I’ve been using the Dexcom Seven on loan this week from my doctor’s office. Go in tomorrow to look over the data. At my regular appointment my doctor asked if I would like to get one of my own, and I hadn’t thought too much about it. I was just wanting to know what you guys thought of it after using it for awhile. Does it make a big difference for you? How accurate is it in regards to your highs and lows? Has it changed your A1c and what dislikes do you have about the system? Any info would be very appreciated!!
I’ve had mine for about 2 months and I’m very happy with it. I definitely have less lows and highs but haven’t had a A1c yet to see the real effect. But I do feel much better. Accuracy is pretty good. It tends to be less accurate when blood sugars are rapidly changing. The customer service at Dexcom is very helpful. My dislikes? I wish the receiver was about half the size and had a scale that I could set or an autoscale depending on the range of your readings rather than fixed 50-400. Also wish the receiver had a continuous display and with a backlight button to conserve battery power. I do like having a separate receiver as opposed to the Minimed version that displays on their pump. When I’m in a meeting or biking, I don’t want to have to look at my pump to see a reading. It’s OK if they eventually want to send data to the pump (e.g., Animas) but I still want a separate receiver.
Thanks for your reply. My doctor asked me to consider the idea of getting one, but I just don’t know about having something else attached to me. I’m using their office loan to see my patterns for this week, but I’m also on the omnipod. So I would have two things attached and then the receiver in my pocket too. It hasn’t been too bad this week. Do you wear it all the time? or just a couple of times in the past 2 months? Thanks so much for your response!!
I’ve had mine for at least 6 months now and I love it. In my experience, I have some times when it gets out of calibration for various reasons, but it generally works extremely well. When it’s “in calibration” (most of the time), the numbers I see on the DexCom are extremely similar to what I see with a fingerstick, even when I’m rising and falling. (And it’s easy to notice and correct when it’s out of calibration - at least once you’ve had it for a while.)
My last 2 A1c’s before the DexCom were 7.7 and then 7.1 and the 2 I’ve had since I got it were 6.3 and 6.4. It’s definitely helped me a ton. I originally thought I would wear it only now and then - to test pump settings or whatnot, but I wear it every day now and wonder how I ever lived without it. I highly recommend it.
Specific things I like about it are that (at least from what I can gather), it seems to work better than other CGM’s at displaying your blood sugar when it’s rising or falling without much of a delay. Additionally, the sensors are quite a bit cheaper (which is important to me, since I pay out of pocket).
As far as dislikes, I think a lot of the problems I have with mine have been resolved in the new system that just came out. However, 1 issue that outstands is that the clip to attach it to your clothes doesn’t work very well and mine often falls off when I wear it like that. I’m so scared that I’m going to lose it someday.
Thanks so much for your reply!! How do you wear it with out the clip just in a pocket? I just got back from my CDE appointment and she thinks it would be worth it to get one. I’m going to school out of state so I will probably not start to get one till Mid August at the earliest. How long did it take to get yours? I’m on my father’s insurance and it has approved everything for me so far with out a hitch, and my doctor asked if I wanted one so I know she would recomend it as well. How is it inserting yourself? When I wore it for the week my CDE inserted it. Thanks for all the help it’s much appreciated!