FreeStyle Navigator System or DexCom 7

Diabetes Technology Glucose Monitoring
1

I just read an article on diaTribe about a new CGMS from Abbott ( Abbott FreeStyle Navigator ) and an updated Dexcom 7 that can be manually calibrated. I currently use the FreeStyle Flash glucometer but was thinking of switching to One Touch because the Dexcom works with those glucometers. The Abbott FreeStyle Navigator has a built in glucometer for calibration and works with the Freestyle test strips that I currently use. However, the Abbott FreeStyle Navigator sensor are only good for 5 days versus 7 for the Dexcom.

So now I have choices.

  • Get the Abbott FreeStyle Navigator and stick with my current meter and supplies and live with a 5 day sensor
  • Get the Dexcom 7, a One Touch Ultra 2 and supplies

CGMS ( the Dexcom at least ) and other supplies are covered by my insurance plan and my endo is willing to loan me a Dexcom unit. What to do?

2

For what it’s worth I would use what your insurance is willing to pay for. I use the Gurdian, my insurance does not pay for any of it. No matter which one you use if the insurance does not pay for it, it will get very expensive very quick.

3

Aubrey,
Insurance covers the Dexcom, OneTouch and Fressstyle flash. I do not know about the FreeStyle Navigator. I’ll check on that. I want to reduce the amount of stuff I carry around with me. If the CGMS already has a glucometer then I will have one less thing to carry around.

4

I have the Minimed minilink, however, I switched pumps from Medtronic to the Omnipod. I have heard that Dexcom and Omnipod are working on a single pod solution so that both the sensor and infusion site will be contained in a single pod with a single meter, pdm and receiver.

However, I would like to see a side-by-side comparison of both the Dexcom and Navigator. I do realize that the sensor for the Navigator is 5 days but when the Medtronic sensor came out it was only for 3 days until we figured out a way around it and made it last for 6 days. I think 7 days might be a bit long to have something inserted under your skin. The 6 days for Medtronic was itching like crazy on the 6th day.

Anyone see a comparison of these two?

5

I just got a Dexcom 7 loaner from endo offices this morning. The nurse spent 30 minutes explaining how it works. She put a sensor on me and showed me how to calibrate it. The things drove me nuts for a few hours. My BG dropped under 70 and stayed that way for a couple of hours before finally climbing to 100.

6

Khurt, sorry to see that Dexcom had “crazy” numbers for you. But that is not unusual! Most people do not wear the Dexcom Sensors on the frontal abdomen, where Dexcom says. Lots of people use “upper butt cheek”, high enough to avoid sitting on it but still in a “meaty” part. A few have great success with “love handles”, straight down from armpits and one inch above belts.

I use both of those sites :))) Never had any luck at all with frontal abdomen, I was going to send it back until someone told me to try a “love handle” site.

I feel that 5 days versus 7 days is not important. But there is a HUGE difference-- when the Dexcom needs to be restarted (on every 7th day, I usually get 15-20 days from each one) you only have to wait 2 hours before it starts giving readings again. With Abbott, you must wait TEN HOURS. For me that would be many alarms to wake up and bG test (at night), or many, many interruptions to bG test during the day.

But, some people have switched from Dexcom to Navigator and found it to be astoundingly more accurate. THAT would bea reason to choose Abbott, in spite of the 10-hour warm up time.

You know that in just another month or two, Dexcom will allow you to use buttons to enter the finger-stick glucometer readings, so you could continue to use Freestyle with Dexcom too. (One-Touch uses lots more blood, but even more important for me, you need to have that cable to connect the meter to the Dexcom. Not convenient.)

If my insurance will pay for Abbott strips, then I will switch to Freestyle myself. But the first day on Dexcom is often crazy-bad, and maybe you need to use a different Sensor location (as I do).

When you get good results, as I do, then perhaps you will choose to ignore the rule “test with finger-poke before treating”. Although I have an “extra” one-touch in the car, I almost never carry a one touch meter (or strips, or lancet device) anywhere. Only on day #1 of a new Sensor, out of 15-20 days wearing time.

So there is almost always only Dexcom in my pocket when I visit customers, or go shopping, or Opera concert, or anything. You might find that Abbott is the same-- even though it contains a meter, there might be no need to carry strips and lancet device at all, and you might hardly ever again actually use your meter.

7

So the rule is “test before treating”? This thing indicates lows at least three times a day. Plus twice daily calibrations. So this thing will allow me to prick my fingers as much as I do now with my glucometer?

8

Yes, that’s the official rules-- because they OFFICIALLY aren’t accurate enough to “trust”. But I trust mine nearly all the time (after day 1). My once-ever-12-hours “calibration” finger stick tests are usually within 10 points of the Dexcom reading, and most every other test is, too. When I used to “confirm” every time after Dexcom had warmed up properly (days 2-18), I nearly always found that the One-Touch and Dexcom were in agreement. So fingersticks were truly just just a hassle and waste of strips. Very often, for my “once every 12 hours” finger poke, they’ll be showing exactly the same number. If my wife is home, I’ll take the two meters and show them to her, saying, “yep, I really needed that calibration strip! It’s TOTALLY worthwhile (not!!!)”

I’m averaging less than 4 fingerpokes per day, and nearly all of them are for no reason except to make Dexcom stop nagging for “calibration”. Before CGMS, I used to do 15-20 tests per day, and that WASN’T enough. Problems would occur during sleep.

I am more lucky than most. In the USA, we say “Your Mileage May Vary”.

9

I was hoping to do just the two finger tests per day. Normally I do about 7. But my experience has been that I am doing about 5 per day with the 7. So … my mileage is varying.

10

Hello everybody. i read all those input and i really asking myself how to choose either a DEXCOM or Freestyle.
But in fact i have no choise, I found how to get the Freestyle one, from germany, but how to get a DEXCOM CGM??
Could someone tell me in which country it is available and how to get, and also the price for it and sensors. I am living in France, so i have also to choose either travelling to UK, or germany!!

thank you for your help.

11

Sadi, Dexcom is sold only in the USA… a long tip for acquisition and refills from EU, sorry. I have no idea of Abbott’s pricing in France; Minimed (the 3rd vendor) charges much more (about 3x the USA price) in the EU and in GB, and it varies a lot by country.

12

Khurt

I’ve had very good luck with the Dexcom. I’ve learned to change the sensor in the evening and then restart it the next morning. That way the readings have settled down, otherwise the first several hours after a new sensor has started can be tricky.

One this is to wait until your blood sugar is stable before calibrating. This gives much better results. This is another reason to wait until morning, since most of us have a stable morning level (even if it is high!).

I did put a video on YouTube showing the difference between the old and the new Dexcom. Later I ran the numbers for the 13 days I had the new one on (one sensor), the old one said my average BG was 117, the old one said 134! Being able to calibrate with a more accurate meter makes a big difference.

13

The “5-day” Abbott Sensors can be restarted, just like the Dexcom “7-day” Sensors. (Although the warm-up time is again 10 hours, not just 2 hours.) You were complaining that Dexcom gives you at least two low readings per day–

I hope that my response to the older (post is confusing-- but I wanted to respond to “Abbott is only good for five days” right where it was said.

Kurt, you’ve now had at least two more weeks with Dexcom, and I hope that any “flase” lows have been resolved by changing to another site? Because if they’re false alarms, and you’ve tried alternate sites, then I’d say that Dexcom is just not working for you, and you should definitely switch.

But do be absolutely sure about this: If you BUY Abbott and and find that it’s no better, or find that you don’t like the warm-ups, it then Abbott (unlike Dexcom) keeps your money. Like Minimed, they say, “tough, you bought it, it’s yours, we’re keeping your money.”

Obviously the “problem” of using an Ultra, instead of the meter you like, has gone away with the new Dexcom… although some people don’t like the very rapid speed with which the buttons change the number up and down, it’s hard to stop at the number you want. Do take note that you CAN’T just go and but an Ultra-2 from the store-- the older calibrated-by-wire Dexcom models, including the Seven, require the original Ultra “model 1” (same strips, but it’s getting hard to find that meter).

If you are now having great accuracy with Dexcom and only “whining” that you must use a slightly more painful/more expensive meter, then you are very spoiled-- but that’s GOOD, I would love if that was my only problem. I cannot last for 10 hours at night, poking and poking and poking every 1/2 hour. I used to do that, it always made me very ill tempered the next day. So I would have to very carefully “kill” the Abbott early to make sure the 10 hour wait NEVER happened at night, and the warm up time would be disruptive if I was driving around and working at customer sites-- which I do a lot.

Dex works for me, but if it’s not working for you, I’d seriously look at one Abbott. I know a woman who switched, she is NOT going back to Dexcom. Not ever. She’s thrilled!

14

I meant a long “trip”. And the “fuel surcharge” airplane costs are pretty bad, but once you get here, USA vacations are really cheap for anyone paying with Pounds or Euros or Canadian Dollars.

After 6 years of paying for our criminal war with $Trillions of newly printed “dollars” backed by nothing except IOUs to future retirees, you all aren’t thrilled to exchanging them for your REAL money anymore. :))

If you will be paying your own real money, then it might make sense to visit USA friends and get the prescription from and Endocrinologist in USA. Although the Sensors are labeled to “expire” only about 4 months after they’re made, they seem to almost always last longer than that if you keep them in a wine refrigerator at 45-50F (about 5C).

The 7-day Sensors are more expensive than the “3-day” I still use: 60$USD each. Minimed is still selling there Sensors for $35 each, but their monitor and “transmitter” attachment are MUCH more expensive than Dexcom’s. Dexcom’s startup kit (monitor and transmitter) can be had for about $400.

15

Actually I decided that CGMS might be useless for me. I am disappointed because I thought the CGMS would free me from numerous finger pricks ( not painful, just annoying ) and provide alerts on dangerous lows. But the Dexcom kept beeping low or high when 3 separate glucometers would say otherwise. For me it was unreliable.

16

Okay, so you don’t need to use the One Touch Ultra 2 for the DexCom anymore. That is old news that you have read. This winter they came out with a new version that uses any meter you just imput it manually, not a big deal.

I have a DexCom and I think it is great. the Sensors are very easy to put in. I don’t like that you have to plug it in to recharge it but such is like.

The Navigator could be cool. I wore the sensor for a few days and I am not getting one becuase the sensor and transmitter are way too big for me. It is about twice the size of the DexCom. but I have to say when they come out with a smaller transmitter I am going to look into it.

17

Maybe some FreeStyle Navigator User here can help me. I am on my fourth sensor and I have had nothing but false BG readings. The Navigator tells me that I am high when in fact I am low, tells me I’m low when I am high. I have had 4 hypoglycemic episodes, one 49 - Navigator said I was 98, one 57 - Navigator said I was 132, one I don’t know because I was too low to even check my blood but the Navigator said I was 102. I bought this meter to warn me of lows which it is not doing. I worked with the Abbott Customer Service for hours but no answer on what might be causing the discrepancies between what the CM says and what the manual BG says.

I do not mind a discrepancy of 10 or even 20 but 50 or more is not acceptable!

I would appreciate anyone that might be able to give me some advice or their experiences with the FreeStyle Navigator.

Thanks,

Peter

18

Amy Tenderich just posted her review of the Navigator:
http://www.diabetesmine.com/2008/07/abbott-navigator-a-first-look.html

19

I have the Dexcom for about 1.5 years now and the sensors have been lasting approx 14days…it is a useful tool for checking the trends and for sometimes checking my sugar level…i find that the meter has been off about 100-150 points 3-4 times per week…and i am thinking this is because of a couple of reasons,…i am triathlete and the sensor moving will cause problems,…but the strange thing is the sensor when i am on the bike, i am not using the stomach muscles and i think the sensor is not moving and i will see my readings on the Dexcom flatline for about 2 hours, and i check my sugar every 30minutes, and they are exactly what my Dexcom is saying…but then when i sleep, i must be moving my sensor, because i will see the readings go from 200 down to 100 and miss readings…and then i wake up and the Dexcom is not accurate with my finger stick…but then on some nights, i will see a good “trend value”…my personal opinion is that the guy that wrote the Algorithm for this Dexcom was not a diabetic…the good news is that in the near future you will be able to use your own BSmeter and insert the data by hand…this is supposedly coming soon for all Dexcom owners…another thing, i don’t care what BSmeter you have, the allowable tolerance for BSmeters is +/-10%…so once your dexcom has been warmed up for 2 hours, i would take 3 finger sticks and average them myself and then plug that value in to calibrate the meter…i tried an experiment with AccuChek, OneTouch, and Keynote(supposedly a very accurate meter)…and all of these showed variance of greater than 10%…to me the Dexcom device is only good for trending or when i am in very stable and my meter is flat-lining(for example when i am driving or flying for business or in a long boring meeting…) then i will look at the meter and know my sugar level is probably +/- 20points of what the Dexcom is saying…

20

I have the Medtronic Minimed CGM and have been wearing it for about 4 months total. I’ve taken breaks from it because of the frustration of getting huge discrepancies in the readings between the finger stick and the CGS. I would love to make it work but after hours of talking with people on the 800 line and having two people train me in person I still feel that it isn’t nearly accurate enough for me to make it useful. Any suggestions?