So last night, I think I might have forgotten my nighttime basal dose. I do split dosing and I do have some remaining natural insulin production, so not a total fail. But still. I have my high alert set at 160 mg/dl. Everything seemed normal when I went to bed at about 9:30pm but as you can see below, I went high.
My CGM probably started alerting my around 10pm. But I was asleep and didn’t awake. When I sleep, I sleep. I really sleep. So the CGM kept alerting, vibrated off the table, vibrated under the table and only around 2pm did I awake enough to hear it. It took me a good while to find the thing. When I tested, I had come down some already but I assumed I missed my basal and made it up with a correction and a fractional basal.
But jeez, if I don’t wake when the thing goes off, what is the point. If I turn it “Attentive” and it goes off once it wakes my wife and I get a tirade about disturbing her sleep. What do others do? If the CGM isn’t useful to me overnight, it really drops in value to me.
I’ve heard of some people putting it in a glass so that the vibration is louder - but again, that’d probably wake your wife.
A more expensive option might be looking into Nightscout and hooking it up to a watch that you can feel vibrate on your wrist, but that involves buying a watch.
This is a big problem for me, too. Especially because, when I go high at night, I never go down without a correction—I usually continue to rise and then stay flat for hours, which can result in an entire night spent at 300 mg/dl if I don’t wake up. My solution has been to set my Dexcom to Attentitive, but I live alone, and even with Attentitive it can take several alarms to motivate me to get up and actually deal with things. I’ve also thought about using some sort of wristband to wear my Dexcom on my wrist/forearm while sleeping. My old Fitbit One had an armband like this that allowed you to wear the Fitbit and feel its alarm vibrate to wake you up in the morning. The Dexcom doesn’t fit in the Fitbit wristband (I tried), but if I could find a similar one that was slightly bigger, it might be a perfect solution.
I may be wrong, but I think if you have a G5 it’s easier to set up with an Apple Watch than having to get Nightscout set up.
I doubt I would hear it under the pillow. I tried putting it underneath me, but shifting during my sleep usually moves it. The one thing I have not tried it putting it under my CPAP headgear straps. I’m not even sure it would stay in place there.
While immediately correcting the issue when alerted is one benefit of Dex, even if that doesn’t always work out because you don’t wake up, it’s still incredibly useful. You were able to look at that line and see what was happening over the course of several hours rather than having to guess. Without it, you would have woken up higher than usual and not had any idea what had been going on overnight.
Y’all have got to be kidding me? Please tell me that y’all don’t care about “living”.
I don’t care what it takes … set your CGM receiver, iPhone or whatever in a device that makes it louder to at least attempt getting your attention to attend to a low BG. I’ve been a T1D since September/1966 … wearing pumps for over 25 years and CGM devices for well over 5 years.
I can no longer “properly” recognize a low BG … especially at night when I tend to drop anyway. I don’t care to recall how many trips I’ve had to the local hospital emergency room via EMS when my wife was not able to bring me back after an extreme low BG situation.
My CGM has saved my bacon more times than and I can count and have also save me tons of $$ of fees from the local emergency folks to cover fees that insurance may not have covered.
I’m on Medicare and have to pay out of pocket for all my CGM products and it is expensive, but I’m very thankful for the product as it helps me manage my T1D.
Also … my wife has no problem making sure that she is aware of my needs when I have an extreme fall in BG and does all she can to keep me alive. If y’all’s spouses are not on board with such care, love and devotion then I’m not sure what more to say.
Yes, this is a strong post, but reading the comments about disturbing someone’s sleep and such because of the T1D disease that we HAVE to deal with 24/7 really rather got me PO’d.
I don’t need to tell you that using insulin makes us vulnerable to serious out of range blood glucose levels. It’s not something that can easily be changed. Now, I don’t sleep with anyone, so I don’t pretend to know all the consequences this might play in the context of a relationship. I do know that many couples sleep in different beds or even rooms. I knew one couple in the marina I lived in that slept in different boats! They always seemed devoted to one another. Perhaps separate rooms might make you both happier.
If you can sort out the sleeping arrangements I do have one suggestion that I’ve not tried but it’s creative and I’ve read favorable reports. Download an app on your smart phone that can detect earthquakes. When you go to sleep at night, place your Dex receiver on top of the phone. The first iteration of every Dex alert and alarm is a vibration. When this happens, the earthquake app kicks in and gives you a full-throated audible alarm.
The NightScout project also features a tech solution to anemic Dex alarms.
I have a similar problem - my wife is a light sleeper (and does not like being wakened by my alarms), and I am a very heavy sleeper. I’ve found a combination of the above suggestions works and generally keeps the family bliss in place. I put my receiver under my pillow, but not completely - I stuff in in the pillow case and set it closest to the edge on which I’m sleeping, so its vibrations will usually be enough against my neck to awaken me. In addition, I use the xDrip app on my phone, and wear a Pebble watch to bed – The one thing that Pebble is VERY good at is vibration! That thing is impossible to ignore when it goes off on my wrist. Pebbles can also be purchased rather inexpensively, especially the original “Pebble classic.” (If you’re an iPhone user, Pebbles can be used with Share with an iPhone, as well.)
I have the t:slim with integrated Dexcom. I wear the pump inside my waistband on my hip when I sleep (I sleep on my side, so the pump goes on the opposite hip). The majority of the time, I feel the vibration from the alarm and it wakes me up. That has worked well for me. If my pump falls out or it’s not otherwise convenient to keep it there, I often miss the alarms.
Try a belt that can hold you CGM and position it so it doesn’t interfere with your sleep position but you can feel the vibration. Wonder why your wife didn’t hear the alerts going off?
When I asked her if she heard it she said she heard it from downstairs. WTF. She just does not get it. I’ve talked with her, if it alarms, she should whack me until I get up. WTF. I’m sorry if my wife is not like @Nolan_Kienitz’s wife.
