I was wondering how many times a day everyone calibrates their Dexcom with a fingerstick. I find I do it more often when the reading are not accurate. Is this the correct thing to do or is it making it worse?
My daughter is in her first week of using the Dexcom. The Dexcom representative told me that she should not enter more than 6 fingerstick readings a day. She said in this situation more is not better. I had assumed until that communication that she should enter every BG reading. Looking forward to what the veterans have to say on this topic.
2 times for me.
Sometimes i am so busy that 1 calibrate once in 24 hrs.
Over the long haul what's important will not be how exact your numbers are but what good has been achieved; bringing and keeping your H1C in the right range.
I used to enter my meal and bedtime readings until support told me not to. They told me to enter when prompted (twice a day) plus whenever the receiver is more than 20% different than the meter. An exception to that is when I am 80 or less. Support told me that I should only calibrate if I am more than 20 points off. So for example, receiver 60, meter 45, don't calibrate.
I have to admit that I don't like the fact that I can be way off when I am high. If I am having a bad day and the meter reads 300, the receiver can read between 241 and 359 and not require calibrating. Also I don't like not calibrating in the previous example. Being 45 is way different than being 60.
I've been on the DexCom since November of 2009 and some of this information is new to me. That being said, Brad Ringer's reply reflects pretty much what I do and how I feel about it. It's nice to have some written parameters.
I agree with Brad, I'll usually ONLY calibrate when I'm 20 points or more off. Often that means I only calibrate every 2-3 days. Usually it's twice a day the first two days after a sensor goes in, then only a couple times a week for the next two weeks. If a sensor lasts longer than two weeks it often starts to need more frequent calibration again. When it tells me to calibrate I usually do a check, then just hit the ok button but don't enter it into the Dex unless it's way off from what the Dex is showing.
Thanks for the info! That helps a lot. I actually tend to calibrate when it is 20 points off because that is when it annoys me,
Thanks for sharing Megan. I am also in my first week of using my new Dexcom, and have been entering every singe reading into the receiver. The receiver seems to be very close to my meter tests, but I'm beginning to think that's because I'm calibrating so much. I don't like the fact that if I go by the "every 12 hours" for calibration, I will end up testing more than normal.
It sounds like you're doing enough tests a day already! The every 12 hours is how often it asks for a test but if you're going to do one shortly after it asks anyway then just his ok when it tells you to test and then when you next test you can enter that value. You should not need to do extra tests to make the Dex work. Many of us do find we do extra tests at the beginning just to double check and see if it is right.
I calibrate at least twice a day for the first two days after putting in a new sensor, then once a day or less. It used to bother me when it was either very high or very low and off by 20%. FOr instance plus or minus 50 points from a reading of 280. Eventually I started believing that those numbers matter less since I will check with my meter before correcting and I was alerted to a high by the Dex. I have become more interested in calibrating only occasionally between 80-120 when the line is steady.
Weelll, I used to test to death and think it was best - especially when not reading correctly - but now I'm totally opposite and think less is better. When it's not reading right, do a finger stick and feed it in there once and wait. I find it catches up most times. That is, until you get to a bad day and it's never right! Lol - everybody has them.
Most days I throw in an extra calibration or two (beyond the minimum). NB, if the fingerstick is significantly higher than the Dex I will re-check the fingerstick before I enter it as a calibration. Too often over the years I have gotten false "high" results with my One Touch.
I calibrate before breakfast, dinner, and at bedtime.
Have not had a serious low sugar event since I began almost two years ago.
This is a great change for me because these events were way to frequent previously due to my attempts to keep glucose lavels normal.
Thanks for the explanation! WHat I meant by extra tests was that when it asks every 12 hours to be calibrated, may not be before a meal or bedtime. It may even be in the middle of the night, when I would not have previously (before using the Dexcom) tested.
I find it only asks for a test when I have not cal. for a long time(maybe 12 hours). When I cal. the 3 times per day previously mentioned, I never see the prompt read-out. I have never read I must wait until your prompted. I get closer readings by cal.3 times rather than two.
I hope we are talking about the same issue. Please let me know.
Jim