Dexcom Seven - First Timer!

Day 1:

Well the night time was interesting... I activated my first sensor around 8:40pm. A little after 2 hours the receiver asked me for 2 blood draws. And of course I was low. In the 20's! I am really starting to think that my Omni Pod settings are all out of whack.

I got my sugar back to normal and got a low reading at night. It was low again... WTF... So I took some glucose tabs and a granola bar. Should have skipped the Granola.... For me lows will only be treated with Glucose tabs (unless it is snack time) since I seem to overshoot the correction. :-(

I got another low reading in the middle of the night. Dex said I was at 55 but Omni said 114. Ok, back to sleep again.

The day has been a bit rough and frustrating. My numbers have shot low then high then low then high.... Again, I am trying to tweak my Omni settings... My insulin sensitivity rate is at 1u:30mg/dL. I am changing this to 50mg/dL since I think that I am correcting too much. And I also think my carb:insulin ration was too high. I am at 1:7. Have toggled between 1:7 and 1:6.

It seems like my sugar is slow to go down, but then when it is down is shoots low real fast. I have yet to see anything level out and feel like I am in complete disarray!

I will keep up the work and learn more about my diabetes... At this point I feel like a complete idiot!!

Will add more as I go.

Idiot? Nah, I'd say just the opposite ;) You're gathering information. 'Off' numbers are an opportunity to learn,and you're doing just that. It takes time....and more time... and just when you get it right it'll probably change.

I LOVE my Dexcom. The first few days, however, are usually not terribly accurate. It seems to need to 'marinate'. Glad you're doing a fs to check the dex readings!

You said your carb:insulin ration was too high...I think you meant that you are taking too much bolus insulin when you eat? If so, you want to go from 1:7 to 1:8, not the other way.

Please change one thing at a time, or you won't know which change did the trick. If you've changed your correction from 1:30 to 1:50, leave your I:C ratio alone for a week and see what happens. You might want to consider only going to 1:40 - 1:50 is a huge change all at once.

Pat yourself on the back - you're on the right track! Keep really good records (what you ate, how many carbs, what time, etc. etc.) and only make one small change at a time.

Congrats on the Dexcom! As I said, I love mine ;)

I turn off alerts the first night after inserting a sensor--too many false alarms. Accuracy for me doesn't kick in until 12-18 hours after insertion.

On to Day 2... I am falling in love with my Dexcom. I have been within my perfect ranges for quite a while. I think I dipped a little in the night, so I will (ever so slightly) tweak my night time Basal and see if it is better tomorrow morning.

I move my carb:insulin ration yesterday from 1:6 to 1:7. This seemed to work fabulously for dinner last night and breakfast this morning!

SO far so good! I already feel more in control than I have been in a long time!


It's great to hear that you're making quick progress! The way small changes in the basal rates and bolus ratios on my pump would make notable changes in my BG was the biggest suprise and has helped me inform my manner of adjusting things. Even a little adjustment can make a signifcant difference so I'm not too shy about trying it!