Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by cathy van de moortele on March 13, 2013 at 12:56pm

Hi there,

is it possible that you hit a muscle while inserting the sensor? Have you tried your upper arm?
If I were you, I would insert the sensor in private, so you are less tensed.. Good luck!

Permalink Reply by Libby on March 13, 2013 at 12:58pm

I too put my sensor on my abdomen and the last 2 insertions i've had were the first ones with no pain (been on Dex since this past January). i think a lot of it has to do with the mental side of things. when i first went on the Dex, i was really nervous about the whole insertion process...in fact, the inserter is the reason WHY i had been dragging my feet for 2 years before finally just doing it (i am terrified of needles and shots, haha. too bad for me, right?). i think my brain finally figured out that the Dex really does hurt a lot less than my OmniPod insertion...which was something i had serious doubts about.
the other thing i do (physically), is that when i pinch up my skin, i dig in with my thumb and one or two other fingernails. i know, it sounds crazy....but the pain i get from the nails digging in is typically stronger than the Dex insertion (makes my brain focus on the nail pain instead of the Dex insertion). I am also relearning how to do a quick injection...i was never one of those people who can just stab in, inject and be done. i always seemed to drag it out and make it a painfully (literally and figuratively) slow process. after 18 years, 13 of which were on a pump, i'm relearning how to inject (with the Dex) and im getting better at just DOING it, with no thought process.

im sure inserting in front of family adds an extra sense of 'pressure to perform', which in turn stresses you out more. there's two things you can do about that. you can either stop insertions with an audience, or do them more often so you get used to it. i have no qualms against doing an OmniPod change or insulin injection in front of people (it's actually a good conversation starter and something i use to educate people), but ive only been on the Dex such a short amount of time, i haven't had the chance to do a full Dex change in front of anyone. My husband half-heartedly watched my very first Dex insertion, but i think he stopped paying attention once the Dex was taped to my body, lol. my mom, who is an RN, is coming for a visit next week and im sure she's gonna want to see the Dex 'in action' haha. we'll see. i just did a site change so im really hoping i dont have to do another one for a while

Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on March 13, 2013 at 1:28pm

I never have to press the select button more than once. I think you should call Dexcom and get a replacement, because something isn't working right.

As far as pain, you're probably hitting either a blood vessel, or muscle. Why don't you try pinching up when you insert the needle, and keeping it pinched until you withdraw the needle. That way, you know it isn't muscle you're hitting. There is still the possibility of hitting a blood vessel, and there's nothing you can do about that, so far as I know, because you can't see the blood vessels when you tape down the inserter. So I think that's just one of the risks you take.

Also, the fact that it hurt when you bent over to tie your shoes sounds like muscle instead of blood vessel to me, because blood vessel pain goes away quickly.

Keep on truckin' dude! :-)

Permalink Reply by TrueTheory on March 13, 2013 at 2:44pm

Hi Bort,

Nope, we are all sh** out of luck on the start up delay with the home button. One of my favorite bloggers writes about it toward the end of this page (Friday, November 02 entry):

http://lifeafterdx.blogspot.com/2012_11_01_archive.html

As far as the pain, avoid anywhere on your belly directly vertcle of the belly button (above or below)... I rotate 3-6 inches from the belly button top/left, bottom/right, top/right, bottom left. Some people pinch, but at the end of the day, I would say 1 out of 5 of mine hit a nerve more than others and hurt a bit more.

Good luck! I know a lot of other members have a bunch of other. I just usually have a couple of whiskeys on the rocks for mine ;-)

Permalink Reply by bort269 on March 13, 2013 at 2:50pm

Thank you for the advice, everyone!

I will stop inserting for an audience (without having a 'donations hat' in front of me ;-) to try to relax any potential muscle I might hit!

TrueTheory, thanks for the link... I'll try to wait 3 seconds next time I press it (to see if it's just the delay for the color screen as the blogpost explains), and I'll see how whiskey affects my blood sugars for my next insertion ;-)

Permalink Reply by Brad Ringer on March 16, 2013 at 10:03am

I almost never have pain with the G4, the system 7 however, was another story. I used to have lots of pain with it.

I am fortunate (?) enough to have plenty of padding in the abdomen, so there is almost no chance of my hitting muscle! I insert more to the side, about 6" from the belly button. The only problem I have wearing the sensor and transmitter is if I put them too high and they rub the bottom edge of my ribs - then I get some discomfort.

Permalink Reply by LACA310 on March 19, 2013 at 10:24am

I seem to remember some power up delay mentioned in some materials. If i double click, it often ends up in the menu vs the graph, so it seems to be registering the extra pressing. Patience is a virtue.

As for the pain. I go from intense to not feeling it. I had some extended pains which I have attributed to glancing the muscle (which also made for a few interesting readings while exercising). I talked to a rep and they said to always pinch up, but more interestingly, consider leaning the inserter back slightly to insert at a shallower angle.

Also I found a bit of fat on my back (around where your thumbs are when your hands are on your hips). Its out of the way and seems to work good enough for me if you are looking to mix things up.

For what it is worth.

Permalink Reply by bort269 on March 19, 2013 at 10:42am

In terms of my center button, it turns out it was faulty so Dexcom sent me out a new receiver, and the button even fell off over the weekend:

But I got the new receiver today and the button seems very responsive (of course with some patience at startup :-)

Thanks again to everyone for the advice, one quick question about pinching up:

My Dexcom rep also suggestion leaning the inserter back so that the needle wouldn't dive in so deep, but didn't mention anything about pinching up (or how to do that).

Just before inserting the needle do you simply pinch above and below the sensor?

I'm pretty rusty on pitching since I started using Nano needles for my insulin pens after my first couple weeks of painful injections (there is no pinching with Nanos).

Permalink Reply by Lex on March 20, 2013 at 10:50am

HI! I numb it up with ice each time. It seems to help....I've had a couple of painful insertions and this has helped alot...Just make sure the skin is dry before inserting so the tape will stick.

Permalink Reply by Theo on March 24, 2013 at 8:41pm

The pain issue is very simple in my experience. There are pain sensors in the skin which seem to be randomly distributed. Basically the painful vs. pain-free experience depends entirely on your luck - do you hit one of those areas or not with the needle. For me there is no way to figure this out in advance. The exact same phenomenon happens when injecting insulin - some places hurt like hell while others are totally pain free. Since the insulin needle is much skinnier, the pain is usually less compared to Dexcom introducer which is much thicker.
Also with an insulin injection if i feel that the site is painful after the first 1-2 mm, I remove the needle before entering full depth and try injecting in another site. This is not possible with the Dexcom sensor which is already fully glued to the skin by the time the needle penetrates the skin.

Pain has nothing to do with muscles in my experience. The pain usually starts right away within the first few millimeters after the needle enters the skin, way before there is any chance of it hitting a muscle. In my experience blood vessels seem to also contain pain sensors but there is no way to tell beforehand whether you'll hit one of those small vessels while inserting the needle for insulin or introducer for dexcom.