Mom of toddler with type 1 diabetes finds confidence, community in Dexcom CGM
The views expressed in this article are the speakers’ own and are not intended to be medical advice. Please consult your provider regarding your individual health needs. Dexcom G6 is indicated for patients two years and older.
Fear of the unknown can create anxiety, and the unknowns that come with a diabetes diagnosis can be frightening for anyone at any age. For 36-year-old mother Samara Mercado, her toddler Addie’s type 1 diabetes diagnosis brought sleepless nights, anxiety and frustration, and she sometimes felt overwhelmed and alone.
To share young Addie’s journey with friends and family, she turned to social media. Unexpectedly, the video went viral, and she realized she wasn’t alone as a caregiver trying to give her child with diabetes a healthy life.
From their home in California, Samara and Addie advocate for kids with Type 1 diabetes all over the world and the life-changing difference the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) system can make. Her TikTok, @theT1Dmama and her YouTube channel @theT1Dmama all started when Samara uploaded a video of her changing Addie’s Dexcom CGM so she could share with family and friends how Addie’s life changed after diagnosis.
“It kind of blew up on accident,” Samara said. “A lot of people didn’t know about Type 1 or that toddlers could get it. A lot of people also had young toddlers that had Type 1, and they had not seen somebody like Addie getting a site change. It motivated them to be their own diabetes warrior. They think, ‘If Addie can do it, we can do it, too.’”
Samara now enjoys supporting and helping parents and toddlers in similar situations, learning together about their diabetes journeys. Many parents who watch Addie’s videos have concerns about their own children because they might see similar symptoms in them.
“I’ve shared a video that talks about the warning signs of Type 1 and the signs I missed that I wish I would’ve seen before she got to the hospital,” Samara said. “And they’ll ask about how I get her to be so comfortable with her Dexcom and Omnipod changes, because a lot of people struggle with their toddler sitting still or just refusing to do it at all. I like to share our journey so people see that sometimes it’s just hard, and other times we just have to be patient and involve the toddler because it makes a world of a difference.”
The community has also had an impact on Samara and Addie as well.
“They’ve helped me too because we take tips from each other, and I’ve learned a lot from the community of people that have followed along with Addie’s diabetes journey so far,” Samara said.
The diabetes journey begins
Right before Addie’s diagnosis, Samara had noticed some changes in her behavior and weight loss, but she chalked it up to a growth spurt or from being sick with a cold.
“It really wasn’t until she got really, really sick, and unfortunately she was in diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), and I took her to the ER thinking she had COVID-19,” Samara said. “It turned out her blood sugar was in the 600s, and she was diagnosed with diabetes. That’s how I found out in a really traumatizing and scary way.”
Her other two children were healthy, no one in her family has diabetes and she didn’t realize toddlers could get Type 1. She felt confused and lost.
“Life got stressful right away,” Samara remembered. “The doctors gave us a ton of information about diabetes and how to treat it, but I didn’t know too much about insulin. After we got home, I wasn’t sleeping and I had anxiety. So, I did a lot of research on glucose, foods that affect it, insulin and how long it stays in your body, trying to find out all I could about it.”
Frustration set in soon after.
“For the first one to two months, we didn’t have a Dexcom CGM, so she would wake up with high numbers. I didn’t understand why or how it all worked, and I was kind of going blind with her diabetes before we got the Dexcom CGM,” she said.
Then there were the five fingersticks* a day and multiple daily injections, which can be especially tough for a toddler.
“She definitely got pricked and prodded a lot for the first couple months.”
Dexcom CGM brings relief to mother and daughter
Samara needed to know what was going on with Addie’s glucose levels in real-time, so Addie’s endocrinologist recommended Dexcom CGM.
“After Dexcom CGM, it was nice that we didn’t have to do finger pokes* anymore, we had a clearer idea of what her glucose levels were doing, and we loved that,” Samara said. “That helped us figure out how to work with her diabetes and her body, because she was taking ridiculous amounts of insulin injections.”
Life changed for the better again when she later paired the Dexcom G6 with the Omnipod 5 insulin pump with automated insulin delivery, removing much of the guesswork and the need for multiple daily injections.
“The fact that it worked in combination with Dexcom G6 was good,” she said. “Now we’re on the automated mode, which is really amazing, because the Omnipod and Dexcom G6 talk to each other, and they do a lot of the work for me. We recently tightened the parameters on her glucose levels, so whenever her glucose gets over 150 mg/dL, it’ll make a calculation and correction. We’re definitely seeing better numbers and keeping her more in range.”
In fact, Addie’s A1C is now at 7%, down from 7.4%† at her last endocrinologist visit. And both Samara and Addie appreciate that instead of fingersticks* and shots, they only have to change the Dexcom CGM once every 10 days and change the pump once every three days.
§Fingersticks required for diabetes treatment decisions if symptoms or expectations do not match readings.
"The Omnipod and Dexcom G6 talk to each other, and they do a lot of the work for me."
Using Dexcom’s Share feature and Follow app‡ has also brought comfort, allowing other family members to engage actively in monitoring Addie’s numbers and health.
“When Addie’s dad is out of the house, he has an accurate picture of what her sugar is doing,” Samara said. “Sometimes he’ll call me or text me and say, ‘Hey, did you see this?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I got it!’ It’s also a peace of mind for him when he’s not there, because we do have other kids and we’re both very, very busy, so we can both keep an eye on it with that, which is awesome.”
Samara said she and her husband also love how discreet the Dexcom CGM is and how much confidence and control it offers.
“She hardly notices it’s there,” Samara said. “Sometimes I’ll tell her to show someone where her Dexcom is, and she has to look on her body because she can’t feel it and doesn’t remember where we put it. For me, that’s huge, because I don’t want her thinking she’s different or there’s something wrong with her. I love that it is discreet, doesn’t hurt that much and she forgets it’s there.”
A bright future for Addie
These days, she is more focused on the things she loves—dancing, dinosaurs and sharks—Samara sleeps more soundly thanks to Addie’s Dexcom CGM.
“We treat Addie as a kid first,” Samara said. “In the beginning, I really focused on keeping her healthy and forgot along the way she’s a kid and there’s so much more to her than diabetes. Now, I let her have ice cream and donuts and enjoy life as any normal kid would at birthday parties rather than focusing too much on her numbers in those moments.”
While Addie and Samara continue to thrive and grow their social media audience, they also look forward to welcoming a new family member. Samara is pregnant and due in December, and she needs all the rest she can get.
“I feel like I wasn’t sleeping in the beginning of Addie’s journey because I was worried about her blood sugar or worried about her going low in the middle of the night,” Samara said. “But now with the Dexcom CGM and Omnipod 5, I can sleep and be confident they’re going to work how they’re supposed to. The fact that I can sleep for eight hours uninterrupted, that’s huge for me.”
And the duo both look forward to upgrading soon to Dexcom G7 to take advantage of its even smaller size, faster warm up time, and the ability to temporarily silence all alerts.
“I definitely recommend Dexcom CGM” Samara said. “I personally think it’s more accurate, and I’m excited to get her on Dexcom G7 when it’s compatible with the Omnipod 5. Just because of how small it is and its faster warm up time. We’re looking forward to that.”
Get started on Dexcom CGM
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*Fingersticks required for diabetes treatment decisions if symptoms or expectations do not match readings.
†Individual results may vary. ‡Separate Dexcom Follow app and internet connection required. Users should always confirm readings on the Dexcom CGM app or receiver before making treatment decisions. Smart devices sold separately. For a list of compatible devices, visit dexcom.com/compatibility. §Dexcom G7 is indicated for patients two years and older.
BRIEF SAFETY STATEMENT: Failure to use the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitoring System and its components according to the instructions for use provided with your device and available at https://www.dexcom.com/safety-information and to properly consider all indications, contraindications, warnings, precautions, and cautions in those instructions for use may result in you missing a severe hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) or hyperglycemia (high blood glucose) occurrence and/or making a treatment decision that may result in injury. If your glucose alerts and readings from the Dexcom CGM do not match symptoms, use a blood glucose meter to make diabetes treatment decisions. Seek medical advice and attention when appropriate, including for any medical emergency.
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