Hello, new poster here. I was recently diagnosed with type 1, and am very interested in diabetes technology. I was really hoping to be able to use xdrip+ to monitor my blood sugar, however, my endo doesn’t want me to use it, citing hospital policy of patient security yadda-yadda. The current app that he is requiring me to use is Dexcom and Dexcom Clarity, and he is only able to view my data through Clarity. If you know any workarounds, please let me know! It’d be really nice if I could use the app that I want to use!
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I don’t want you to start a war with your endo, but my endos always accepted whatever I provided them.
I would use xdrip and then print 2-4 weeks worth of data for him to view when you go in. You could always try it and see what happens??? You could act oblivious when he says he doesn’t like it, he talks to a ton of people, then the next time go on and on about how wonderful it is and you prefer it.
Personally I own the devices and it’s my equipment and my body and I want my care in my charge. But unfortunately we do have to have someone that writes the prescriptions for us. I think they really only have to have a certain amount of data so they can say they viewed it.
Hopefully some others pipe in with their ideas. Maybe someone knows how you can do both!
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I’ll give it a try at my next appointment. He does genuinely seem interested in all of the open source stuff, so hopefully he will be able to make the switch! Your last point is undenyably agreeable. I feel like I should be able to use my equipment however I want, especially if it’s something attatched to me.
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Zach:
Welcome the to forum and welcome to T1D. Although people look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them this, it’s an exciting time to be T1D with rapid advances in CGM, being on the cusp of really good closed loop pump systems, etc.
While I am not an xdrip/xdrip+ user, I have run into the”we only run Clarity for security reasons” in the huge medical enterprise that my endo works for … and they DO need to worry about data security.
In my experience, the endo is often willing to sit back and say “those are the rules, sorry …”. My CDE, however was more willing to battle this issue and got Tidepool approved for use in this very large enterprise. As I recall, Tidepool can now upload xdrip data. You may need to confirm that with the xdrip (or Tidepool) folks, but that may provide a path that give you the data that you want, but also keeps you endo happy. If Tidepool passed security scrutiny at Sutter Health, I should think that it would pass elsewhere as well.
Good luck,
John
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Ok. As a patient, I think your preference about this should control what tech is used provided it can shown to be dependable. Your doctor, at a minimum, should humor you and try to follow your lead here. But, in my 36 years of dealing with a whole succession of doctors, I know that they want what they want and most of them have strong opinions about things.
You should definitely express your preferences and if your doctor will not negotiate with you then you’re faced with the choice of terminating the relationship or giving up your point and accepting the doctor’s method. I’ve had many “smile and nod” situations with my doctors over the years. I don’t always agree with their style but I’m willing to go along to get along. I need their Rx utility and I’m willing to accept some of their quirks to make that happen.
I’m relatively tech savvy but I need your help to understand how the xdrip+ is different than the standard Dexcom setup of sensor, transmitter, and receiver or phone display.
I believe that the xdrip+ uses a Dexcom sensor and transmitter but then it catches the raw data and sends it to a display on a phone. From that phone app, you can produce reports to analyze your data. Is this correct?
Is there any reason that you couldn’t use both systems? What does the addition of a Dexcom app on your phone cost you in terms of your daily routine?
If you use the Dexcom app which enables Dexcom Clarity analysis, then your doctor is happy. In addition you could bring in hard copy xdrip+ reports that you find valuable. If you show the doctor how you use the xdrip+ reports to make changes to insulin therapy (changing insulin to carb ratios or insulin sensitivity factors, for instance) then you could demonstrate the practical utility of using xdrip+.
I currently use Dexcom Clarity, Nightscout, and Tidepool systems to gather my diabetes data. I like all of them and each of them has some strong points as individual systems. I like Clarity for the 14-day AGP report since it is a nice concise single page view of my recent glucose management. I use it to make changes to my pump basal rates and insulin sensitivity factors. It’s an excellent tool to decide on the timing of these changes throughout the day.
I like Tidepool for its comprehensive nature. It can report on glucose levels, pump settings, and insulin deliveries including the mealtime and correction bolus doses.
Nightscout shines in its ability to provide realtime display of data - like xdrip+ can but from any computer with internet access. I use Nighscout to keep track of my infusion set changes so that I don’t exceed my three day limit. It also keeps track of my pump battery voltage so I know when its time to change it. Nightscout will also give me my Dexcom sensor age in hours, a valuable piece of info for me.
Any data collection system has its strong and weak points. More important than that is your ability to use that data to improve your health and quality of life. You need to be able to analyze the data and make appropriate changes to your insulin therapy that will benefit you. And you need to be able to do this on a daily basis! Your doctor may think that he is the source of these therapy changes but, in reality, you are the only one situated to make these changes in a timely way.
I make changes to my program about once per week and I can’t imagine waiting to see my doctor to make those changes.
Anyway, I’ve given you more answers than you probably wanted but the larger issue of data analysis and then taking action based on that analysis is much more important than which data collection system you use to gather and display the data.
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Remind them that the security issue is about YOUR data. HIPAA is about protecting the patient’s information. You can authorize lower/no security. For example, as a therapist I offer my clients text & email access. I explain that my system has security but their end doesn’t, so they can sign an acknowledgement of that fact if they want to take advantage of it.
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I use Clarity, wear a receiver, use xDrip for it’s features and give a printout of Clarity reports to my doc. That keeps everyone happy, not that I am saying she would object to xDrip reports–the topic hasn’t come up as it isn’t pertinent. Not only that, I’ve never in 2 years been interested in delving into xDrip reporting functions.
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So you keep the reciever on you, and input your treatments through the reciever, but use xdrip on your phone? If that’s the case, I can do that!
I use Spike app on iPhone and also carry a Dexcom receiver. It’s become a good way to get the best of both apps. Only downside is remembering to occasionally upload the BG data from the receiver to Clarity on my laptop.
The Spike app is more useful to me for day to day BG management, and Clarity is more useful for sharing BG data with my endo and reviewing my history. At night I prefer the vibratory alerts from the Dexcom receiver which wake me but not my wife. I also have times when I don’t carry my phone but can carry the Dex receiver in a waist pouch under my clothes.
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I actually enjoy having the receiver with me, only downside is I cant input what type of insulin I am using. (Fiasp/Humalog bolus, Lantus basal) I’m sure that my endo knows when im doing the lantus and what not, so I think I’ll use the receiver for clarity stuff, and xdrip for everything else!
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I don’t record treatments on the Dexcom receiver. I use it strictly to watch my bg’s. My pump holds some of that info. I don’t record carbs unless I use the BW which is seldom. Having a 10:1 ratio makes it easy to calc boluses.
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Yes, you can use a Dexcom receiver concurrently with xdrip. I have done that for years, with both the G5 & G6.
The Dexcom transmitter will communicate with one device plus one smartphone concurrently.
The only time conflicts that will occur is when you try to use more than one device or more than one smartphone at the same time. For example, you can’t link a t:slim X2 pump at the same time as a Dex receiver. You also can’t link a smartwatch and a smartphone at the same time. If two or more of each type is paired with the Dexcom transmitter, which ever one communicates first will win. For example, if you pair two phones to the Dex, one will work and the other won’t. But if you shut off the one that is working, the other one will suddenly start working – until you interrupt its communication, at which point the other one will work again.
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Does anyone know of an alarm program that will alert me of low blood sugar using the Freestyle Libre? Don’t want to have to switch to Dexcom after all the hassle it was to get this one from Medicare.
You do know about the product that clips onto the Libre to provide constant data, ala CGM-style, right?
I was thinking about BluCon.
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I see. I’m gonna have to input treatments into the reciever so that my endo can check them. Hopefully he wont have to look at those all to much, or at all so I dont have to input treatments twice!
I actually forget that other diabetics get input from their doctors for their insulin needs. 
I’ve been doing that by myself for so many years that it doesn’t occur to me that an office visit is anything more than a chitchat session so that the doc gets a bit of income for writing my scripts and I satisfy Medicare requirements these days.
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“I actually forget that other diabetics get input from their doctors for their insulin needs”
My doctor is essentially my drug dealer.
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Yep. I’d give you TWO likes, but the system doesn’t allow for that.
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