No, it’s not what it sounds like (although I DO love my Dexcom)…
I was wondering where people put the Dexcom when they are sleeping. I’ve tried having it under the covers with me and on a bedside table, but nothing seems to give me consistent results. I’m constantly either getting no results (a “Y” all night) or a string of VERY erratic numbers. Looking for other people’s methods.
If it matters, I sleep either on my side (sometimes on the side where the Dexcom is on my lower back) or on my stomach (with the Dexcom ostensibly jutting out upwards into the air). Not sure if there’s a correlation between those and the accuracy of the readings.
It seems to vary from sensor to sensor. The last one I had lasted for two weeks. It was attached on the right side of my back - if you wear Levis, about 4" above the Levi label. I slept with the receiver clipped to the waistband of my pj pants. It gave me good data for two weeks, no matter what position I slept in. The sensor I applied this Sunday, though, is wildly inaccurate overnight - it gives me <50 alarms when my whole blood meter says I’m at 110. Actually, it’s pretty consistently 30 to 50 mg:dl off. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that when the device is that inaccurate, it does more harm than good. If I were getting no data, that would better than getting misleading data.
I’ve been told that if I’m sleeping on my sensor/transmitter, it can give the erratic data (lots of scatter instead of a smooth line). And, in my experience, that seems to be pretty accurate. When I sleep on my sensor (or when I wear real tight clothes over it), there is a lot of scatter. Otherwise, it’s fine.
In answer to your question, I don’t think the location of the receiver is as much of an issue (unless you’re getting the “Y” symbol), but I sleep with mine in the bed next to me, touching my body so that I can feel the vibrations (since the beep doesn’t usually wake me up).
The reps have told me that the receiver has less of a “distance” (in which it can pick up the transmitter’s signal) while it is charging… For that reason, I don’t charge mine at night in case it gets too far from my receiver.
Hope some of this helps. I had a lot of problems with my Dexcom in the beginning, but, over several months, gradually got them all worked out and I’m extremely happy now. I hope that you can get it to work for you.
I also notice the readings are more erratic and less accurate at night. Don’t really understand why. Sometimes I’ll get the ? symbols but not very often. I try and keep the receiver close to me so I’ll feel it vibrate if I’m getting too high or low.
I always wear pj’s with pockets, as I find that even if the nightstand is within the distance that is supposed to reach, it’s not very accurate. However, sometimes at night it bleeps way too much, so I purposefully put it out of reach. Night time does seem to be the most erratic, or out of range.
