Patient background
Steve, a 68-year-old male who is very active. Despite being prescribed basal and mealtime insulin, he doesn’t take it due to fear of hypoglycemia.
Current treatment: Metformin, basal insulin (degludec), and meal-time insulin (lispro)
Current A1C: 8.9%
Scenario
Steve is competitive in tennis and teaches tennis lessons. He would run his glucose levels “really high” by not taking meal-time insulin due to fear of hypoglycemia while competing. Steve’s doctor asked him to check his glucose prior to tennis competitions and note what his numbers generally were. He was consistently over 300 mg/dL and comfortable with this because he knew he didn’t have to worry about having a low.
His doctor prescribed Dexcom G7, so Steve then had what he referred to as a “safety net” with the Urgent Low Soon and Falling Rate alerts. His first goal was for his glucose number to be less than 200 mg/dL prior to his competitions.
Why Dexcom G7 was prescribed
Expanded Medicare coverage criteria* includes anyone with diabetes treated with any insulin.
How Dexcom CGM helped
Steve was able to better manage his glucose levels prior to exercise and increase his time in range because he was ok starting tennis at a lower glucose level. He also has less frequent lows, because now he knows he can eat carbs when he gets an Urgent Low Soon alert. Dexcom G7 alerts help him worry less and feel better out on the court knowing he’ll get an alert if he is going too low.
This was a gradual process of adjusting his alerts and glucose goals. Once he started competing in a glucose range that wasn’t so high, Steve reported that he felt better and his performance improved. He also made other changes to food choices that he noticed were giving him high glucose after eating. Looking at trends and patterns on Dexcom Clarity reports¶ helps Steve see how much time he is spending in target range as well as where he could improve.