On the first day of my second sensor ever. the first day of my first sensor was miserable, so this one's starting off a little better. however, the readings are still really off - DEX keeps reading me about 50-70 points higher than my figersticks right now.
my question is - how many calibrations do you do in one day on the first day? does it do any good? i've probably done about 4 or 5 already today, just trying to get it to come closer to my fingerstick reading.
I do between 5-7 calibrations on the first day of sensor wear also. I find with more frequent calibrations, the sensor runs 5-10 points consistently for 10 days of wear on a sensor. I might suggest one other idea for you. Some people have a very high white blood cell response (wound response) when they initially insert a new sensor to begin their warm up period. I have this issue and have found that inserting the sensor the evening before and then waiting till the following morning to start my two hour calibration, gives me readings with only a 5-10 point variance.....just my 2 cents but patients I have worked with previously found this to work very well for them.
hmmm . . . good tip. i should have tried it this time. i actually didn't put it on until about 8:30 pm and purposely waited up another 2 hours just to calibrate. should have just gone to sleep and done it in the morning, LOL! i'll try it next time! thanks!
I just follow the minimum required calibrations. The first day usually is the worst for "being close." As I have read and have been told these type of glucose devices do not actually read your glucose. What they do is track other fluid changes in your body and estimate your glucose from that. That's why they need the calibrations periodically. As these fluids change in your body, they estimate the rise or fall of your glucose from the calibrations you do. More calibration doesn't help a lot, but feel free to do more if you feel it does better. And don't put too much into how off it is at first. Just use your old fashion monitor if you need during the first day.
I see my first post went no where. Will try again.
First day or two after initial placement are worst for accuracy for me. I do frequent calibrations at that point until it settles down. Then just do the two requested unless it is way off. I find that if I calibrate when it is close it will drive it lower. My dex always tends to run lower that meter readings. When I do the weekly reset it tends to need another day or two of.more frequent calibrations to get it settled, then it is good. Same for the third reset. Eventually it will become erratic usually end of the third week at which point I try more frequent calibrations to keep it on track before it eventually craps out completely.
that sounds exactly like how my first sensor went. except the first day the numbers were WAY out of line. this time not as bad. but the 2nd and 3rd restart of my first sensor took a day or so to settle too. i wonder why that is? if i wasn't getting more than 7 days out of my sensor, i might be a little peeved about that considering the high cost :)
You will get to know your pattern and when it is not advisable to dose from CGM with out a double check. You are the only one who can know if it is safe to do, based on what your numbers are and what your historical patterns are.
I rarely go low, only lows were related to glypizide back in the misdiagnosis days, now that I have the dex if I get distracted and wait too long to eat after dosing for planned meal I get reminded. Will add on 5 carbs at a time, post meal, if the trend is persisting in the wrong direction too long. Don't want to add large amounts, just enough to nudge the needle over after a big meal with an iffy carb count.
I'm still honeymooning so that may be part of why I can do it without issue so far. Things may change for me in future, and as always YMMV, your patterns may be totally different, so be careful as you work out what it is safe for you to do.