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Posts from the ‘Dexcom’ Category

Jun 20

5 Comments

Dexcom Adhesive, Activated!

Nothing to see here, especially if you’re looking for an adhesive-related Dexcom rash. Because ever since switching to the sensors that expire after 8/17/17, the rash is a thing of the past.

Now I can wear my sensors for the recommended seven days (sometimes stretching it a day or two here and there, if I’m feeling bold), and my skin is fine when I remove the thing.

Great joy! YAY!!!!

However, if I add any Opsite Flexifix tape, that’s suddenly causing an irritation. It’s like the reverse of what was happening for years.  So.  Close.

But it’s awesome to be adhesive itch-free after almost five years of scratchy-scratch.  Life without blistering skin reactions, Toughpads, and welts that last for over a week is so much nicer.

The only downside to the new post-08/15/17 expiration sensors is that the adhesive itself seems to be weaker.  For the first time in years, I had a sensor go loose and yawn off my skin after 10 hours of wear.

A quick call to the Dexcom customer care team was quick to replace this sensor, thankfully.  And I learned something random on the phone call.

“Are you pressing down on the sensor adhesive after application?” the customer service guy asked.

“Yes, I am.”

“Oh good.  That helps activate the sensor adhesive,” he said.

“It activates it?”

“Yes, and that’s what helps it stay stuck.”

Huh.  I’d only heard that once before (earlier in the day, from Abby in the instagram comments section), but apparently it’s true.  In order to DEXCOM ADHESIVE, ACTIVATE!, you need to press down on the adhesive part.  Is that common knowledge or just instinctively done by most Dexcom users?  For me, it was just something I did without thinking, kind of like riding a bike.

tl;dr – The rash is gone. Make sure you press on your sensor adhesive.  Write a blog post about it once in a while to confirm that the rash is still MIA.  And long live sensors that expire after 08/15/17!

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Dexcom Rash. Keeping the Dexcom Stuck. Dexcom Rash: Updated.

Jun 5

3 Comments

Your moop or mine?

The first flight out was jumbly, with the plane riding into some kind of air pocket right after takeoff, eliciting audible screams from some of us.  (No, not from me.  Turns out that, if things get scary, I resort to frantically saying the F word under my breath whilst clutching the arm rest.)  Once the plane hit some smooth air, everyone breathed a little easier and tried to mellow out.

In the silence of folks calming down, I heard that low, moop sound that the Dexcom G5 app makes when it is ready to be calibrated, like the sonar ping from a submarine.  It’s subtle but unmistakable.

Moop.

My sensor was fine when I boarded the plane.  I pulled out my phone anyway, just to make sure my CGM wasn’t crying for attention.  Huh.  Not me.  Sliding the phone back into my purse, my peripheral vision caught the movements of the woman next to me, who had her phone in hand and I could see the little pigeon head I knew by heart.

“Type 1?”

She grinned.  “Yeah.”

“Me, too.  Since I was seven.”

“I was 13.”

“I thought it was my CGM that needed to be calibrated,” I said, gesturing towards my phone.  “But it was you this time.”


It’s the thread that runs through all of us, that instant and unfettered understanding of the thing that simmers on the back burner some days and threatens to burn the house down on others.  I know that feeling. So did the woman next to me.

Instantly, she became familiar. I didn’t know her name or where she lived or what kind of history she brought on board with her, but there was an instant connection of, “Yeah, me too. I know that thing you have. I also moop.  And beep. And check. And worry. And celebrate. And dose. And fight. And laugh. And keep perspective. And move on.”

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Flight Risk. Circle. It’s a Good Tune.

May 9

6 Comments

What to Work On.

I’ve gotten lazy in my diabetes management.  And I’m not proud of it.  My recent A1C result was still in my goal range but not where it was a few months ago, and I’d love to return to that level of control.  Thing is, I’ve gone soft when it comes to following through on my daily diabetes duties.

Yeah.  I’m at that point in the postpartum recovery thing:  finding ways to up my diabetes game.

I can check two things off my to do list with confidence:  I wear  my Dexcom every, single day and I also have been on top of my doctor’s appointments.  Those two things get big, fat gold stars.

Other stuff needs some grooming, though.  Here’s my wishlist:

  • Check fasting BG immediately after waking up.
  • Calibrate CGM right when it requests calibration.
  • Pre-bolus at least 15 minutes before eating.
  • Exercise 3 – 5 times a week.
  • Sleep more than 5 hours a night.
  • React faster to the high alarm from my Dexcom.
  • Rotate my device sites better.
  • Remember to eat more than coffee before 1 pm.

Hmmm.  That’s a lot.  Plan of attack for each:

  • Check fasting BG immediately after waking up.  We just moved the little Guy out of our bedroom and now he’s sleeping in his crib in his own room, so I have a little more time (3 min versus zero min) in the morning before I have to run and grab him.  I need to return to the habit of keeping my glucose meter on the bathroom counter and using it before I brush my teeth in the morning.
  • Calibrate CGM right when it requests calibration.  Ugh.  This just requires being less of a lazy tool and just checking/calibrating ASAP instead of ignoring the little red blood drop.
  • Pre-bolus at least 15 minutes before eating. This one is admittedly going to be challenging, as my schedule is a little non-scheduley these days.  My son is a busy little creature and also unpredictable, so it’s challenging to find the “right time” to do things like change out my insulin pump, eat breakfast, schedule conference calls.  But as he gets older, he does seem to be settling into something resembling a pattern, so maybe this will get easier.  I’ll try to pre-bolus.
  • Exercise 3 – 5 times a week.  This one is already going in the right direction.  As mentioned, I joined a gym and that gym has childcare, so there’s no excuse.  Except days like over the weekend, when I was away for work, or today, when the little Guy is so sniffling and booger-gross that I don’t want to bring him to the daycare and expose any other kids/adults to his germs.  We did go for a walk around the neighborhood today, clocking in at least a little bit of exercise, so that helps.  The weather warming up will help here, too.  This bullet point is one I’m putting like half a gold star on.
  • Sleep more than 6 hours a night.  OH HA HA HA HA.  The baby thinks 5.30 am is when human beings should wake up.  The early morning hours are gorgeous and I love the quiet of being awake that early, but around 10 pm my body starts to give up on doing body things, although I rarely make it to bed before 11.30 pm.  I need to work on this sleep thing.
  • React faster to the high alarm from my Dexcom.  Again, this one is something I just have to DO.  No excuses and no reason not to.  My high alarm used to be 140 mg/dL (pre-pregnancy and during pregnancy), but I’ve moved it to 180 mg/dL in the last few months.  I should be responding to 180s.  I will work on this.
  • Rotate my device sites better.  Yep, this is also a need.  My thighs have become a permanent home for my Dexcom sensors, but I am okay with the back of my hip or maybe my arm.  I’ll try to get creative.  As far as pump sites, I’ve been working on rotating those better, too.  Maybe it’s time to try a lower arm site?  (Has anyone ever done that and does it hurt??)
  • Remember to eat more than coffee before 1 pm.  Yeah, this is another whoops.  My mornings are generally a bit crazy, and sometimes I’d rather keep my CGM graph steady instead of interrupting it with breakfast.  But this is backfiring because I then get so hungry around lunch time that I eat the fridge, causing a nasty post-lunch bounce.  Moderation here.  Eat regularly throughout the day and I’ll be less likely to unhinge my jaws and devour the contents of the cupboard.

I hope writing this crap down will help up my accountability and will inspire me to keep moving forward.  If I can make one or two of these become habit in the next few weeks, I’ll mark that as a success.  Because backwards is all gross and disgusting feeling and also it looks like there’s a c-section back there and I am NOT going back to that.

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Guest Post: Diabetes at Work. It’s a Good Tune. Spot Off.

Mar 6

8 Comments

The Follow Up About Dexcom.

Today is Day 7.  I’ll be pulling this sensor off in six hours.

Day 7. No filter. No rash. No worries. #dexcom

A post shared by Kerri Sparling (@sixuntilme) on

No rash.  No filter.  Does this mean no worries?

(For reference, this post is a follow up from a week ago when I put on a Dexcom G5 sensor and transmitter without a barrier underneath the sensor.  For the last four and a half years, I’ve had an allergic/irritation response to the sensor.  Big, scaly rashes would blister up and take weeks to heal … like the one currently on my left thigh.  But rumor had it that sensors with an expiration date past 8/17/2017 were not causing this rash reaction.  

So I tried a 11/2017 expiration-dated sensor and the result?  No rash. NO RASH! The only issue I noticed was some blood around the transmitter after inserting it, but I wonder if that happens more often than I realize and the Toughpad had previously kept the blood from being visible. Whatever the case, I’m not itchy yet and I’m really, really hopeful that this rash issue is tabled forever. Next question is what to do with the box of sensors that has a pre-August 2017 expiration date …)

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The One About Expiration Dates. Dexcom Rash. Short Dexcom Break.

Jan 11

17 Comments

Dexcom Rash: Updated.

Frigging rash.  The issue first presented itself back in August 2012, leaving me scratching my head and itching my sensor sites for the next four years.

At first, I tackled the problem by trying a pile of different barrier tapes, but the only one that brought about any semblance of relief was the Toughpad.  For about a year, I used a Flovent inhaler (sprayed on my skin before applying the CGM sensor), but I was cautioned against it by my first dermatologist, who cited that the skin would become thinner and compromised after prolonged use.  For the last few years, I’ve used the Toughpad exclusively, and it’s held the rash at bay.

Sort of.

It’s never ever perfect.  I’m still itchy as eff sometimes when I’m in the midst of using a sensor (like right now, with my sensor on my right thigh and the skin around the Toughpad is bright red and I want to scratch it off until my nails break but the low alarm that went off two nights ago saved my ass entirely so I’m leaving the sensor on as long as I can stand it).  The rash doesn’t seem to be concentrated underneath the Toughpad as much as before, but now I appear to be allergic to the Opsite Flexifix tape.  Add that to the fact that I get skin irritation even if I put the new sensor next to any place where a sensor has even BEEN for the last month.

A week or two ago, I went to the dermatologist to further investigate my Dexcom rash and to hopefully find different ways to scratch that itch, so to speak.

The new dermatologist circled me like a shark, only maybe a shark in search of medical journal material.  “You’re having an allergic response to the medical device adhesive?”

“Yes.  Since 2012.”

He paused.  “So just don’t use that medical device?”

“Not an option.”  (Totally not an option, especially these days, when I can’t feel my low blood sugar symptoms and I don’t take action on my high blood sugar symptoms unless the CGM is alarming.  This is why I wear a CGM.  And while I’m taking care of two little kids, this is why I will continue to wear my CGM.)

“Okay …” said the dermatologist, looking at my arm and thighs again, assessing the skin damage.  “A Flovent inhaler, too?  You mentioned using that in the past?”

“Yes, but after being warned it would thin out my skin, I stopped.”

“Good call.  Listen, I think we can try two things:  a topical steroid cream, or a non-steroid topical cream.  I would like try the non-steroid one first, because the same skin-thinning issue would happen otherwise.”  He handed me a prescription.

We scheduled a follow up appointment and I was sent on my scratchy way.  The cream, it turns out, comes with a dozen different creepy warnings that have made me very reluctant to try it while breastfeeding my son, but I did put a little bit on my rash and, within the hour, my rash was on fire and the urge to itch was all consuming.  I’m not touching this stuff again until after I’m done breastfeeding, and even then I’ll be very conservative, in case I’m allergic to this shit, too.

I’m not sure what people are doing these days to manage their adhesive irritations, but I’m reaching the end of my available skin real estate.  Any advice out there? It’s been a very long few years of wearing the CGM 24/7 and I’ve just about run out of sites that aren’t already scaly and raw.  I hear rumors about a “sensitive” adhesive being released by the Dexcom team, and about certain elements being removed from the current adhesive makeup, but until those products are shipped to my house and not sending my skin into circus mode, I’m at an itchy loss.

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Dexcom Rash. A Wicked Rash. Keeping the Dexcom Stuck.
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