At Home With Dad

My seven day trail with the Dexcom Seven Plus CGM is over. It was a sad day for me to turn over the demo unit. As I walked away, I felt a little naked. A little vulnerable. No longer could I just look down and see my current blood sugar. Each finger stick didn’t bring comfort, but rather a series of questions. Is my blood sugar heading up? Is my blood sugar plummeting down? If so, how quickly?

So as I walked out to my car, I knew that I had to get a Dexcom Seven Plus on a more permanent basis for myself.

My experiences with CGMs began with a bad office visit late last year. My A1C was continuing to drift higher for the fourth time and I was concerned. I knew someone with a Minimed CGM and thought I would give it a whirl for a few weeks to get things settled out. The experience was frustrating, but I was able to get my basal rates set-up perfectly. But the constant alarms and sensor issues, had me thinking I wouldn’t consider buying this device. The annoyance just wasn’t worth it. Then, I began to research other CGMs and found the Seven Plus.

After seven days with the Seven Plus, I have to say I can’t wait until my own unit arrives in the mail.

During the trial, the Seven Plus was very accurate when compared to my finger sticks. During exercise, it was able to alert me when my blood sugar was low and allowed me to make the necessary corrections before trouble hit. At night, it alerted me two high periods that didn’t result in me being high for 8+ hours, but rather be normal upon waking.

But to be honest, at the doctor’s office this week I saw a chart of my blood sugar readings spread out over the course of the week using the Dexcom software and was a little embarrassed. If I could design a roller coaster ride using my data as a template, I could make millions. The highs (340+) soaring to incredible heights and the terrifying lows (40s). What an incredible ride it would be if only I could construct it. I’ll never construct this structure, but I do live it every day.

(As a quick side note, when using the Minimed CGM it seemed to level out, or smooth over, a lot of the highs and lows. So when looking at the charts, they never really showed the true highs and lows, but rather seemed to average them to a more palatable (yet inaccurate) level. When viewing the same type of data on the Dexcom, I was shocked. Any way, back to my experiences…)

Living with diabetes day after day, you know there are highs you are treating and lows that you have to correct – and quick! You are very aware that some days are truly miserable. But in the end, you think you’re doing a pretty good job of managing your diabetes. But when I  looked at that chart from the past week on the Seven Plus I could easily see why things needed to improve – and hopefully very quickly!

Things I really enjoyed about the Seven Plus include:

• Accuracy – the lows were brought to my attention in time to make the corrections. During exercise, the Seven Plus brought let me know that I was heading too low before I got there.
• Comfort – the sensor is low profile and didn’t constantly remind of its presence on my body.
• Sensor Duration – I liked being able to keep the sensor in for 7 days rather than 3 or 4. There are reports on line of folks wearing them for 14 days fairly regularly, which is even better.

Things I didn’t really enjoy about the Seven Plus include:

• Bulky Receiver – Carrying around the receiver was tedious. A couple of times I forgot the receiver when I moved around the house. I chose not to carry the receiver on my belt due to its bulk. Instead,  I would slip it into a pocket fairly well, but I just had to remember to keep it with me.
• Charging the Receiver – Every three days or so I had to charge the receiver. This is a simple enough procedure, but it did require me to stay close to the receiver while charging or lose data. While told not to, I charged it overnight with the receiver on my nightstand. I was told it would affect the RF signal, but I didn’t notice any issues.
• Giving it Back – The worst part of my seven day trail was just giving back the demo unit.

Yep, needless to say I have my insurance company figuring out my benefits to pick up one of these for myself. The process takes a little longer than I would care for, but that is pretty normal for insurance companies, right? All that aside, I’m eager for my own.

Other blog posts about my seven day trial are here: Part One & Part Two.