Do any of you use this tape to hold your sensor down longer. If so, do you need a script and who do you get it through ? Thanks !
I didn’t have good luck with that kind. I use the Opsite FlexiFix by Smith & Nephew. Smith & Nephew also makes the IV 3000.
I bought mine from a local pharmacy that carries health care supplies. American Diabetes Wholesale has good prices on stuff & they carry the IV 3000.
http://www.americandiabeteswholesale.com/StoreFront.bok
If you want to try to get your insurance to pay for it, then your doctor should give you a script for it. If you are paying out of pocket, you don’t need a script.
Like Kelly-WPA, I find FlexiFix to work a lot better.
I use the IV 3000. I purchased it through Amazon w/o a prescription.
For extra tape life, I use “Skin-Prep” underneath the entire area (Dexcom tape, Sensor wire site, and Flexifix tape). You don’t have to leave a doughnut hole for the Sensor wire, it’s harmless after it dries.
Skin-Prep is not an adhesive; it’s a waterproof “flexible barrier” product (clear, almost totally invisible, and microscopically thin). It helps on both sides – it keeps the nasty adhesive chemicals away from your skin, reducing irritation and skin reactions. (Without it, I react very strongly to Dexcom’s pad adhesive, growing horrible red bumps which last for months. I’ve still got one of those areas from the end of January, when I had to put on a Sensor without one – forgot to pack it in my luggage for an out-of-town trip.)
Meanwhile, on the outside, it keeps your sweat and body oils away from the Sensor adhesive. That’s a VERY GOOD THING, obviously. I never have problems with tape edges anymore, they’re not even “slightly” peeling away when I replace Sensors at age 14 days. (If I ran them to the bitter end, I’d usually get 15-18 days, but the risk of several unreliable hours before I figured out that it’s died isn’t worth a few extra days-- at least, not for me. Y$MV.)
I use FlexiFix only as a stripe, about 1" tall by 4" long, across the long, horizontal side of Dexcom Sensor Pad above the Sensor/Transmitter mounting assembly. For me, the Sensor pad always begins failing from the top edge; and so, using Flexifix to protect THAT edge makes the entire pad stay in place, without any movement or failing edges at all, for the full two weeks.
FlexiFix comes in either 2" or 4" width. I recommend that you buy the 4", because most people don’t use it my way: Instead, they cut off a chunk which covers the ENTIRE Sensor assembly AND adhesive pad, with “extra” FlexiFix surrounding it on the skin (all the say around).
It costs a lot, but because you’re working from a roll over 30 feet long, instead of single-use packages, it ends up CHEAPER in the long run. With Skin-Prep underneath, it’s been totally reliable, and totally comfortable for me. YMMV, but this combination (Skin-Prep AND FlexiFix) gets my recommendation as the best! solution for Sensor movement and tape failure problems.
I have used IV3000 with limited success. I got mine from American Diabetes Wholesale for $54.18. I found a discount code on this site, 7% I think.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions ! !