I started using the DexCom G5 this past Sunday and am so glad I finally stepped up and did this! I didn’t have any problems inserting the sensor (whew!) tho’ placing the transmitter was a bit awkward. The Bluetooth connection and iPhone app worked properly, too. I am learning a lot about how my meals affect my BG and have found that the BG meter and G5 values have been pretty consistent, too.
I have had frequent problems with exercise lows since my DX so it gave me a lot of satisfaction the other day to be able to monitor my BG while going through a yoga sequence here at home. I also let my BG drop below the pre-set 80 level while prepping dinner so that I could do a finger-stick and compare my metered BG value (67) and gauge the alert volume level. If the rain ever stops, I’ll get out there to rake leaves and put the garden to bed and mow a final time–the CGM will make that easier, for sure, i.e., not having to go hypo or guess about when do do finger-sticks or eat more carbs.
While avoiding lows is important to me, so is avoiding post-meal spikes! Looking at the trend data, I can see that I need to bolus even longer before a meal than I have been doing (especially breakfast). The CGM gives me so much more useful information than the pre-and-post metered BG values–wow! I realize that I will be “testing” the effects of various foods on my BG over the next few weeks (oh joy, the holiday season, with all its temptations!!) so that I can spend more “time-in-range”.
So my experience so far has been very positive. I do realize problems may arise…but the wonderful thing about TuD is that help is only a post away. I feel safer now and am worrying less and am also ready to do things like bike riding and cross-country skiing that I avoided due to exercise lows. Now I just wish that anyone who needed or wanted a CGM could get one easily and affordably…and enjoy these same benefits!
Congrats on getting started with Dexcom! I’ve been using the G4 since May of 2013. Your initial experience mirrors mine exactly! The feeling of safety, the new information about the timing of doses, the feelings of 'freedom" that the CGM provides. All of it. Because of the CGM, I not take insulin as much as an hour before certain meals to avoid, or at least minimize, the after meal spikes. The data has helped me identify and virtually eliminate the Dawn Phenomenon I was (unknowingly) experiencing. It has also, in my case, promoted my bid to get a pump to eliminate regular lows I was having – including 4am lows I previously had no knowledge about having. The CGM has allowed me to safely experiment with different approaches to meals, dosing, exercise, etc., knowing that I’d have that warning if needed.
Yes, there will be ups and downs, failures, and errors – bot overall, it has been a wholly beneficial tool that everyone using insulin - and some who are not - should have access to use. I am more productive and safer with it than I could have been without it.
I am told that my G5 should ship tomorrow, and I am looking forward to seeing trends, not just snapshots of my BG. I expect to learn a lot about when and how much to bolus for certain meals and also about customizing my basal presets, especially overnight when I really have no idea what’s going on. Though I feel pretty good about my A1Cs, I know there are many times when I’m higher than I should be and feel like I will be so much better off if I can avoid even half of those.
Your experience is so much like my own. I, too, find that breakfast bolus needs more head-start than with other meals. One bit of advice–you don’t have to let yourself go low to hear the low alarm.
You can listen to them in the settings of your device. I figure that you just wanted to see the accuracy also… I don’t blame you. FYI, Dexcom is designed to be more accurate at lower BG than with higher ones. Thanks for the post!
Great, congratulations! I’ve been using Dexcom CGM for about a year now, and I am still amazed by how it enables better (and easier) bg control. Before the upcoming season, you may want to treat yourself to Ponder’s Sugar Surfing and surf your way through some holiday treats.
The CGM is really a great tool. I’d have a hard time giving it up if I was forced. I’ve used it since 2009 but it’s only been the last three years that I’ve used it to tactically dose insulin. I routinely pre-bolus about an hour for breakfast. I would have never been so bold without the CGM line and it’s downward inflection signaling that it’s time to eat.
I don’t really see a huge difference either, but you can look up the design specifications. Here is a quote from another user that has already done so.
My current (first!) sensor contines to work well after a week of use so
I am going to continue with this one, based on discussions here on doing this. I was really happy yesterday during my extended yard work session to know when to eat another snack without lots of extra finger sticks. Also we went to a concert yesterday and I was able to relax and enjoy the music when I could see that my BG was steady during the program.
Congratulations! I love my cgm! I have had the dexcom since 2012 and I now have the animas vibe which is integrated with the dexcom. I hope you love your cgm as much as I do!
I have never used a CGM, but have been thinking about it. Based on these posts, I think it may be the way to go. I have to start looking into the various brands of CGM’s…(or, I think, there are only 2?). I have a Medtronic pump but I recall hearing somewhere that Dexcom is more accurate than the Medtronic CGM. Does anyone have any insight into that?
It would be great to feel confident about my blood sugars again. I have had T1D for about 25 years. My A1C is usually decent but it’s gone up a bit recently. I think that after 25 years I just don’t want to be bothered. I think a CGM might get me back on track.
If you get Enlite, ignore FDA-approved location (if you are in the US), and try your upper arm (towards the front, or side, midway to high up your arm). I get fantastic accuracy as does my Enlite-using wife, by using our arms. I had nothing but trouble using the abdomen, over an over, per Medtronic’s official location. Other countries dont have the FDA to worry about, so docs in other countries, and pump trainers alike, can suggest using the arms. USE YOUR ARM! Accuracy is fab.
I tried my arm with the Dexcom sensor once and got ok results but kept bumping it into doorways. haven’t tried since – and now, I like putting infusioin sites on my arms…
My preferred sites have been up on thee sides of my chest - good results and out of the way, just have to make sure the muscle is stretched before applying tape.
While "de-stressing " is the result I would hope for and which I do naively expect that most people will experience from using CGM, we have in the past heard from folks for whom it just does not work that way. For some having ready access to feedback about their BG can actually increase their anxiety. So much so that they stopped using it.
Not something I can personally get my head around, but I am also sure that it is true enough for those who experience it. As desirable as CGM is for most of us, it is not necessarily for everyone.
I’ve heard that, too - but my ex-endo who first got me on a CGM did s because he wanted to de-stress me. HE thought I was testing too often and having anxiety. IMO, he was wrong, but I love the info I get from the CGM and do not want to part with it!
I already use my upper triceps area for my Omnipod. I rotate right and left, cannula up, cannula down. Those sites are probably out for me as CGM sites. What are other good options? I used to use my inner thigh for the pod, but it tended to get sore, and I would have some occlusions there. Obviously, occlusions are not a CGM problem, so that’s a possibility.
I think most of my docs thought this about me. They were wrong. Testing more was less stressing, not more. If more frequent testing leads to appropriate and timely responses then it is completely rational. Keeping my BG in range does not make me anxious; out-of-range BGs produce do tend to make me anxious.
