Dexcom - Jane's story and testimonial

Jane's story: Dexcom G6 continuous glucose monitor (CGM)

I’m proud of myself that I'm a mum living with diabetes.

My family is the most important thing to me, looking at them, it's the number one motivating factor to stay healthy.

The three of us have a pretty nice life, but with diabetes, it's like having a part time job, and it's something else that's competing for your attention and your energy.

It's hard for me to know, as a person with diabetes, what this is like for my family.

I had situations I've seen in my husband's eyes that he's frightened for me.

And as much as I can reassure him, There's really not much you can do.

But I get a sense of relief, since I've been using my Dexcom CGM, it's been a game changer for me, it increases my peace of mind because I know that an alert can pop up on my phone, if there is something that demands my immediate attention.

I feel a little bit more secure because I can instantly know my glucose levels, I can see a graph I can see where I've been, and with my trend arrows I can know where I'm going.

You don't have to stop and take the breaks in the day that you normally would.

You don't have to spread out a kit and prick your finger.

So it's keeping track of my levels in the background while I live my life.

It also helps my family and to know that I can ease a bit of that burden on them.

It's wonderful.

One of the great things about having my Dexcom CGM is how it measures my glucose levels every five minutes.

You might think, is that amount of data unnecessary?

But when you live with diabetes, it's 24/7, you don't get a break.

Keeping active is a very important part of living with diabetes.

Fortunately for me, I like to run.

When I started running I was still using a traditional finger stick method to check my glucose levels.

Now that I use a CGM, I can just pick up my phone, swipe the screen and the alerts can alert me whether my glucose levels going high or low, or it can alarm if I have an urgent low coming on.

I've run several 10 k's and several half marathons.

I'm proud of myself that as a person living with diabetes you know I'm running in this race and I have a broken pancreas, and I can still participate with all these other people and I can compete just the same as them.

Diabetes, itself, is a bit like an endurance sport.

You tell yourself you got to keep going, I'm going to get there to the finish line, I'm going to be proud of myself.

I think diabetes prepares you for the fact that some things in life are going to be difficult and uncomfortable but you know that you have the mental wherewithal to get through it.

Anything that can ease that burden even just the tiniest bit is a wonderful help.