Dexcom and ???

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Permalink Reply by Marcus on July 8, 2009 at 8:36am

The simplest advice I got was to shut down the Dex and restart it. That works very much of the time for me.

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Permalink Reply by Meghan on July 10, 2009 at 12:37pm

When I get ??? it seems to be either because the sensor is brand new and needs more time to settle in, or the sensor is old and needs to be replaced. Or, I'm sleeping on top of the sensor and the receiver isn't getting the signals. If neither of those situations apply, I will leave Dex in another room, out of range, to give it a little break, and then it tends to get back on track.

In your particular situation, it seems like you're getting the ??? because of the huge changes happening so quickly in her blood sugar. Due to her age, and the fact that it happens one week a month, sounds to me like it could be related to her cycle. Have you tried using an additional basal rate specifically for this time of the month, as opposed to a temporary one?

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Permalink Reply by Jan on July 13, 2009 at 11:01pm

We change basals about three times a week. The times of highs are always within the 6pm thru 2am period, 95 percent of the time. This has been going on at least a year and a half and she was premenstral. May be cycling nonetheless, but it is for the most part growth hormone related, I think. We have to change basals so often that we don't bother setting up rates; just change the one basal. While her pattern remains somewhat stable, the amount of insulin differs. It's not like you can have a "high" setting. During one "high" period, she may use anywhere from 1.9 to as much as 2.7 per hour for short periods and then crash.

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Permalink Reply by Renegadez on July 13, 2009 at 11:27pm

Dexy is not very accurate in the highs above 200+ the best thing is to do a real blood test to see whats really going on

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Permalink Reply by Chris Taylor on August 5, 2009 at 6:48am

The Dexy Seven Plus is accurate up to about 300 if not slightly higher!
I've done blood tests of 289 and my Dexy is reading 282 which is nearly spot on.

It is more about the way a CGMS measures your blood sugars, through the interstitial fluid under the skin and the 10-minute time delay it takes for the blood sugars to sweeten the interstitial fluid. If your sugars are rising or falling when you do a blood test, you CGMS will always be out by quite a bit, but if they have been steady for longer than 10-mins, then you should find it to be quite accurate.

Youv'e also got to remember that blood test sticks have a 31-point tollerance! This means that if you did two blood tests at the same time, both results could be 31-points apart and both are still accurate. I see this each time I start a new sensor and my Dexy asks for two blood tests.

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