Cgm

[wb90]

Hi there,
Just curious if anyone is using a pump with a continuous glucose monitoring sensor.

 

[bev]

Hi, yes my son uses the medtronic with sensors. He doesnt have them on all the time - because he does get skin irritations from the adhesive - but when we do use them we find them a great tool. It helps him a lot in the school environment as it alerts him to either highs or lows before they happen and means he doesnt feel worried. I also find them invaluable for night time as they alert me via alarm as to whether he is having a hypo or a hyper.🙂Bev

 

[novorapidboi26]

Hey bev, so is the cgm simply a sensor that sits above the skin.........

can these be obtained even if you dont have a pump?

 

[shiv]

NRboi, the sensor sits below the surface of the skin, and the transmitter (which reads the data from the sensor) is stuck onto the skin above the sensor. I wore one for 5 days last month, have a click on my blog to see the photos and blogs about it.

There are a few different types of CGM, the one bev's son uses (Medtronic) 'speaks' to the pump (so to speak!) so is specific to his pump. I found out recently though that they've now designed it so that they can be used independently of the pump too.

The one I wore, the Freestyle Navigator, was also independent of a pump.

In terms of can you have them without having a pump, they cost about ?30 a sensor the last time I heard, so I suppose if you can cough up the dough then yes you can have them.

 

[novorapidboi26]

in work so cant view personal pages, will when i get in though.....

so how does the sensor get under the skin.........

 

[Akasha]

I had one end of july and also begining of sept.
Unfortunately not the navigator. This also indipendant of pump, as hospital were concerned about my 'inbetween testing' blood levels.
I wore it for 72 hours (both times) The hospital then download the results to pc, and let me know.

Its like the canula of a pump. small tube under the skin.

 

[shiv]

in work so cant view personal pages, will when i get in though.....

so how does the sensor get under the skin.........

It is inserted much like a cannula is - basically fired into the skin using a spring-loaded device. In theory it isn't painful, more like a sharp sting or slap, but obviously it's different for everyone.

 

[novorapidboi26]

I see, thanks.................

So once in, how long will it last and can/does it get used evey day?

 

[wb90]

Hi,
Thanks for the replies, I have been looking into a medtronic cgm and pump combo, but it would have to be self funded as my local trust have said that it would be to expensive to fund. I have also contacted accu chek but they are not planning any such products.

 

[shiv]

The sensors are programmed to download data for 3 days, but there is a way you can 'trick' them into resetting themselves so you can get 6 days worth of data out of them (obviously good due to cost). It remains under the skin all the time, so yes in theory it is used 24/7 whilst in place. It can have issues such as not being able to connect to the transmitter, which may mean you 'lose' the sensor for a few hours but in theory they should connect back together. This happened to me twice when I had one on and I lost 6 hours in total.

 

[bev]

http://www.minimed.com/products/insulinpumps/components/cgm.html

This is the one that Alex uses and he has it on his bottom. Your supposed to get 6 days or more out of them - but Alex can only manage about 5 days as his skin gets irritated.

There are others that you can use called 'dexcom' and 'navigator' which you can use with any pump. The hospitals have a cgm that you dont need to have a pump to use - but you dont get to see the data - it is downloaded at hospital - so its good to see what happened - but means you cant react real-time. They are good for spotting trends and good to check whats happening at nighttime too.🙂Bev