Medieval Angle
Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 8:48AM This is my CGM routine. I put my sensor on before I go to bed but do not start the sensor until morning. Why? A few D friends of mine suggested it as a way of avoiding the 2 hour wait time to get the sensor “wet” before it wants its first calibration. This way when I wake up and start the sensor it almost immediately asks for its first calibration. So easy! Plus I know my BG is pretty stable or at least not changing rapidly.
Monday night I put my sensor in on my thigh and went to bed. Tuesday morning fired it up and it immediately asked for a calibration. All was good.
Fast forward to my car ride to work. I am about 10 minutes into my commute when I hear the low alarm go off. I pulled my pump out of my pock to show 2 down arrows with a BG of 56. At a stop light I pulled out my One Touch and tested. I was 178. I cleared the alarm and continued my drive to work.
When I got in it was still dropping on the CGM although my BG was not low at all. I tried to calibrate the sensor to the correct BG and it gave me a bad sensor error. I pulled it out and tried again Tuesday night.
Wednesday morning was the same routine and the same outcome. My guess was that the sensor was not in correctly or something. So I put my finger on the sensor and pushed in for the rest of the drive to work.
By the time I got to my office I had double up arrows so I knew that my theory was correct. The sensor needed to be in deeper.
Here is the thing. Minimed’s CGM inserter has feet on it that put the needle for the sensor in you at a 45° angle. When I was trained on using it I was told to use a 60° angle. I thought that was what I was doing but I don’t break out the protractor to be sure. Call me lazy.
So last night I decided to try once again but this time I was going to get medieval and just fire that baby in deep. It worked! Did it hurt? Do ninja’s love bacon? HECK YES! It hurt and it bled and it stung but I did it and it worked.
Now my CGM and finger sticks are quite close in numbers but was it worth it? I think so.
You know, we put up with a lot of crap just to know what is going on with our bodies. And our bodies pay the price either for not checking and destroying them internally or by jabbing them with needles of different sizes destroying them on the outside. I guess there is no winning.
One big “win” would be for Minimed to make an insertion device that would insure a proper angle, like the Dexcom does so we don’t have to feel like we are stabbing ourselves with an embroidery needle to get it right.
Anyhow, for those of you on Minimed CGM, if you run into this problem check the angle of the sensor, that may be the issue.
Reader Comments (6)
Oooh! This is good to know! Those stupid little feet confuse me every time, and I usually err on the side of shallow because I get scared. But now that I know there's a benefit to the pain, I'll do more of a direct insertion.
I'm glad you found out why it was happening, and have found a way to make it work for you. But you are right - we put our bodies through some real barbaric stuff. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad we have the tools we do, but I'm just sayin'...
Amen! I agree about everything. It DOES hurt. And bleed. But if you get it in right it reads pretty darn close. I like mine most of the time, but some days I just wanna throw it out the window. The only reason I don't put my sensor in the night before is because I hate not knowing what my blood sugar is all night long. (I can't imagine life before the CGMS, although I remember it....sort of. lol)
We need to send all kinds of info in to MiniMed. Either make the sensor not neet to be so deep, or make the inserter put it in the right way.
The lady who trained me said that MM was working on a straight insertion sensor...not sure when its supposed to come out though!!
Yeah, quite honestly, I think the MM CGM insertion device SUCKS!!!! I hate that thing, but I guess it's still better than trying to put one in without an insertion device. I notice when I put the senor on my hips I have trouble with my over-night readings when I sleep on that side. *sigh* Still better than now having a CGM though.
I am sorry for the pain you are experiencing. I remember when you showed me the MiniMed sensor; I cringed. Those things look like they hurt.