I am wondering if anyone has tried any type of alert system for avoiding hypoglycemia at nighttime? Our son is 12, has had diabetic seizures 2 times since diagnosis at 9 and thankfully I woke up both times because I heard him....sounded like he was having a nighmare with moaning. I would like to know if any of you have used the Sleep Sentry or Diabetes Sentry, which are both alert systems for hypoglycemia. Thank you for any and all input.
can he get a cgm? believe some of them have Low alarms.
I too wans wondering if anyone has tried the alert systems and whether they are any help. There was a time with my husband having so many lows that we were considering it but didn't try any of them. His lows were mostly at night back then. The dr changed when he took a certain insulin and then they started during the day.
here's a video on the sentry
http://www.tudiabetes.org/video/medtronic-mysentry-video
can't say I know anyone who is using it.
Wow, I wish that system was available when I was young, as I had a lot of seizures in my teenage years. Now I use the Medtronic Veo pump (similar to Revel in the US I think) with a Cgms.
The best feature of this is that it stops all insulin for 2 hours if you go below a pre-set number, so that your bg will slowly rise again. I seldom hear the alarm under my covers, so this has saved me several times during night-time lows. Seems like this could be a good idea together with the Mysentry system.
We looked at CGMs but our insurance won't pay for it. Dexcom quoted us $1600 to start and $300/month aftet that. It's just not financially possible. I have looked at Sentry so that might be the best option right now. Omnipod is supposed to come out with a compatible CGM, but they've been saying that for over a year now. Supposedly it's waiting approval from FDA....?????
It looks like the medtronic/mysentry would only work with that pump system. It would be great if Omnipod would jump on that idea too!!!
can you appeal? this is too scary not to try again. talk w/ your doc maybe they have experience on what to say to get it cleared
How do you know that your insurance will not cover the Dexcom. You need to get a rejection letter in writing from them, then appeal, then get that rejection letter in writing, and then....I will update if it actually goes that far.
While it may be a pain to live with, have you thought about setting an alarm clock for either you or your son to wake up and check his blood glucose? When I'm having trouble with lows over night I often found that they predominantly occurred around 3:30 a.m. Your son's patterns, of course, may be different.
The methods I currently use with success are the Dexcom GGM and my hypoglycemia alert dog.
It doesn't appear that you have many options and I know how overnight lows are frightening and can wreak havoc with skyrocketing BG rebounds. Maybe the low-tech alarm clock is your best friend for now. Good luck!
Marie - Thank you for the link. I wasn't aware that Medtronic had such an alarm system. If I had a young child T1, I would be especially interested in such a tool, providing that it was dependable.
Dexcom did the work for me and said that it wasn't covered. I could trying to appealing, but I'm not too hopeful that would make a difference.
I have been getting up every night a 2am to check him...after checking at 10pm also. After 3 years of doing this, I am very used to it and don't notice the effects of interrupted sleep, however, it would be nice to sleep through the night every now and then. We looked into an alert dog, but the expense and time just won't work for our family. It was 3 weeks of my husband and I and our son spending time 15 hours away from our other 3 kids to train the dog. Just doesn't seem practical. Thank you all for your input though...still searching for something as my backup. Maybe the low tech watch band is worth trying.
keep at them! it never hurts to ask (and ask again and again)
Not knowing what kind of insurance you have, but I would suggest that you call your insurance and dig deeper. Dexcom doesn't always ask the right questions. They told me I had to pay a 20% copayment for the Dexcom under durable medical equipment, but my insurance pays 100% under diabetic. You can also ask your doctor to write a letter of medical necessity for it, and send it to Dexcom and ask them to submit it to the insurance company. When my new insurance company (BCBS) wouldn't pay for the Dexcom, I got a letter of denial, and I immediately called them and told them I wanted to appeal. I sent them an appeal letter with details of me needing outside assistance with hypoglycemic episodes and included my Dexcom and OmniPod reports as backup, showing blood sugars below 50. I also included a bill from the hospital ER when I was sent there for hypoglycemia. My appeal won. Give it your best shot.
There’s also those non-invasive watches, but from what I read they don’t work very well.
Anyone used one?
Maybe an improved one might come out this year…
I agree with everyone who recommends a CGM. I have used one for 5 years now. But if you can't afford one, the answer may lie in achieving the best control you can, and teaching your child rigorous testing protocols and good insulin/food practices. At 12 years old, it would be the optimum time to get him self-reliant and educated.I'm sure you've thought of this already. But any diabetic should look at the root cause of the seizure and focus efforts there first. CGM's are great - but they dont prevent lows - they simply inform you as they are happening.