology I’m utilizing to make this part of my diabetes management, and the resources I used to complete my implementation of said technology, I figured now would be a good time to put in a bit of a primer on Dexcom, the benefits I’ve found in wearing a continuous glucose monitor, and if you’re up for it, why this cloud business might be worth your time, energy, and money. If you want to skip to the CGM in the Cloud bit and ignore the tl;dr bits, this link will skip you a few paragraphs down. I’ll try to keep the run on sentences to a minimum.

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Weekend Project

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As teased earlier this week, I’m embarking on the process of taking my Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring System to the Cloud. Assuming I get all this stuff working, I’ll share my specific steps and reasons next week. But, after my initial apprehensions with all of this Cloud stuff, and later messing around with the Chromadex App (and it’s most recent update to fully integrate with NightScout) for a few weeks, I knew it was only a matter of time before I took all of this to the next level.

Wish me luck!

Image (linked) via giphy.com

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Just Talking with John Costik

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This week John Costik joins me to talk about his son’s diabetes diagnosis, balancing his son’s diabetes with among everyone in his family, and the impetus behind hacking his son’s continuous glucose monitor – starting a data liberation movement within the diabetes community. Enjoy!

You can follow John on Twitter @jcostik and hackingtype1.com.

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Waiting for #WeAreNotWaiting

/ Christopher / 3 Comments

In my diabetes circles, conversations around the #WeAreNotWaiting movement, CGM in the Cloud, Nightscout, #DIYPS, Pebble watches, and all that jazz have been increasing at a rapid pace. Even the Quantified Self community is aware of the growing movement to access our diabetes data. I’m all for the prospect of data access and liberation. If device manufacturers have a plan to join the fun, that’s great. But as the hashtag would suggest, we are not waiting for the day to come when a Dexcom sanctioned application is available. Our data is there, we want it now.

I’ve been particularly curious about the prospects of taking my CGM to the cloud as an adult with diabetes. For parents, being able to remotely monitor your child’s diabetes must lift an incredible burden off your shoulders. The worry will always be there, but having more information will always help. For me? It’s going to take a little more convincing to get on board. Right now I work from home. I don’t travel. And Dayle is here at night. As fancy as remote Dexcom monitoring is, I don’t see why it would benefit me.

I have no problem using my Dexcom receiver as the primary means of CGM data gathering. Especially as a guy, all of my pants have pockets, so it’s not a big deal to have it with me all the time. I am in no way discounting the adults with diabetes that have found benefits in setting up their CGM among the digital cumulonumbi, but I need a little extra convincing that I will find some practical use for this effort besides pointing at it and saying “cool, huh?”. I expressed these thoughts as concisely as possible on Twitter this afternoon and engaged in quite the discussion about what I would want out of Nightscout if I were to embark on the installation process.

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