New member and Dexcom girl here

[Min99]

Hi, I'm very new here and have started following Activity2004. She is very informative and encouraging. I have a new Dexcom and hadn't changed the sensor in 10 days because I was afraid to do it by myself. Watched the youtube videos on it and finally did it today. All went well but when it came to putting the sensor in, it seemed to take brute force. I hope it is alright. Any advice will be very welcome.

[Activity2004 Administrator]

When did you insert the sensor today? It shouldn't have been necessary to use brute force to do the insertion. Did you clean the area with alcohol swabs? The hand book/user manual says to change it once a week and not restart the old sensor. This may cause inaccurate readings even if you do the calibrations when prompted by the receiver.

I just changed the DEXCOM's sensor right now. I'm in the 2-hour waiting period for the system to warm up. So, there won't be any readings before 6:10 pm. That's okay, because I can always test before dinner starts and then test again at 6:10 twice. I'm use to using lots of strips and lancets when this happens. My doctor had to give me a bigger prescription for the strips since the boxes kept running out too fast since I had started with the system for DEXCOM.

[Hidden in reply to Activity2004]

I'm just checking in to read. Hope things go okay Min, and I'm glad Activity has your back. Email me also on everything - don't want you to deal with brute force of any kind. xxx

[Min99 in reply to Hidden]

I love you sister Sookie!

[Hidden in reply to Min99]

Right back at YOU!

[Min99 in reply to Activity2004]

No I had the terms wrong. Insertion went just fine but I had trouble with the replacement, expensive part. Don't know how to place that easily at all. Got it in there though but it wasn't easy.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Min99]

That's right. Sometimes, it's hard to get the piece to be removed before pushing to insert under the skin.

[nbreight in reply to Activity2004]

Appreciate that if your blood sugar varies very abruptly a BGM might be the best or even only solution but considering all the limitations from sensors not operating properly, frequent (?) recalibration, unusable for 2 hrs after changing sensor... Strikes me as a lot of trouble.

Am myself lucky to have an Accu-check mobile and insurance company covering the tapes / test cartridges so this really seems a troublesome alternative :-{

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to nbreight]

Even with some issues, I'm alerted to when I start to drop because I don't know when this happens because I don't feel the lows.

[cure Administrator]

Welcome Min99

It is great idea to follow activity as she is using Dexcom for longer time...and seems she knows lot about same...

u may go thru her other posts on the same to get more idea about Dexcom

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to cure]

There are over a year's worth of postings to read about the DEXCOM. Hope this helps!

[Min99 in reply to cure]

Thanks cure, that is a good idea.

[cure Administrator in reply to Min99]

Welcome Min99

[oceantragic]

Yes, the transmitters does take a lot more force than you might expect to have to use but this is reassuring in some ways as it means it shouldn't easily come out.

With regard to restarting sensors it's your choice but as people who self fund we - it's my daughter who has Type1 - will restart it as many times as possible. Current record for us is 35 days, although a friend has got 79 days. As long as the results are accurate - always good in second week - and there's no itching/inflammation then I see no harm. YDMV of course.

Luckily we don't have to worry about the two hour window either, nor ??? has we use Nightscout and xDrip which reads RAW data values.

[Min99 in reply to oceantragic]

Thank you for information about the days! One week will not cut it for me either. No problems for me today with my device.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Min99]

The manual says to not restart the sensor afer a week, or you won't have accurate readings. If the sensor isn't a good one, a person shouldn't stop it and restart the same bad sensor.

[oceantragic in reply to Activity2004]

and that's a lie in the manual, we and thousands of others always do it. Fair enough if you can afford to replace every week and that's your choice, but for us we can't afford it and we will re-start every sensor until it's no longer accurate, which again is easy to tell. Actually I say restart, we don't need to with xDrip.

[Min99 in reply to oceantragic]

Hi oceantragic, what is xDrip??

[oceantragic in reply to Min99]

Take a look at this - bit.ly/xdripkev - which describes what it is and how its use worked for us on Day 1. As an adult many are using xDrip to send data to their smartwatch (Pebble, AndroidWear, Microsoft Band, etc.) without needing to set up a Nightscout website.

Then again, many adults like the idea of the Nightscout site, to enable their loved ones to help them in times of need. Plus a Nightscout website means you can get real-time reports to match the likes of Clarity and Diasend.

[Min99 in reply to oceantragic]

Thank you oceantragic, I'm going to look at the link you sent. Have never heard of all these terms. --Pebble, Nightscout etc. Have a lot to learn!

[oceantragic in reply to Min99]

If you have any questions feel free to ask. There's over 21000 people in the Facebook group 'CGM in the Cloud' and over 1500 in the UK specific 'Nightscout UK' group. So there's load of people doing this. It's not just for Dexcom either, there's various solutions for Dexcom, Medtronic and Libre.

[Min99 in reply to oceantragic]

I'm going to check out those groups. Thank you!

[Min99]

OK, thanks.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Min99]

No problem! I actually may have to call DEXCOM later tonight or in the morning. No numbers being reported right now. Did a calibration around 7 pm and the numbers stopped showing up after 7:15.

[Min99]

Oh boy, hope it works out for you. Dexcom people seem very helpful so that's good. Haven't had any problems today with mine, knocking on wood right now.

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Min99]

What are the numbers like right now?

[Activity2004 Administrator in reply to Min99]

It's okay right now....

[Hidden in reply to Min99]

Hang in there! Just came on and saw your posting. I'll knock on wood with you too. xxx See you very soon.

[Min99 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you dear Sis!! You are wonderful.

[Hidden]

So are YOU! xx

[Hidden]

Hi Min, just checking to see if you're checking in? Great advice here xx

[HOBIEONE]

Good luck Min 99. When I first put a Libre sensor on I was nervous & that was after more than 40 odd years of T1. A sharp scratch ? Its tough at the top ! But well done you.