For the last couple of months, I’ve been experiencing lasting pain with the cgm. Often a lot of bleeding as well. The first few times, I thought it was my placement, but I have tried everywhere! Sometimes it only hurts for the first few hours, sometimes only when flexing muscle near it. (e.g., if its on my calf or thigh, walking hurt.) And sometimes I end up taking it off after a day of extreme discomfort. The insertion makes me wince as well, when it hasn’t since the first few times. Just wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this…I’m thinking of just quitting it after I use up my stockpile, because its beyond a small annoyance.
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My son has experienced this a couple of times out of 180 or so insertions, but certainly no pattern, and not many times in a row. That would be awful. If you don’t find a solution, maybe the Libre would work for you without pain. If you add an external transmitter you can get something similar to a Dex.
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I’ve had two of these experiences over the last year. One in my left inner arm that was at least a continuous ache/at times painful from the outset but endured for the 10 days. The other was on my right inner thigh, bloody on insertion and so much pain/irritation I took it out on day 3. Have used both locations again with no problems noted. @Chris has the experience factor to follow if your’s continues to be a problem…
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My son always has pain with Dexcom, and almost always significant bleeding.
What we have found helps a bit:
- Rubbing in lidocaine cream an hour before insertion, then slathering a generous amount on top, and covering with saran wrap for an hour, till the area is completely white meaning it’s numbed.
- “Shallow” insertion. For that, you place the sticker on the skin, then pull up on the inserter with one hand while keeping another finger on the sticker underneath to keep it adhered. So instead of the plastic inserter lying flush with the skin and sticker, there’s an air gap the shape of a small triangle between the inserter and the sticker. When you press the button, the electrode goes in at a more shallow angle, and so is more likely to stay in interstitial tissue and not bleed as much. I’m not sure if this is the case with you, but my son is a little skinny and he’s small, so I am guessing the pain has to do with the electrode hitting muscle rather than chub. Making it go in at a shallower angle seems to help a bit with this.
Even with these steps it usually hurts my son for a day maybe two, and then it subsides. We have considered switching to Libre as a result, but because he’s on the Tslim with Control-IQ, and because Libre doesn’t provide real-time remote monitoring, we’re toughing it out. I am praying the G7 is an easier insertion with less pain because it’s so awful for him.
You can try other locations on the body as well, but I suspect that you already have.
Good luck!
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I’ll try the shallow insertion next session. Unfortunately I have more chub than I should, so I doubt that’s a factor.
Thank you for the suggestion!
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You might try an ice pack on the site before applying the inserter to reduce bleeding and pain.
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I tried the shallow insertion this time. Doesn’t hurt at all! Hopefully it continues to be painless…
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Wow, so glad to hear this! Hope it’s a trend and not a fluke 
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The shallow method works great for me. And I have plenty of ‘chub’ where I insert.
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I’ve never heard of this technique. I usually pinch up skin and press the insertion gun hard into the pinched up skin and yeah, it hurts. I’m going to chill out ha ha maybe just not press so hard, but maybe try this technique!
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That approach seems most reasonable to me.
I am not sure why someone would want to press the applicator “hard”. Since your skin, and thus the sensor probe, is just going to rebound/withdraw when the pressure is released, I don’t see what benefit would derive from pushing harder than necessary to hold the applicator in place when inserting. 
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Seems irrational, doesn’t it @irrational_John ? IDK why I do it this way either!! Probably going to cut that out ha ha
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I press down relatively hard after I have inserted my Tandem Autosoft 90 infusion sets, but my intent is completely different in that context. I press down on my infusion sets to attempt to make sure the adhesive is holding before I pull out the insertion needle by removing the inserter, I am always afraid the infusion set will pull off when I remove the insertion needle from Autosoft 90s.
Do I “like” the Autosoft 90 sets? Nope. Not really. But what ya gonna do? That seems to be the available set closest to what I was used to from my decade before switching to Tandem. 
While I am pressing hard though I have also “pinched up” the fat at the insertion site. I do this to try to avoid pushing the insertion needle too far in and possibly getting close to or hitting muscle. I never have that concern with the Dexcom applicator. I don’t worry about adhesive with the G6 sensor until after I have inserted. (After inserting I run a finger around the G6 adhesive ring at least 3 times in each direction to try to make sure it is adhering well.)
Overall I am happy with the Dexcom G6 applicator. The biggest problem I have with it is the horrifying amount of plastic waste using it generates. I hope that is at least somewhat reduced when the G6 is replaced by G7. A reusable applicator would be even better, but somehow throwing things away seems to be what we do with everything more and more.
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The waste is horrendous. Not to mention, it’s hard to find sharps bins with a hole big enough to fit the G6 insertion gun into (IDK why my pharmacy always gives them with the lids on already). Yes, hopefully the G7 will improve on this!
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Why would you need to put the applicator in a Sharps container? It has no needles, its just an insertion mechanism. Honestly, I’m curious…
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Well it does have a needle, it is just inside the mechanism. With that being said, my son doesn’t put it in the sharps container, he just chucks it since the needle is safely inside and not exposed.
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Actually, the G6 applicator is a “Sharps container”. The applicator does come with an insertion needle. As part of the insertion, the needle is automagically retracted back into the body of the applicator. You then have the option of throwing the entire applicator into the trash where is likely to only hurt the environment.
Another, more tedious option is to disassemble the applicator and remove the needle and putting that into a sharps container. Depends on how horrendous an environmental insult you consider the applicator to be, I guess.
Below is the video I post for reference when I raise the possibility of disassembling the G6 applicator prior to disposing of its parts.
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@Chris @irrational_John
Thank you for the correction. When I was shown how to use it, I was told by the Dexcom guy that it did not need to be put in a Sharps container.
But, honestly, I’m not going to start breaking the whole thing down in order to put one tiny piece in a different container, and the rest in the trash…
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And I think your Dexcom guy is correct.
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The whole point of the sharps container is to protect the trash collector so they don’t accidentally poke themselves on biohazard. It makes it less safe, IMO, to take apart the housing to expose the needle, and then put it in a sharps container that could easily be opened…
So I’m with you, just chuck in in the trash.
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