Hi to all. My 15-year-old daugther seems to be allergic to the sensor itself. Anytime she uses the sensor, which lately is becoming a very difficult task to achieve, at the third day she begins to say it hurts so much she feels like yanking it out. As a matter of fact, today I had to go to her school to take it out, because she was desperate. Has this happened to anyone? BTW, she is also allergic to any kind of dressing made out of plastic or transparent film. Her skin begins to itch as soon as the film touches her skin, so we now use paper tape to keep the sensor in place.
I, too, have very sensitive skin and have to use I.V. Prep in a circle around where the sensor needle will be inserted; then I cover the area with IV 3000 tape or Tegaderm I have cut a hole in the middle of. Then I insert the sensor inside the circle I have cut. I use paper tape to hold the sensor in place after it is connected and cover it all with another piece of clear tape later just to keep it all covered.
I heard you also can put a small round makeup applicator pad under the sensor which seems like it would work really well so it isn’t touching your skin.
Thanks, Andrea, but as I said, she is also allergic to Tegaderm or any kind of dressing made out of clear plastic film.
What can I say? Getting her to use the sensor is becoming a tiresome task because of her sensible skin. Someone once told me that there was some kind of gel that can be applied on the skin before using this sort of dressings, but I live in Venezuela, and unable to get it here
Sometimes the sensor is a pain–I agree. But I love the feedback it gives!
Can she try putting down paper tape in a circle around the insertion site? Also, I have had a ton of success with IV Prep pads (used to use Skin Prep) to eliminate the itching the tapes cause when touching my skin.
I totally agree! She uses it, reluctantly, but she does. Not on a regular basis, just when her Endo needs some monitoring to make adjustments to her basal rates and patterns. I once tried putting the paper tape. Too bad I diddn’t take a picture on that moment; it looked rather funny. What we do now is insert the sensor and keep it in place with the paper tape. It works just fine, but todat she called from school saying that it was really hurting and was desperate to take it out. I agreed because she inserted it on Tuesday at about 6 pm, and was to remove it this afternoon, so I suppose that I have enough data to make the adjustmens
Is it actually sore, or is it itchy? Mine gets incredibly itchy after the first day…makes me crazy. Has she tried taking a Benedryl before bed? It makes you drowsy, so she’ll probably sleep well and the antihistamine effect might last into part of the next day. There’s also anti-itch cream…maybe put some of that around the site? The paper tape seems like a good solution. I just use a Band-Aid which seems to irritate me less than the other dressings.
Angi, she says it hurts a lot. The dressing itches that’s why I now use paper tape.
Did you ever get any more input into this? I too struggle with using the sensor. It hurts me when I insert it, and sometimes the lead, the part of the sensor that goes into my body, hurts me, especially if I lie on it. Sometimes there is just a sore spot, and I take it out and start again. The monitor itself gave me a rash when I was pregnant, and I just put tegaderm on and inserted right through it. If your daughter is allergic to tegedrem, you could probaby try thin gauze and see if that works. Hope it works. I agree that the monitor can be a great tool, but also a pain.
I’ve been really succesfful at just using a corner of toilet paper - that’s right, that’s all - just put that under the plastic transmitter and the rash I would otherwise get goes away. Trouble is, you still have to tape that down somehow, not sure what you use to keep it in place. Also, can get rather icky after a shower. But, it works for me. I wonder if a tiny piece of gauze woudl work for you, not get icky when wet and last longer. All the corner does is keep the plastic from touching the skin, barely.
Unfortunately, no. I really thought that she was the only one in this diabetic wide world with this problem. She has sensitive skin, and it has become an epic task to get her to use the sensor because it hurts; she even dares me to use it so I can see how painful and uncomfortable it is. And what can I say about the tegaderm: it starts to itch and when she finally takes it off it leaves a dark mark on her skin.
Fortunately, she’s a good sport and when she really needs it she’ll do the SACRIFICE and use the sensor. The paper tape seems to do the trick so far.
Hmm… Interesting. I’ll try that the next time she uses the sensor and I’ll let you guys know how she does.
As for taping it down, the paper tape has done the trick so far. Once I tried putting paper tape where the tegaderm was to supposed to touch her skin, but that tiny little spot where it did touch her skin, gave her a rash. Yes, I know it’s crazy. I once heard that there was a spray that you can apply to the skin to avoid this, but so far I have been unable to locate it, don’t even know it’s name :o( Bummer…