How many of you use your numbers from your dex to dose your insulin?
Almost never! If it has been steady and accurate and I am somewhere without my meter then I might use it.
Same here. Sometimes if it's a tiny snack I'll just go with the dex, but rarely.
I may give DD a snack based on the Dex saying that she is headed for a low, but I don't dose insulin based on it.
Yes … But not too frequently.
In terms of food, if the dex is in an acceptable range I roll with it…but for correcting I only do it if I’m without my meter and even then I’m super cautious with it and tend to lowball the corrective dose. I used the number as gospel once and went low in an inconvenient place, so now I know better to test first as even a small variance can change my dose.
When is low I will go ahead and suspend my pump and have a snack - if I have 50 or 30 I will still have a snack, so it will not add too much value
I'm still fairly new to the Dexcom, but I did have one day where I dosed off it when I was out with friends, for convenience sake. Coincidentally, that was the day the sensor started going crazy. That was not fun.
At this point, I wouldn't do it without a recent fingerstick to back it up.
Yes, always. Calibrate it right and it's accurate enough to bolus off of every time. I've never had an issue with that in 3 years of using Dexcom.
How do you "calibrate it right"? We always get some wonky numbers - especially on a brand new sensor
I've only had my Dex for about 4 months & I dose from it pretty regularly. There have only been a handful of times that my meter number is far off of the the Dex number, so I feel pretty comfortable. It must be working for me, my A1c has already dropped from 8.2 to 7.1 in the first few months of wearing the Dex.
Once a day, when your sugar is dead level. I read it here all the time of people calibrating with every finger stick, even if it's not level, and that always throws it off.
I'm with Andy and cyndibug on this one --
I dose nearly every injection off my Dex numbers only. My numbers go up and down and up and down like the rest of us (I'm no flatliner, not by a long shot), but I feel comfortable dosing off my Dex numbers. I calibrate when it tells me to, so trust it is tracking well.
I have noticed that my meter will give me two very different numbers sometimes, to the point where I have recently started a little testing of it -- I take TWO sugars in a row from different fingers (like when the meter is starting up and asks for two), and I find they can be many numbers off, but in the same general 'range'. So even meters aren't perfect, right?
I just looked at my Dex (it's lunchtime here in CA right now), and I am at 140, so I am dosing up for lunch based on that number only -- not gonna bother with a meter number that might be 157, or 122, or whatever. Just doesn't worry me a whole lot. Should I end up going low later, I can just eat a bit more, and if I go high, well then I will dose again (though I don't do corrections very often).
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Exactly. The variability in the Dex vs meter numbers is no more than the variability in how effective my insulin/site combo is at any given time. A fraction of a unit off wake any noticeable difference.
Of course, if this is for an infant, that might matter more.
I use my Dexcom 95% of the time for dosing insulin. The only times I don't are when I suspect the sensor is deteriorating or when I've just not been confident in that particular sensor's readings - both of which are rare. However, if you have any doubt it's good to take a finger stick reading so that you can be comfortable.
Hello KML,
I've been on the Dexcom now for about 6 mths. I tend to be ocd while having it on (constantly checking it to see where my #'s are). My #'s are usually anywhere from 20-80 point difference. My endo said the Dexcom is more accurate than a finger stick, but I don't know if that's true. I've noticed that the closer I keep the receiver the closer the #'s are on the Dexcom and on my meter, so try and keep it near you at all times. If I haven't had anything to eat in a while and my sugars are still reading high, I will check before a shot.
Good luck! ;)
Distance has no effect on the accuracy of the numbers. Keep in mind that Dex vs meter has a 15 minute difference, and both have variability for numerous reasons. If you are climbing or falling quickly, don't expect the numbers to be spot on. But if you calibrate when it's level, you'll get very accurate numbers and be able to do just a few meter tests a day to confirm.
I think this is the reason that we never dose off the Dex. Our 6 yr old's doses are much lower and it doesn't take much to send her low.
Thanks everyone. I am a teacher and find it hard enough to remember or find the time to take my injections, test my blood....yadayadayada (you all understand). I think I might start using Dex if I am having a hard time finding time, at work. I notice that a new sensor takes a day or two to really read well...but after that (if I have not just exercised or eaten something I shouldn't have) it does well.
NEVER! I agree with some of the others about statistical ranges and variations. Finger sticks can be ±15% and a Dexcom can be ±20%.
I was taught early on in my use of insulin, NEVER dose insulin without testing. You may feel great but be sitting right on the edge of the cliff when you start to feel hypo. The CGM says you are a little too sweet (high) and you dose accordingly adding in an over count for carbs. You end up fighting a preventable hypo.
Don't do it!
BTW, talk to dex tech support. You can keep your dex better aimed if you enter every test into it and never more than two per five minutes unless it asks for them -- like at start and if there is a big swing in numbers.