My new insulin pump gets data from the CGM (blood sugar monitor) and adjusts the insulin rate accordingly. It is like I have a working pancreas most of the time. Some settings must be adjusted, and I must do my part by entering carb data. Until those things become routine, I have alarms going off day and night. That’s right—an alarm alerts me if my glucose is too high. I will give myself insulin to correct the high. Now, I get alerted to the fact that my glucose is dropping too quickly. OK.

The next alert is because my glucose levels are dangerously low. To treat this, I must eat/drink sugar. Then, the whole cycle starts over. My daily chart looks like the Himalayas. I don’t mind the alarms/alerts so much, but my puppy freaks out when she hears them. My hubby usually hears them before they wake me up, so he is annoyed. With me.

When anything beeps or buzzes in my house, everyone looks at me—like I am the only thing that beeps! The dishwasher, washing machine, computers, and telephones also make noise. Since the equipment is also new to me, I can’t be sure if it’s me or something else. I do know one thing: I’m exhausted.

I put the equipment on silent, so most of the alerts don’t sound. However, the critical ones bypass any volume setting and blare at max decibels. Since I must keep the sensor reading equipment within 20 feet of my person, this is quite jarring. Imagine how unnerving it is to sit next to me in a quiet meeting when my blood sugar begins to tank. It actually unnerves everyone in the building, but the closer you are to the source (me), the worse it is.

Technology has done wonders for diabetics to become more balanced and healthy. I have to wonder, though – is it eroding my mental health to live like this?

TTFN