I recently read through some others’ complaints about sleeping through Dexcom’s alarms (particularly the low alerts). Actually, I was reading through these comments because this was my issue and I was tired of it. Tired of having a fantastic CGM that accurately reports my readings but does little to help me when I’m sleeping, resulting in my waking up with a severe hypo.
Some of the suggestions (e.g. putting the Dexcom receiver in a glass) were crafty but I was looking for something a bit higher tech. I found/created it and wanted to share with the community in the hopes that it helps someone else too.
First, I setup Nightscout to capture my readings from the Dexcom G5 unit. Next, I connected the Nightscout service to IFTTT to kick off a recipe to call me with an automated message that my blood sugar is low every time Nightscout reports a low glucose alert. Unfortunately, IFTTT does not allow you to setup specific time windows for your recipes. Rather, I have IFTTT call a Google Voice number which only forwards the call if it’s within the defined nighttime timeframe. Obviously, you can tailor this to your needs (including adding multiple telephone recipients, sending text messages, etc.). It’s been working for me and I hope it works for some of you too.
If you have any questions or need any technical help, please feel free to ask!