I’ve had Charlie for a couple weeks now, so I figure I should share some of my general thoughts and experiences.
At first, I was checking Charlie ALL THE TIME. Needless to say, I ran through the batteries pretty quickly. =) I’ve gotten better about checking only when I need to.
Accuracy has been hit and miss. Some days, it seems like everything is completely spot on. So accurate I could bolus off the sensor values. Other days, it seems like Charlie will consistently have me 20-30 points lower than I actually am, and no amount of calibration will get it to work. Overall, it’s still a great way to see trends.
My alarms are set at 70 and at 160. This has let me catch lows and highs before they become big issues. Over the past couple weeks, I have stayed in that range about 90% of the time. Not too shabby. =) Eventually, when it’s time to start thinking about having kids, I would like to lower the upper bound to 140, then again to 120. But for now, I’m happy with staying under 160.
It’s been mildly annoying to be attached to 2 medical devices all the time. They take up a lot of real estate on my waistband. However, I have long abandoned hope of hiding Lucy on a daily basis, so adding another device isn’t a huge deal. I’ve already come up with a fun answer if people ask me what they are: “Well, this one’s a tricorder and this is my my personal web server.” =D Also, I like the idea of not being attached to my purse. With Lucy on one hip and Charlie on the other, I feel like I’m ready for anything.
Go Charlie go! I want a CGMS very badly.