Transmitter and Tanning Beds

Diabetes Technology Glucose Monitoring
1

Do I wear my transmitter while in the tanning bed? Or, can I easily unclip the transmitter and reattach without a delay in information retrieval? I’m only a week into this CGM system and I have only unclipped it to change sensors, so far. No criticism on the effects of tanning beds, please :slight_smile:

2

You should probably wear it. If you remove it, you’l probably miss a couple of readings, depending on how long you’ll stay there. The transmitter should be able to handle the warmer temperature.

The only bad thing about using tanning beds is that you’ll have a white spot where the CGM patch is. :slight_smile:

3

I’m anxious to read the replies you get to this topic, Gabby. I have an OmniPod pump and know that I just have to keep it below 104 degrees when tanning. I’m wondering about the transmitter and tanning beds as well and have contemplated calling customer support to see if they have an answer…

4

Hi Gabby, I just got my Dexcom in the mail today and I tan too. I contacted Dexcom and they said they havent done studies on this yet so they can’t suggest to me what to do for safety and legal reasons. How has this worked for you???

5

Hello! I have the Minilink CGM and I wear it in the tanning bed. The first time I did it, when I reconnected my pump my sensor had been lost and I just had to link to it again. Ever since then I haven’t even had to do that and I haven’t had any problems. I don’t get white spots where the patch is either. I’m thinking this is probably because I don’t go tanning every day and I change my site location every 6 days for the CGM. The only thing I have noticed, is that I thought I was scarring at the insertion site. When I asked my doctor about this she said that it is unlikely that I am scarring, that the insertion of the needle is probably taking my tan off in that spot. SO, where the needle is inserted for the CGM I get tiny white non-tanned spots. I hope this helps!

6

Well I just tanned for the 1st time since wearing my dexcom 6 CGM and then I decided to look it up :upside_down_face: I am ok and the sensor seems to be working fine. I was curious about the checkerboard I may have all over from the patches also?

7

While I have never been in a tanning bed … I don’t want to mess with my hard -earned pasty-white, geeky look … as an engineer, I don’t believe that there is anything in the “spectrum” of the light in a tanning machine that could problems with the lifetime or accuracy of your transmitter.

Happy tanning.

John

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