1. The longer I wear the sensor the better my results are. Right now I'm on day 12 and my numbers are exact to my meter (exactly the same numbers 113-113 mg/dl). Day 1-6 are good as far as accuracy goes, BUT!... day 7 and on have been outstanding! When will my luck end? hmm...
2. My skin (so far) gets less irritated with the Dexcom site as opposed to my pump site. Anyone else notice this? When I take my cgm site out it's almost like nothing was ever there (as opposed to the pump site that can develop red bumps etc...). Sorry Etta, I know you just posted another discussion in regards to the site causing itchy red bumps:)
3. My suggested alert range from my Dexcom Rep was 200 or 180mg/dl on the high side and 90 mg/dl for the low alert? Okay, I have few issues with this... I try to run a tight ship. I like to keep my sugars around (if possible) 70- 130mg/dl. If my low alert were to be set at 90mg/dl I would buzz, vibrate and beep every few minutes. So, I keep my low set at 70mg/dl (this has worked well). 200 mg/dl for the high side is too high for me. I keep mine at 160 mg/dl right now and I am thinking of moving it down to 140 mg/dl soon! Does anyone else keep their high alert low? If that makes sense.
I've had only two Diabetes technology "get happy" moments, getting the pump in 2002 and blood glucose meters begin only counting 5 seconds instead of 60 seconds sometime in the 90's, that's it. I really believe this is better than both (the Dexcom is changing my life) or at least a tie with getting the pump, I could handle meters counting to 60 seconds, I think.
The beginning of the 2nd week is definitely the charm. After the middle of the 2nd week I find that high readings are too low and low readings are too high. This gives me the illusion that my BG control is better than it really is. Your luck might end suddenly. This is the reason why I don’t push my luck. I am not happy when my sensor fails while I am at work.
The DexCom irritates my skin way less than the OmniPod.
My alarms are 120/70. I disable the 70 alarm during the night.
Hi Danny. I keep my Dexcom CGM set for 70-140 . I do have an occasional alarm for highs and lows, but not during the night when i am more stable. I agree with you on your other observations, they are the same for me. I am trying to test less frequently. I want to test only when I need to bolus. I haven’t reached the point yet where I feel safe doing that, but I’m getting trhere.
I disable mine too… if I am “hovering” around that range (which I am 100% fine with at night) then it goes off, goes just above 70, goes back slightly under (69, 68, etc), and it’s super super super crazy annoying… especially because it isn’t if I am crashing. The “sleep” settings for the high and low alarms get reset every time you go back into range. I don’t necessarily want to treat a 70.
Since wearing the dex, my overnight hypos have personally all but disappeared. It’s the ones I don’t notice during the day that I need the dex to catch, so I feel comfortable shutting that off at night. In fact the only time it’s alarmed low at night recently preceeded a sensor failure.
During the day, when a bolus is in my system, my BG might move fast. The 70 alarm means that my BG was 70 about 10 minutes ago. It can be 60 when the alarm goes off and even lower before my counteraction takes effect.
Nights are very different. My BG is drifting slowly. I don’t need a buffer. Nothing is going to happen in 10 minutes. I also found that the low DexCom readings at night were too low. For example, 55 instead of 65. A known problem is the sensitivity of the sensor to mechanical pressure. The readings can go down by as much as 40 points when pressure is applied.
The 55 alarm that cannot be disabled provides a sufficient safety net for me. I rarely have alarms at night.
My alarms are set for 80 and 120. I had the high set for 140 for a while and realized that I’d let my sugars sit at 135 forever since the alarm wasn’t going off. I wanted to do better than that so I moved the high alarm down to 120. I also find this keeps me more careful about bolusing enough before I eat to keep my post-meal spikes down below 140 (and often below 120). I have a lot of alarms but it keeps me aware and in control. The 80 low is because I’m still seeing lots of low sugars and even with my alarm set at 80 I often hover around 70 for a while without worrying about it and then suddenly find myself dropping to 60 or below. I’m still fine tuning my basal rates from my pump so I like the advance warning.
I agree that the Dex has made the biggest impact of any diabetes technology. I’m not sure it would be as impressive if I didn’t have the pump to make corrections so easy though. The two together are amazing.
