Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Andrea on June 20, 2008 at 6:56pm

Hi Denise, I have always placed the entire piece of IV3000 over the sensor and transmitter. It just made more sense to me, keeping all of the water out all of the time. If there are any openings and water gets in, you need to stick a q-tip in there under the transmitter to draw out the moisture. But from your question, if you are asking if you put the full piece of tape over another piece of tape, pulling any part of it up will definitely take off all the attached tape.

Side note -- if you find that IV3000 doesn't stick so well every time, there are other kinds of tape out there, so you can definitely experiment if you would like.

Permalink Reply by Denise Bevard on June 20, 2008 at 8:59pm

Thanks, took a shower w/o adding another peice, no problems (they do say it is waterproof for showering w/o covering)..and I guess because our shower is glass enclosed I didn't even lose the signal

Ordered a box as I am not allergic to it...and sticky things I am not allergic to are hard to find..but they are freaking pricy! Such is the D-life....unexpected expenses everywhere

I am amazed at my data, and so far the most that a finger stick has been off is 10pt--during a double arrow up (no, I don't know why), most readings being between 3-5 points off my ultralink meter

Permalink Reply by Andrea on June 21, 2008 at 8:00am

That's great! Just remember that there is a 15-20 minute difference between what the sensor is reading and your BG, so if there is a greater difference between the two numbers it is okay.

The biggest hurdle for me in the beginning was figuring out when to calibrate -- you should get in 3-4 calibrations per day, but they recommend not doing many more than that. And one other quick lesson I learned when they first shipped me the ultralink was that I let it automatically update the BG results to the pump -- and since I still test a lot, it ended up making my sensor readings very erratic. I realized it was because it was auto-calibrating so many times per day, even at non-optimal times. So just a piece of advice: make sure that you don't have the ultra-link sending your BG's to your pump to avoid having that happen...

Permalink Reply by Jonah on July 1, 2008 at 2:40pm

They'd both come off.

Permalink Reply by Denise Bevard on July 6, 2008 at 6:49am

yep--they both come off..but bought a box and it arrived quickly--they are just over the "hill" from me

So MM said that not necessary to shower---but for bathing and swimming it is preferred, and helps keep the main adhesive dry to ensure it stick for 3 days..ha ha

Permalink Reply by EmFortyTwo on July 21, 2008 at 6:49am

I generally use two pieces, one for the front, and one for the back. This is partly because I am no good at figuring out where to place the tape so that it covers the whole thing and I want to be extra sure that I will cover the whole thing. I also used to use the IV 3000 on my infusion set, but stopped using it when my insurance decided to no longer cover it for plain old pumps - I keep about a box around in case it's really humid and the tape on the set starts to come up. It will be interesting to see if they cover it for the CGM, since you really can't safely keep it attached without the tape. I found, in general, that this tape worked best when I put it on right after a shower in a cool dry room. Even a little bit of humidity meant it wasn't going to last, and I would be trying to trim away the curling edges before the end of the day. This is another reason I use and extra piece on the CGM - that way if it starts to peel, it won't just come up and I will have some wiggle room to work with.

Permalink Reply by Denise Bevard on July 21, 2008 at 6:56am

I cut one in half and use one piece front and one peice back--for the restart of the old sensor trick.

Bought that, looks like I am one of those who is going to have to change about every three days, not becuase I can't trick the thing as a new sensor--my body doesn't like the thing being in much more than about 4 days...so I am really glad I have good insurance that pays for the bloddy sensors (yeah it was a LARGE, STUPID fight).

My insurance doesn't cover the IV 300 or the tagaderm--as it is not considered "necessary"--but next year I am setting up a medical flexible spending/saving to cover all the "incidentals" that the insurance doesn't cover--like sharps disposal, IV dressings etc...

Permalink Reply by Liz on July 21, 2008 at 9:14pm

I've been using the sensors for about 4 weeks and the tapes/dressings are driving me crazy in the summer heat. I've been using 2-3 pieces, making sure the whole thing is covered. I started a new sensor yesterday morning. Went for my usual walk after lunch, 70 minutes in the heat, working up a sweat. Got back to work and there was a puddle of sweat under the dressing - yuck! I used a push pin to poke a hole to drain it. The sweat loosens the sensor tape so if I have to pull up the entire dressing for any reason, the sensor is going to slide right out. With my last sensor I had to keep putting more & more IV3000 on because the edges kept peeling up. I was even using paper tape to seal the edges. It looked horrible and when I tried to carefully remove it, the sensor popped right out.

I can't wait for winter.

Oh, and today I got a roll of something called Opsite Flexifix. It's 4" wide X 11 yards long and you cut it to whatever size you need. I'll try that with my next sensor.

Permalink Reply by Denise Bevard on July 22, 2008 at 6:57am

Please let us know how this works out...and where you ordered it from

Permalink Reply by Donna Heun on July 24, 2008 at 5:47pm

The MM transducer and sensor are waterproof even without tape. The IV3000 helps to keep the entire unit stuck to you better. I use one whole piece over both units and this works well. By using two pieces there is more chance of water getting under the tape and loosening it. If one piece of tape is pealed off, the other will come too because tape sticks best to tape so they will come off together. Hope this helps.