Living with Diabetes
The Winding Road of Diabetes Management
Published: Dec. 30, 2025
Updated: Dec. 31, 2025
4 min read
Managing diabetes can feel like you’re driving on a road that’s full of twists and turns. Diabetes affects every person in different ways and everyone’s experience is unique. It isn’t always easy to figure out what causes changes in your blood sugar, also known as glucose, or which diabetes management habits help you work towards your health goals while feeling your best. When you’re first diagnosed with diabetes, the steep learning curve can make it hard to see the road ahead at all.
Getting insight into what’s happening with your glucose using tools like a continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system can give you greater visibility along your journey and help you feel more confident navigating the winding road of diabetes management.
Finding your way with blood glucose monitoring tools
Without the right glucose monitoring tools and technology, managing diabetes is like driving in the dark with your headlights off. When you can’t see around the next corner—like when you’re unsure where your blood sugar levels are going high or low or when you’re trying to calculate how much insulin to give yourself around meals—it’s difficult to know what steps you should take to stay on track.
You can think of your glucose monitoring options, including blood glucose meters (BGMs), your A1C test, and CGM systems, as navigation tools that help guide your diabetes management.
Checking your map: Taking BGM readings
At the beginning of their diabetes journey, many people use a BGM for blood glucose monitoring. A BGM is like having a paper map in your glove box on a trip. You can’t look at it while you’re driving and you can’t track your exact location as you go. You have to stop your journey to see where you are, what might be coming up ahead, and whether you need to make adjustments.
Checking your glucose with a BGM can be just as inconvenient. You have to interrupt your day or wake up in the middle of the night and perform an uncomfortable fingerstick to check your glucose level. BGM readings can only give you a snapshot of where your glucose is at in the moment, they can’t tell you whether your glucose is about to go up or down. Once you get going again after making a treatment decision, you can’t see whether you’re on the right route: you just have to rely on your best judgment until you have a chance to stop what you’re doing and check again.
Asking for directions: Getting your routine A1C test
Every few months or so, you’ll go to your regular check-up and get an A1C test. Your A1C test is a blood glucose monitoring metric that measures your average glucose level over the previous three months. The results of your A1C test can help your doctor determine how your diabetes treatment plan is working overall.
Getting your regular A1C test is like stopping to ask for directions to your destination. Your A1C is a guidepost that tells you if you’re headed in the right direction. You can think of your doctor as the local expert who knows their way around, in this case, the area of diabetes care. They can help you plan your course of action and explain what you might encounter along the way so you can stay safe and have a more comfortable experience moving forward. However, once you leave your appointment, you’re on your own again.
Your A1C test also doesn’t provide a clear picture of what you experienced on the road before speaking with an expert. It can’t reveal important patterns in your glucose readings, like whether you tend to experience high glucose in the morning or if you go low overnight. It doesn’t help you track what might cause changes in your glucose levels. This can make it difficult for your doctor to provide detailed, personalized guidance. It also makes it hard for you to know how to adapt your choices or adjust your habits to keep your glucose levels stable.
Glancing at your GPS: Using a CGM system
GPS tracks where your vehicle is in real time as you’re driving. It allows you to see where you’re going and even gives you a complete picture of your surroundings at a glance. CGM systems, including the Dexcom G7 CGM System, work a little like GPS. Dexcom G7 can track your glucose continuously, throughout the day and night, by taking readings just under your skin rather than from your blood. This means the system can provide your glucose readings directly on your compatible smartphone, smartwatch,* or handheld receiver without the need for routine fingersticks.†
Dexcom G7 shows you where your glucose is at in the moment, and can also indicate if it’s going up or down. Plus, it can provide a predictive alert if you’re likely to experience hypoglycemia, low glucose, within the next 20 minutes—which is especially helpful if you can’t tell when you’re going low.‡ Just as your GPS can show you if you’re about to go around a sharp corner or that you need to change lanes ahead of a turn, Dexcom G7 can give you a heads up about what’s happening with your glucose levels, empowering you to take steps to stay in your ideal range.
Dexcom G7 can also help you better understand the many factors that can impact glucose and your everyday choices and diabetes management habits. With Dexcom G7, you can seamlessly log pit stops like meals, insulin doses, and physical activity alongside your glucose readings. This gives you a better view of what helps keep you in range and what can lead to highs and lows. You can use Dexcom Clarity reports in the Dexcom G7 app to pull up past glucose data over the last few days, weeks, or months and show your diabetes care team exactly what’s been happening over the course of your day, week, or month.
Diabetes management is about the journey, not the destination
When it comes to diabetes management, there is no destination. The goal is to make the experience as smooth as you can and celebrate your progress along the way. Using Dexcom G7 can make navigating life with diabetes a little easier. When you know what’s coming up on your route, you can take proactive action to stay on track and move through your day with more confidence.
Having real-time insights into your glucose levels can also provide extra peace of mind around catching highs and lows before they happen, so you can focus on what matters most. With Dexcom G7, you can feel a greater sense of ease behind the wheel of your diabetes management and focus a little less on the road, and a little more on simply enjoying the journey.
The information in this article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or health care provider with any questions you may have.
* Smart devices sold separately. For a list of compatible smart devices, please visit dexcom.com/compatibility.
† Fingersticks required for diabetes treatment decisions if symptoms or expectations do not match readings.
‡ This predictive alert can be triggered with impending hypoglycemia (glucose of 3.1 mmol/L or below is predicted to occur within the next 20 minutes).