I kept it on for 7 days and I used an expired transmitter so there was no CGM trace. I wanted to feel and experience the process that my son has to endure every 14 days or so, so, to understand better the pain experienced, the procedure and process, etc., I installed one on myself. I’ve also used done the same thing with the Omnipods as tests.
The other night, though, my brother-in-law and his fiance were visiting us and he started feeling lethargic after dinner and I asked him if he wanted me to check his sugars. I have two other BG monitors (NOT used), and checked his sugars…he was 300! Then an hour later, he was 404! I advised him that he needs to see a doctor pronto because he’s either pre-diabetic, or full diabetic right now. Then I checked my own sugars…(btw, this was after a cook-out where we had bbq chicken, hot dogs, slaw, beans, etc., etc.,) and my sugars were 159 (this was 1.5 to 2 hours after eating).
Your brother-in-law does need to be checked. Unless he had bbq sauce on this fingers or something. It’s good that you caught that.
I know we all think non-D’s have perfectly flat BG, but they don’t. Your postprandial BG test is a good example.
I did a test with intravenous insulin delivery last year. Here is the comparison with me and a non-D. I am the one in blue. The numbers are from a BG meter, not a CGM. We used the same meter for accuracy, which is why our BG tests were not at the exact same time.
He’s obese (>300 lb)…and although we all know that’s not “the reason” he may be diabetic…it certainly isn’t helping him. I made sure his fingers were clean.
Yes that’s like urgent care level he needs to go to the doctor today, not tomorrow or next week…
@eric I completely agree that non diabetics blood sugars wander all over throughout the day, can frequently drift down into the 50s and wander up near 200 after eating… but this brings up an interesting counterpoint too… why are diabetics attempting to control their blood sugar tighter than non diabetics? Is this a reasonable goal? Is it beneficial? Where’s the balance point? That’s a topic I’ve spent a lot of time pondering and there are no good answers
I’ve always heard, and read, “healthy” is between 5.5 - 7% (especially more toward 7% for young ones because of the greater issues with hypo’s and brain development in that age group) and anything less just hasn’t been tested as to whether it’s good…or bad? Is that correct?
The reason is - just because you target 120 doesn’t mean you always get it, but you get closer.
If you target 120, maybe you pop to 200 sometimes. But if you target 160, you pop to 250 or 300.
When you are shooting at a target on the rifle range, you don’t aim for just some area near the center, you aim for the bulls eye. Even if it is 200 yards and you don’t think you can hit it.
Doctor indicated he was pre-diabetic and advised him to make some lifestyle changes. Since then, he’s lost nearly 100 lbs and no longer has issues. He used to also wear an oxygen mask at night so that he can breath, and he indicated he doesn’t need that anymore either. Very happy for him! He’ll hopefully be around for many years to come.
If you are a flexible yogi master you have no restrictions where to place the sensor. If you not and reaching an age where it becomes difficult to tie your shoes and put your socks on because your stiff back or slowly grown stomach is slightly in the way there is a little trick to figure out where you can place the sensor all by yourself. Anywhere you can place the palm of one of your hands without painful contortions. For example: if you want to use the back/triceps area of your arm, raise that arm, place your palm of that arm on the back of your head with your elbow pointing out now from your eyes/nose and forearm covering your ear. If you can reach that area with the other hand comfortably, you can place that sensor and remove those insertion apparatus with the help of gravity. I can’t place it on triceps on left arm do to a torn rotator cuff, I just can’t keep that arm up there without pain for those 10 seconds.
But that is the trick: wherever you can place the palm of one of your hands, you can place that sensor all by yourself.
I am guessing the older set (which includes me) isn’t going to be in the marketing literature any time soon. Look, with my arthritis I can put my CGM only on this one spot without pain…
or if you have a slightly overgrown belly, like me, then it is not a question of placing but the extra bulk of the sensor in places where I already have more than enough bulk.
A quick question, I’ve been using CGM since G4 first came out and I mainly use posterior upper arms as stomach sensors usually die within seven days and are a lot less accurate for me. I am very lean with minimal fat tissue between my skin and muscle in places like legs, thighs, lateral arms etc. The sensors I have tried in my lateral arms haven’t worked either, I thought for the same reason. How are you all finding this? Are you able to insert sensors into very lean areas? I may give it another go if people are having success…
I am using Dexcom G5 and Omnipod exclusively on upper arms so far. The Dexcom sensor is just on his second restart, 16 days now, and according to calibration, 2.4 daily, within 0-10 with a couple of run-aways of up to 20 difference right after the restarts. No transmitter outages or ??? either yet. The Dexcom sits on upper right arm just slightly behind biceps, about 4 inches above elbow, and his completely covered with one of those stretch-muscle tapes. I change those every couple of days to different positions over the sensor/transmitter running vertical or horizontal.
The Omnipod gets changed every 3 days and sits all around on upper left arm from biceps to triceps. The most uncomfortable position so far is on inside of triceps a bit too far towards armpit. Pretty much what some people call the “bingo flap”. It is just generally the softer area, not too bad with me but T-shirts hang-up a bit more there. The second most uncomfortable was outer upper arm with the seat belt getting a bit close to it when moving around while driving.
So far I had no issues with inserting those cannulas into lean or tighter muscle-areas or any issues with sensors or pump.
