still relatively new to my Dexcom (about 8 months). wanted to know if other people experience this problem: does it take a while for the sensor to start to accurately read your BG levels (or at least as closely as a sensor can read your levels)??
all answers and thoughts and support very much appreciated. anxious and frustrated.
PS: this is my 4th sensor today. hit a capillary (lots of blood) , pain after insertion, way crazy readings besides calibrations (i.e., dex reading 380, finger stick 159, calibrated afterwards 3 times every 15 minutes, but finally gave up and called dex tech support.)
Iāve been on the Dexcom about 9 months and the first 24 hours is always inaccurate to some degree. I called Dexcom once about my sensor reading HI (above 22.2 mmol/L or 400 mg/dl) when my fingerstick said 11.2 mmol/L (203 mg/dl). They said being that inaccurate was ānormalā for the first 24 hours. I did the three callibrations over 15 minutes and after that it was within 20 percent.
Four sensors? Way to keep trying and not give up. That is quite a struggle. I would have given up. So thanks for sharing that champion roll model experience. I put on the sensor and assume itās accurate. I may have checked long ago to establish that confidence level.
thanks for the vote of confidence. i felt like crying all day long. i even felt guilty about calling Dexcom, despite them being so helpful and kind to me. all i feel now if frustration and lots of prayers. my entire thigh is killing me from the previous insertion sites. its at these time that i do want to give up w/ the cgm. it is a constant battle for me, but i value it so very much.
Yeah, thatās why I enjoy your posts. We share a desperation, a living of life at the end of our ropes, a very reasonable decision it would be to quit, give up, one that sadly people make. But weāre better together.
i have experienced this problem with other locations as well. i feel like a human pincushion sometimes. but thanks for the excellent and appropriate suggestion. i am not giving up yet. i love my dexcom way too much to pack it away.
This post is about sensors, not pump infusion sites. i must have not represented myself clearly, b/c all that have responded wrote about infusions rather than their sensors.
[quote]This post is about sensors, not pump infusion sites. i
must have not represented myself clearly, b/c all that have responded
wrote about infusions rather than their sensors.[/quote]
Iām confused. No one here has mentioned infusion sets?
its my own fault. i posted another site about *sensors but most of the responses were about infusion sets/and pump issues. i was confused as to why i was getting such strange comments regarding the topic.
thanks for pointing this discrepancy out to me. my apologies.
Have you ever tried above your belly button? Iām also very lean, and (not to toot my horn) Iāve got some nice abs (toot! toot!), but I have a little pad of fat a few inches above my belly button. Iāve only used that area for a sensor once, as I like to use my thigh so I can tape a bag around my leg to shower, but it worked well.
Iām no longer āvery leanā (or even very much lean! heh), but I like sites that are actually in leaner spots, to the side, higher than my belly or even up near my armpit. I find those area work well for me and donāt seem to give me as many false-lows when I exercise (a problem I had frequently with belly sites). An added bonus for me is that those sites are also places I wouldnāt think of using for infusion sets, so I just rotate back and forth with sensors there.
Occasionally, I suppose, but I usually donāt have problems with them. I do tend to favor sleeping on the side opposite the sensor (wherever it is), but thatās because I sleep on a water mattress and it blocks the signal.
so are you limited to sleeping only on one side per sensor as you rotate? iāve never even heard of
someone sleeping on a water bedā¦at least not since the 70s.
Well. ā¦ I bought it in the 90s, bit donāt want to change. Not a full āwaterbedā but it amounts to the same thing.
Iām not exactly limited, but try and stay off the sensor, so it wonāt be blocked. In fairly ādisciplinedā in my sleep habits, so it isnāt a problem for me. I find it more of a problem if I happen to sleep on an infusion site, so I try and keep those away from sleep pressure points.
Because my right arm (front, high up) seems to be the ONLY frickinā spot on my body that Iāve tried in the last 9 months that works, and because I tend to sleep with my right arm at right angles to my body, and sleeping on the right side quite often, Iāve recently learned to put my arm under a pillow at all times when sleeping in that fashion. Iāve had quite a few sensors in that location literally die if I slept on that arm w/o cushioning from a pillowāeither my wifeās head, or myself, has wrecked sensors in that arm. I HATE when that happens.
after 2 days of my sensor/transmitter being completely impossible to calibrate, i finally took the darn sensor off and put on a new one. the old one also was causing me some discomfort, feeling like i was having little needles shocking my nerves. I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS. i sleep on my right side, so i use my left side for my sensors and my right side for my pump infusion sites. the infusion never ever bothers me. thank God. i hear of a lot of people having problems w/ their pump sites. for me, its just the damn sensor sites that drive me crazy. i am seriously considering putting it on my left arm next time i change it. i will need my husbands help, though, particularly putting on the tegaderm.
however, i donāt need to worry about a waterbed. my mattress is as firm of foam as it could get.
but thanks for the excellent and appropriate suggestion. i am not giving up yet. i love my dexcom way too much to pack it away.