First hour of Dexcom

I've just got my first cgm. It started working an hour ago and my BG was 48, and dropping. I ate a 25g candy bar and have spent the last hour delightedly watching it climb - 88 and counting (it's leveled off now, so I'm going to have my normal dinner and shot). This is amazing; I've been Type 1 for 35 years and have no awareness of low blood sugars - often find myself collapsing out of the blue and discover I'm 20 or lower. The one challenge is going be the fact that I live in a Zen temple and spend 90 minutes every morning meditating in a perfectly silent room with 50 other silent people. I take a morning shot of Humalog to deal with the Dawn Phenomenon, and am often low by the time we're done meditating. But I'm determined to make this work; I think it's a life-changing piece of technology.

Glad you are finding it useful...just be careful on the first day of wear... it tends to be less stable and off more than on later days (for me, anyway). And always do a fingerstick before dosing insulin... sometimes it is way off.

Best of luck. Use the vibrate function, that might help, when you need to meditate, and can still be aware of lows. Perhaps you need less humalog in te AM if it causes you to go low daily. The CGM will help determine this. Good luck.

Thank you for the suggestion. Don't believe everything I read on a screen, huh?

Wow, it just buzzed cos it went back down to 69, but when I tested it manually it's 99...

That's the kind of thing I was referring to....but it does get better over time...

And then it lost coverage... and now it's telling me it's 59, but my manual test says 81...

I'm glad your first hour was so good for you. Did you compare with your glucose meter to see how close they were? I rarely get any accuracy during my first day. I usually get two weeks from a sensor, but I never take any insulin or eat anything based on my Dexcom numbers. I always use my glucometer to decide my insulin dosages, and to decide how to correct my highs.

Oh, I see - it's been telling me 41 for the last hour, but my meter says 112... does that mean it's not working properly?

It's working. The Dexcom needs to get used to Your glucose monitor. Give it time, but if the Dexcom is reading low prick your finger to double check it. Your diabetes sounds like mine. I've had the same issues with lows and I live alone. Let those other 50 people know what's going on with you as I'm sure you have. You are going to love the Dexcom just for those lows.

Thanks, Katie - I input my monitor reading and now it's way high.... And you're totally right, those 50 people are all my friends, and they'll be happy to support me in this. And I think they're tired of me being chaotic.

Djinn, I need to do this for my co-workers and you might want to as well for you fellow Zen partners. Go to diabetesnet.com and print out the description of Hypoglycemia Unawareness. It really explains what is happening to us in a way that the non diabetic world can understand.

Scroll down and look at the bizarre behavior section. Here it is.

A person's actions during HU can be bizarre with:
irrational thought
anger or irritability --- see also Anger During Lows
running away
insisting they "feel fine" in the midst of very unusual behavior
high stress
high emotions
laughing and silliness

Its amazing for knowledge! But....do not trust the numbers. Cant tell you how often I trusted the dex, treated a low or bolused for a high, only to figure later that it was wrong and messed up my day! Just remember to test before treating lows or highs!

The alarms can get annoying too, especially when meditating.....but another thing you will work through over time.

jaya guru devi!

Totally agree with Richard. I tend to almost ignore the first day. The sensor has to kind of 'marinate' - I actually find the second week even more accurate than the first.

Remember that the readings from the Dexcom are from interstitial fluid, not blood, so are not always accurate. It's a fabulous tool for seeing trends, but not for dosing.

Enjoy! Gassho.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I've just been to a staff meeting where I explained all of this to a group of my colleagues and they were wonderfully supportive. Of course the Dexcom started buzzing this morning during meditation, and I put a jelly in my mouth as quietly as possible, but it buzzed again - I was so distressed! I had the fall rate alert disabled, but it went straight to Low, so it wouldn't stop. The trial Dexcom I have isn't working properly - its beep isn't sounding, so I'm kinda thankful for that. But I'm realising that I'm taking too much fast-acting insulin in the morning to counteract my dawn phenomenon.

Wait till you d/l a week's data - so much info!

Anyone notice any differences in the adhesive lately on your Dexcom? I can have it peeling off in one day - when did it turn so bad? I sure wish they'd use the stuff the pump uses! That stuff is tough!

Djinn, welcome aboard the Dexcom train.... whooo whooo! :) It's am amazing product but I tend to think that people put too many eggs in one basket and not enough in another.... Let me explain.

The Dexcom is not a BG meter, I know I know that sounds crazy but it's not. It is actually taking a super intelligent guess at your BG based on how much your BG is going up or down and what you tell it from your "regular" meter. When you get into the guts of what the Dexcom actually does it is mind blowing that they are able to give you a BG number at all. So one really good thing to do, as people are saying, to get used to the Dexcom is to completely ignore the BG number and focus on what the Dexcom is really giving you which is trending data.

Watch your graph and arrows instead of the numbers because %99.9 of the time the direction of change and the rate of change will be amazingly acurate because that is what it is actually physically measuring from your body, the rate and ammount of change in your BG levels, not an actual BG number.

Some people seem to find that this it is a weakness that they can't totally rely on the BG number or it wasn't what they were expecting, but take it from me, knowing in what direction your BG is going and how fast it's going there brings a whole new set of information to the party to help you manage yourself more cloesly. And enjoy it, it is an amazing tool in your aresnal.

great explanation! Thanks for putting it into words for all of us..

Thank you for this - it's a really helpful perspective. I've always tested about 10 times day - scarred fingertips testify to that - so I'm finding that if I keep doing that and input the data into the Dexcom, it's making a more precise guess at my BG.