CGM Data: Around the World and Back Again – to my Pebble Watch

After attending the DiabetesMine Innovation Summit last November and being inspired by the Nightscout crew (and pretty much everyone else there as well!), I finally decided to take the time to set up a Nightscout website. I’ve had it up and running since Dec 2014. Being an adult with Type 1, I monitor my own blood glucose levels. I don’t have anyone that would be interested in following my data on a daily (much less hourly) basis, so I wasn’t sure if the functionality of Nightscout would be worth it for me. After 8 months, I can say with certainty that it has been…and then some!!!

I don’t actually use my NightPebbleWatchscout website or phone app very much but I LOVE wearing my real-time data on my Pebble watch. I’m probably 1000 times more likely to glance at my watch to check on my blood sugar than I am to dig in my purse (through all the snacks and toddler/kid gear) and haul out my Dex receiver or my phone. The setup to get my data to my watch was somewhat complicated but with the addition of the Dexcom G4 receiver in May, my data is almost 100% constant without much involvement from me other than occasionally restarting a few apps on my iPhone.

Last week, however, it suddenly quit working and I got emails written in what may as well have been a foreign language, saying things like “your Heroku app on free dynos needs to recharge.” I’m pretty techno-savvy and am generally an early adopter of new technology but I’m not a programmer and certainly don’t fully understand all of the ins and outs for each step I followed in the pipeline to ultimately setup Nightscout. Going back through them to figure out which accounts I used in my setup needed changes and what else it might affect wasn’t quite like starting at the beginning for me…but it was close.

There are so many different ways to setup Nightscout, including what hardware you’re using, what service providers you chose, what account parameters you chose with some of those service providers, etc., that it’s not an easy task for me to filter through the Nightscout setup guides and Facebook group looking for clues related to updating each piece of the specific pipeline that I selected to use. So, after I finished getting my data stream to my Pebble working again (took me about 3 hours), I decided to make a little diagram to help me understand how all the pieces I’m using fit together. Disclaimer: I’m pretty sure I have my pipeline figured out correctly but wouldn’t bet my house on it : )

CGMDataDiagram

My hope is that next time I need to make a change, I’ll be able to get it corrected more quickly…and with a little less terror! My current pipeline configuration prior to last week was free and now, with the required changes, looks like it will cost me $14/month, but it works for me and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

MeandKidsI can no longer imagine not having my data on my Pebble. I feel so much safer. EVERY time I’m with my kids at the park, or the market, or driving in the car, and I glance at my Pebble, I’m thankful. Quite simply: I want to be the best mom I can be; I want to stick around to watch my kids grow up…and Nightscout helps me do that.

Dataphile Type 1 Diabetes Diet: Step 1

DinoPicFitnessSo, I’ve begun the initial earnest stages of “getting fit” (which of course involves all the additional fun stuff that happens when you start getting fit with diabetes).  No, I don’t ever expect to look like the gladiator chick with the T-rex in the picture but I will need to borrow her warrior spirit.

Brief Backstory:  Baby No. 2 (who is now 18 months) was a total surprise!  I’m pretty old to be a new mommy again and also was told I couldn’t have any more kids.   The pregnancy was difficult on my body in many ways, not to mention being Type 1, having Graves Disease, and requiring bucu synthetic hormones to maintain it.  It took me a little over a year postpartum to feel remotely back on track (and finish nursing the babe).  Then the week before this past Christmas I had outpatient surgery (also related to baby No. 2), which I hope was the final step in getting my body more or less regulated again.  Yippee!

MyFitnessPalStep1Now, it’s finally time to lose that baby weight (and hopefully get my A1c back to where it used to be)!  I’ve been tracking my weight and BGs, and keeping a rigid food journal for about three months so that I have a realistic baseline.  Also, while counting carbs is obviously a daily occurrence, I’ve never had occasion to count calories before.  The baseline data really gave me a good idea of where the calories I’m consuming are coming from.  (Note to self:  Yet another variable that I would love to compare long-term via computer algorithm to my BGs to see if there was any correlation between high/low calorie meals or days and BG readings).  I used MyFitnessPal food journaling app and a Fitbit to collect my data.

A week and a half ago I started hitting the gym for regular exercise and cutting out enough calories to supposedly lose 1lb a week.  More on how things are going and how all this is affecting my BGs in future posts : )  Wish me luck!


Check out these related posts:

Photo-a-Day: Exercise

My Fitbit Flex: A Delightful Surprise

Photo-a-Day: Exercise

Photo-a-Day_exerciseAh, this one hits close to home for me these days.  #babyweight.  Before my last pregnancy (which btw was nothing short of a miracle, as I was told I wouldn’t physically be able to have any more children several years earlier) I was in a really good routine with regular exercise and I enjoyed it (Bonus, I was in great shape too!).  The last pregnancy pretty much rocked my world and my exercise routine hasn’t yet recovered.  I feel guilty about it every day.  For my birthday (later this month,) I asked my husband for a Fitbit Aria Wi-Fi scale, which he sweetly let me have a couple of weeks early…yay!  In general, I’m really into data tracking and I know once I do head back to the gym, it will be nice to have a record of it.  I’m not setting a deadline for myself or anything…you might say, I’m just starting to get some little extra pieces of motivation in place.


This post is one in a series for the National Diabetes Month of November.  Kerri from sixuntilme.com initiated the Photo-a-Day idea and prompts and lots of other diabetes bloggers have chosen to follow suite.

Photo-a-Day: Advocate

Photo-a-Day-AdvocateI use each of these items every day to help manage my diabetes.  Each one tracks a necessary variable.  In order to optimize my treatment, I need to analyze the data I collect, and yet none of these devices talk to one another or have a common analysis platform.  I advocate for simplifying diabetes data collection and analysis, while empowering patients.  (See my proposal, Pixels: Your Personal Diabetes Big Picture).


This post is one in a series for the National Diabetes Month of November.  Kerri from sixuntilme.com initiated the Photo-a-Day idea and prompts and lots of other diabetes bloggers have chosen to follow suite.