The Dexcom G4 sensor stopped working after 5 weeks. See the sensor and my arm after it is removed.
My experience with 5 weeks of Dexcom that improved my healthy eating habits:
Things that I have learned or got clarified for myself:
- I tried a steak with nothing else but only a small teaspoon of steak sauce and I noticed my sugar level going up fairly quickly. I was astonished as I had mainly consumed protein or fat only. The only bit of culprit could have been the steak sauce. When I checked its ingredients, yes, it was full of high fructose corn syrup.
- While I was having canned tuna fish with nothing but a teaspoon of salad cream, I noticed my glucose level go up. Again, the culprit was found in “fat-free” salad cream as Fructose. I recall how many times, I have eaten salad in my life with full of supposed to be healthy salad cream. I realize we could save ourselves a lot of grocery shopping by excluding these culprits from the shopping list. And who would find out the calories in salad dressings served by our famous restaurants (including Johnny rockets, Chilis, Fuddruckers… I am shedding tears for all wasted money on healthy eating) and regrets on not enjoying the real burgers or steaks at the same place..
- Fruit juices even real fresh fruit juices raise blood sugar levels very fast. While eating the fruits raises the levels but slowly. Hence, drinking fruit juices is a big NO if one is trying to lose weight. Also eating a lot of fruits is like consuming a lot of carbs. In the sake of eating healthy we tend to consume a lot of fruits but this is ineffective.
- Different fruits raise the glucose levels with different rates. I found Oranges / Bananas to raise these levels fairly quickly while strawberries, grapes & blueberries raised these levels slowly.
- There are different types of dates, some of these dates raise glucose levels as fast as eating raw sugar. So one needs to be careful about the quality / type of dates and quantity of these. One particular brand of dates raised the glucose levels very slowly, these are famous “Ajwa” dates from Saudi Arabia.
- During the night around 3 to 4 am my glucose levels go up and stay constant till I wake up. The level start going down after I start my morning walk, eat or drink anything. Even if I don’t do anything, the levels go down within an hour after I wake up. I have been told it’s a common effect when liver tries to dump sugar for the needs of body next day. I tested this and found out the constant level to which level rises at midnight, is also dependent on the amount of physical activity and the amount of carb intake during dinner time. High carbs in dinner or no exercise mean high constant level during the night. Hence, a bit of exercise and no carbs after 6 pm is a rule f thumb that one can follow to keep glucose level steady or low.
- The biggest lesson I learned is that Constant Glucose monitoring is a blessing in disguise for type 1, type 2 or pre-diabetic people. As with this technology, they can literally see and monitor their glucose levels and get a control over their eating habits and routines along with the exercise routines. Soon, these people are capable of leading healthy and active life better than people who do not have diabetes. Nondiabetic people will not check their blood works so often and would not know what’s best for them and continue to consume bad foods in the name of “healthy diet” and practice routines that are not good for them in the long term.