My son is 2 yr old. Dx 6 months ago. Using OmniPod.
We’re deciding on our first CGM, but wonder if it’ll be OK for a 2 yr old
Santi uses his Omni Pod on his butt chicks, so where would you suggest placing the Dexcom sensor? Any othe advice for a first timer will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
I haven’t looked it up yet but it seems like there is something about Dexcom only being approved by the FDA for adult use. Hopefully they are working on something for children. Anyway, I would call their Sales Support number to be sure, as I might be wrong.
FDA approval is only for adults, but many parents report excellent results with younger pts. (including pre-schoolers). Sales Support can not say anything about off-label usage, it’s the law. So that’s definitely not going to be helpful.
Minimed “Guardian” is approved down to age 7. Minimed won this approval because they created a separate product, in which the “low” alarm cannot be disabled or changed to a lower-than-preset value. AFAIK, Dexcom has not said anything creating a child’s version of the Seven-Plus, running similarly restricted software. Even if Dexcom did create such a device, FDA would definitely not approve it for kids as young as Santi,
Because of this, most insurance companies will try to deny coverage with statements like “not proven effective in children so young”, and/or “not an approved treatment for a pt. of this age”. But if you can get past the $$$ problem, it very possibly would work. I’ll SWAG 50/50 chance. I’ll also guess that the best site to try would be the opposite butt cheek-- rotate among a bunch of Omnipod sites on his right, while using one or two Dex sites on his left. Then swap from one side to the other after 2 Dex Sensors have been used on one side. (You’ll have to rip the “current” Pod at that time).
This is all SWAG, of course. But IIRC, I think that I’ve heard of successful use at ages 3-4.
If you are still deciding, you may want to consider the Navigator. Parents of T1 children often talk about how they like the Navigator because the wireless range between sensor and receiver is much longer and allows you to be in a different room like in your bedroom at night while your child sleeps. (There’s probably a workaround with Dexcom to alert you in another room. I’ve tested the Sonic Alert system to see if it could pick up the sound of my cell phone vibrating in another room and send the signal to my Sonic Alert alarm clock.–in this test, the cell phone was within inches of the Sonic Alert sensor, so this might only work at night when your son is sleeping and you can lay the receiver within 5 ft of him and within inches of the Sonic Alert “Baby Cry” sensor).
Yes, great post (pointing at Navigator too). BTW, BriGuy, you might become a member at another discussion board, “Children with Diabetes”, because they seem to have many more parents using CGMS on children, and actively posting about it, than we have here. More parents, more and better advice.
The workaround for Dexcom is “the Radio Shack Solution”: Put a microphone next to the Receiver. (It can be a wireless or wired model; a cheaper “dynamic” type is more convenient because it doesn’t need to be powered.) Run the microphone into any stereo or boom-box with a microphone input, and turn on the stereo.
Wired microphones are often used with cables 30+ feet long (think of a big rock-and-roll stage), and you can buy 50 foot extender cables on eBay for less than $20.
There’s two issues, though, which might call for additional bits of equipment. First, those extra durable “professional-type” cables are a 3-pin design called XLR, while your stereo’s microphone input will be either 1/4" plug or mini-plug. (The plug is mono, not stereo; but two of the wires in the XLR are shorted, so it all matches up.) There are adapters for less than $5; eBay is again your friend. Often, when you buy a microphone with a detachable cable included in the box, it will already be XLR to 1/4" plug: So in that case, you’d merely use your extender cable first, from the microphone, and then plug the supplied cable between your stereo and the extender cable.
The other issue is this: These days, very few home stereos or boom-boxes have a microphone input; their only 1/4" jack is for headphones out, and their input jack is an “auxiliary”, used for iPods and similar portables. You’ll need either a microphone amplifier ($20-30 new), or an actual microphone mixer. (As little as $15 for a used piece of Radio Shack “Realistic” garbage, as I use; but don’t even look at professional-type mixers. They’re $$$$.) So put a search into eBay notifying you when someone has a mixer for sale, and put a maximum price of $20. Sooner or later, you’ll get an email about a matching item, and you’ll win one at the right price.
The cheap Realistic mixers have very noisy circuitry, not suitable for professional use. Even though it’s VASTLY better than children’s “spy toy” products, there is a constant hiss in my ear when I’m sleeping with one headphone earbud inserted. (I have been a Professional Musician in the past.) I use the earbud because I sleep much deeper than my wife: it’s connected to the mixer, with it’s own volume control, while my wife’s volume is set at the stereo system. So my earbud is LOUD, while the Stereo is only at moderate volume. Output from the mixer is RCA cable stereo at standard component volume/voltages. If you want the alarms to occur in multiple rooms, it’s fine to use “Y” adapters, or the “tape out” RCA jacks, to feed multiple stereos.
One last thing: You do not want to use an “omnidirectional” microphone for this purpose, it will pick up breathing noises. The pick-up pattern which you want your microphone to have is called “Cardioid”. IMO most “Unidirectional” microphones are a little bit too fucused for this purpose, when the Dexcom or Microphone move to be even slightly off-axis the sound level falls off too far. Cardioid is a slightly “wider” frontal pattern, that’s the one you want.
Thanks all of you for your input and time on getting this info back to us. It really helps to know that there is help & support… Dexcom is trying to get an agreement done with my insurance company, so we’ll see in the upcoming weeks what happens.