Day 1 on CGMS

Finally about 6 last night my sensor started working. At first it was giving me much higher readings than what my monitor was saying. Today it seems to be within 5 points of my meter pretty much all the time. This all still feels like a dream to me as I have been fighting for about 5 years to get the latest medical technology and here i am wearing it and to be honest with you I am probably the only one in my city that has the CGMS. I know my pharmacy who caters to diabetics do not deal with the CGMS. My pharmacist told me today that in a few months I will probably be teaching them about the latest technology. My doctor is also very excited about this as well.

You have to have a prescription from your doctor. It my case insurance didn’t pay for it period, I had to pay out of pocket. It comes with a sensor that is smaller than the infusion set for the pump, then it has a transmitter which connects to the sensor. The sensor is inserted like an infusion set. It communicates through radio frequency the same way the meter communicates with the pump. It sends readings every 5 minutes to the pump and you set your low and high thresholds and your pump will beep at you if you are heading towards theses thresholds so you can adjust if necessary. You have to calibrate it with your meter so you get accurate readings. Out of pocket it runs $1000 to start up.

http://www.minimed.com/products/insulinpumps/faq.html
There is a link to it.

Thanks Cody. I’m happy for you. I am waiting for my Guardian CGMS and I am so nervous. I’m scared that I won’t hear the lows if I am alerted at night. Keep me posted on your experiences. Best of luck to you

I don’t really think it i s loud enough to wake me up but it does make an annoying noist that jut seems out of place. I do know if I am in a large group I can’t here it like what happened to day, but what I have done is put it on vibrate.

The volume isn’t any louder than the regular Minimed alarms but as Cody said, the sound is different. I had pretty much learned to tune out the regular alarms (usually the BG reminder) but the sensor alarms do get my attention when I’m awake. Not so much at night, though. If you don’t clear a sensor alarm after 10 minutes it gets more annoying and will make a different sound and vibrate as well. That woke me a few times but recently my BG shot up overnight and when I finally woke up I noticed the high BG alarm had started an hour earlier and didn’t wake me (you can see the time when the alarm first went off).

Congrats on getting the CGMS! How do you like it so far? I love mine. I find on average my CGMS is off by about 10 points. Like you, I am sure I am the only one in my town wearing a CGMS (Population 6,000). I don’t know if you have experienced this yet, but you may find that the sensor ends at the worst possible time of the day. For me, it is usually while I am at work. I hope Medtronic comes out with a warning sign that the sensor is getting low, but I still love this little device. I hope you have great results with it. Take care.

I talked to my pump trainer and there are 18 people in Northwest AL on it and I am the only one in my town. She is the only one that does training on any of the CGMS and she also does most of the training for the other pumps as well. So far I love it, but sometimes at night it gets annoying when it keeps going off.

Hi Cody, I have been on the CGM system for about 16 months. Trust me if you don’t hear it, it will vibrate.
I would never start mine in the evening, I usally insert in the evening, cover the plug end w/ an band aid and go to sleep. The next day plug in the xmitter, never any problems. My trainer strongly suggested to use cloth tape and tape down the flat part of the sensor, then tape down the xmitter to hold them both from moving, never had any problems.Al.

I am new to the sensor(minimed), having used just three. I think my training was not as thorough as it should have been.
My values can vary 100 points between my sensor and meter!! I was told to use my link meter whenever I test, but I think that’s too many calibrations and all of the readings wack the system out. I have just started testing and not entering the tests as sensor readings. We’ll see if that helps.
Last night I felt minimally low but the sensor said 105, and when I tested I was 65. No wonder I didn’t sleep well. I can’t seem to get this thing on track. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Wow, your numbers are really close! I just got trained and hooked up for the first time yesterday, and my numbers have been mostly within about 20 points. I’m experimenting with pizza today! Boss brought some in so I figured what the heck, let’s see what this thing has to say about how I do my dual wave, etc. I got trained with another lady, and we were the 3rd and 4th in our metro area to get it. We’re very honored! Just a few weeks ago, my insurance company (CIGNA) was still rejecting me and calling CGMS “experimental”, then I suddenly got a call from Minimed saying I’d get my kit a few days later! My doc and Minimed had numerous correspondence with them but we never got acknowledgement until just this last week. I encourage anyone and everyone who wants one of these systems to keep pestering your insurance company, and enlist your doctor and pump company to help you in the fight as well. Minimed said that many insurance companies have gotten on board just in the last few weeks because of some new research results they sent out to the insurance industry. Don’t give up!