I'm In Love
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 at 9:49AM 
Yesterday was my first day with my Dexcom and I love it. Already. Love. It.
Being able to have the receiver on my desk and checking it now and then to see where I am trending is awesome. What is more awesome is how well the numbers have almost matched my meter. I know it may be beginners luck but already this seems like it was good move for me.
The love started when I put the sensor in. There was no wondering if I had the right angle or not. The fact that you stick the sensor to your body FIRST and then insert the needle made so much sense to me.
It did help that it didn’t hurt. Although Minimed’s didn’t hurt most times, it did hurt a lot sometimes. Plus the way you really see the needle in the Minimed CGM makes is so very intimidating. I swear that thing looks like an upholstery sewing needle or something. Yikes!
Last night I slept with the receiver on my nightstand and not once did it lose signal! NOT ONCE!! I cannot believe how if my pump was on one side of me and my sensor on the other, it would lose signal. And that happened every night.
There is still a long road to travel with this thing but we are definitely off to a good start.
If you use a Dexcom and have any tips, tricks, or whatever to share I would LOVE to hear from you.
A big shout out to Sara and Scott for being online and willing to help me with all my questions, you rock!
Reader Comments (18)
So glad the Dexcom is working so well for you so far! Please feel free to ask me if you ever have questions - I've had mine for almost a year now. (Whoa, just realized that.) Also, we both blogged about our Dexcoms today! :)
its not beginner's luck!! I've been using my Dex since Sept 2009 and lately the sensors have been REMARKABLY accurate. The others were pretty good, but the new ones have been extra accurate. - Bethany
I want to marry and have babies with my Dexcom. :) (Although it has a tendency to wake me up for no particular reason in the middle of the night, which is not conducive to a good marriage.)
You're lucky you got such great correlation on the first day! I'm usually way off for at least the first 8-10 hours, so I've started inserting the sensor about 6 hours before I actually change sites and restart, which makes my calibration much more accurate for the first couple days of use.
Other tips...Try not to calibrate if you're under 70, or over 160, because the sensor readings aren't all that accurate when you're high or low, and you could throw off the calibration. My current sensor is 16 days old and still going strong! But I've inserted a new sensor anyway, because I know it won't last much longer. (The longest I've gotten with any accuracy is 17 days.)
Good luck, George! I hope you continue to love it!
Try to calibrate it as often as you can, not just every 12 hours. The more it's calibrated, the more quickly it will become accurate to your meter numbers.
Good luck! Have you named it yet?
i'm so curious. George...how did insurance do?...since you opted for dexcom rather than the minimed one and you have a minimed pump, correct? we're seriously looking into a cgm for Claire...
So glad you're liking your Dexcom. I've never used another CGM, so I can't compare the experience, but I love mine, and I love the people there. They always take great care of me whenever I have an issue. Here's a compilation of all my tips & tricks so far, but I'm sure I'll keep adding to it as I learn more...even after a year, I'm still picking up new things along the way. http://www.dontfeardiabetes.com/category/helpful-hints-for-dexcom-users/
Dude, awesome, congrats! LOL @ upholstery sewing needle! So true! We started my daughter on the minimed cgm yesterday but it didn't go so well. We're just gonna keep on truckin.
No weak signals?! That sounds heavenly! That's my biggest pet peeve w/ my MM. Like you, I HAVE to have the pump located on the same side of my body as the sensor. Incredibly annoying. I've been lucky that my MM sensors have all be relatively accurate, although I think I've finally got a crapper. Its been over 100 units off at times and last night in a matter of 3 minutes alarmed and told me I was high, then alarmed and warned me that I was low.
Thanks for this, George. I'll be reading about your adventures with interest as I'm hoping to make the Dex Leap as soon as financially possible via insurance.
Congrats to you! Please tell me how you got your insurance to approve a Dexcom after already approving the MM CGM. I would like to try the Dexcom but insurance already paid for the MM CGM so I thought I was out of luck.
So glad it's working so well for you, G!
way to go george! i hope the "good" continues for you.i was one of the "anti s" for a long long time,and now i see it as a need need needed tool.to be completely honest i have some issues with it that are big
but i refuse to give up on "it".
im very happy that you are off to a good start and i wish you the best!
That is great G-Money! I was wondering about whether you were hooked up yet or not!
Just got my Dexcom today. Once I inserted the sensor, I forgot how to get the applicator off. I sat there holding the applicator for about 10 minutes as I watched the training video again. It was kind of funny.
Thanks for the shout out George! Anything to help a convert! :)
It is really interesting to me to see your comparison of the two - because I've always been so happy with my MM CGM. However, now I'm wondering if I wouldn't like the Dex better. I plan to gather as much info as possible in the next couple years, and then figure out what I want to do when my pump's warranty is up. I may just switch everything. Although I've heard rumbles of some changes coming for the MM CGM - so we'll see. :)
Wow... the more I read about everyone's dex' I want one... I really think if anything to get a CGM. I just test and do my shots... I don' tthink I want to do a pump yet, but a Dex... yeah, that'd be awesome.
Glad to hear it's amazing!
YAY! I am so glad you are on Dexcom, George. It rocks!