Sunday, September 24, 2006

DexCom Noisy Night Readings and a Hairy Conundrum

I've noticed that I am a noisy person at a night (and no, that doesn't mean that I snore, although my wife will argue that point). With the current DexCom sensor site, I've been having night readings jump all over the place. Below is an example of what a noisy night is; stark contrast between night and day. I tend to toss and turn a lot at night, and I sleep on either my right or left side, and I've located the sensor on my right side. Apparently I am disturbing the sensor so much that I'm generating all of this noise. I haven't had this problem with previous placements.

I'll have to find sites that don't see as much action during the night, which means I'll have to locate the sensor in the stomach area. I don't have a lot of bare areas on my stomach, which means I'll either have to place the sensor pod over the the stomach hair, which makes for a fun time when I remove the pod (ouch), or I'll have to shave the area. Hmmm, maybe some of those bare-chested Baywatch models are going to get some competition!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting all the details of your experience with Dexcom! I put my order in last week for my son and reading your blog has been a great help. He is 6 though so he won't have the hair issue for another 10 years :) Thanks again!

Val said...

OK, this is going to sound dumb, but how do you re-use a shower patch? You don't leave it on, do you? Can you peel and replace? I've never ordered them - use some leftover Tagederms for swimming but haven't tried covering up for the shower...

Gary said...

Becky, glad to hear your son is going on a DexCom. What did your Endo say in regards to a child going on CGMS? Best Wishes!

Gary said...

Val, I take the shower cover off and put it back on its adhesive backing that it originally came on. After a shower, I carefully peel it off. It seems to stick okay for 3 days, but this is definitely a YMMV scenario. My showers last probably 10 minutes maximum.

Anything to get the cost of CGMS down is helpful, considering the shower covers are $6 for ten covers.

Anonymous said...

Well, I have never actually talked to the endo about it, just the CDE. I have more of a relationship with her and every discussion about CGM, we are on the same page (she just bought a Dexcom for her adult son). I sent her an email asking if I could get a prescription for the Dexcom and she said she would be happy to. I'm getting a little suspicious that the Endo might not be totally on board though, since it's been a week and I have no presription and the CDE hasn't answered my call/email nor the Dexcom reps call/email. From what the rep has told me, I think the endo wants to get trained on it before she writes any prescriptions. So we'll see when that happens.

Warts and all, I'd like to give it a try, though. I have graph envy just looking at what you've posted here LOL!!
Thanks again for taking the time to do all this.

Gary said...

Becky,

One reason I can think of the endo not writing the prescription would be the label indicating that it's for adult use only; that it has not been tested with children.

Not sure if that would preclude her from writing it. I think that this would be a valuable tool, particularly for anyone experiencing frequent hypos, and for better Diabetes Management in general, but of course I am not a medical professional, just my opinion.

I'm contributing work via this blog to share with others in case they may be interested in CGMS, doesn't matter to me whether it's DexCom or MiniMed, or the Navigator. The more folks that use it, the better it will become. In a few years these tools will be really awesome, and right now, CGMS is doing wonders for me!

My thoughts and prayers are with your family!

All the best!