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Dexcom Broken

M

MSH33

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Carer/Partner
My teenager has just returned from a trip to NYC and Dexcom has broke (no signal) it’s going to take a few days to get a new one.

She has put a libre 3 freestyle on but is having issues with High levels (won’t come down) then lows crashing.

She is on Omnipod 5, with the libre should she be taking any background insulin or tweaking anything?

She’s only been diabetic 20 months and this is her 3rd bit of equipment and has just been transferred to adult ward at beginning of the year after only having the Dexcom 3 weeks and they are useless don’t know how to work pump/dexcom and take days to call back about tweaking levels.

Can anyone help please? It’s really getting all of us down (obv worse for teen).
 
Which Dexcom is it @MSH33 ? Is it the sensor that’s broken? Does she not have spares? Is she checking the highs and lows with fingerpricks?
 
G6 and it’s the transmitter that is broken.

She’s thinking she should go back on her needles, should she take her tresiba also at night?
 
Ah, ok. I use the Dexcom G7 so can’t help with that (the G7 sensors each have their own transmitter). Is she looping with the pump? Has she confirmed the highs and lows with fingerpricks @MSH33 ?
 
She said she doesn’t have access to levels because Mon transmitter and is on manual mode and testing blood.
 
MSH33 said:
G6 and it’s the transmitter that is broken.

She’s thinking she should go back on her needles, should she take her tresiba also at night?
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We can’t give medical advice here, we aren’t trained medical professionals just other diabetics or parents. She should have a number she can call for her diabetes team, if ketones are high just go to a&e though as it doesn’t sound like you’ve been given enough information to manage things
 
Does she not have a fingerpricker? I don’t understand your sentence because of your typo.
 
@MSH33 She has two choices: use the pump in manual mode (ie she controls it and not the feedback from the Libre 3); or go back to injections temporarily.

If she can’t use the pump on manual (ie controlling it herself), then she could go back to injections temporarily, but I’m wary of recommending that if she’s not sure of her doses and/or how to manage the switchover. She might still have some basal active from the pump so once disconnected, she’d have to take a lesser dose of Tresiba. She’d also have to calculate her boluses and know her meal ratios.
 
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Sorry she has a finger prick, sorry for typo.

She has emailed clinic again will wait to
Hear from them tomorrow, nobody ever picks up the phone and when it’s to do with the equipment they tell you to call
Dexcom or Omnipod, it is so frustrating.
 
I’ll tag @PhoebeC who uses the Omnipod 5, I think, and possibly @nonethewiser too.

Is there any way she could restart the Dexcom receiver just in case it’s a blip rather than broken? Have you tried phoning Dexcom? That would be worth a try. And do you think it’s anything to do with the pod itself? Could she try a new pod to see if that works with the receiver?
 
MSH33 said:
My teenager has just returned from a trip to NYC and Dexcom has broke (no signal) it’s going to take a few days to get a new one.

She has put a libre 3 freestyle on but is having issues with High levels (won’t come down) then lows crashing.

She is on Omnipod 5, with the libre should she be taking any background insulin or tweaking anything?

She’s only been diabetic 20 months and this is her 3rd bit of equipment and has just been transferred to adult ward at beginning of the year after only having the Dexcom 3 weeks and they are useless don’t know how to work pump/dexcom and take days to call back about tweaking levels.

Can anyone help please? It’s really getting all of us down (obv worse for teen).
Click to expand...

Did her diabetes team set up a basal rates & insulin to carb ratio when first starting on Omnipod 5?

They should have as that is part of the set up procedure when you start on pump, it's in case at any point you have to go into manual mode in times of emergency.

It's possible basal rates/carb ratios may have changed since but it's better than nothing & may be better than going back to injections, obviously you would have to revert back to bg tests & testing more frequently just to keep a close eye on her bg levels.

Your daughter should have a spare transmitter, ask for one from Dexcom so that you always have a spare for times like these.

Above is just my thoughts on what I would do nothing else.
 
Appreciate all the advice.

We called dexcom yesterday and they are sending a new transmitter, they took the code from her so not sure if it showed an error? We tried everything to reset, she was without signal for 12 hours (basically since she got on flight from NYC) Dexcom was also sketchy whilst away and losing signal.

I told her to try a new pod yesterday but she’s 16 and keeps getting annoyed/frustrated and it’s getting everyone down.

I am so fed up with the worry and sleepless nights but know it’s worse for her and annoys me because she doesn’t do anything to help herself and I have to keep nagging her.
 
Dexcom have always been excellent when we’ve called them so that’s always our first port of call when there are tech issues. I don’t have experience with omnipod but with my kid’s pump it just keeps running on the basal and you manually bolus. If she does come off the omnipod it can be a bit tricky with the basal as tresiba has such a long half life but it is doable.
 
I’ve no idea how to manage this type of issue with G6, I’m only 2 months into it myself, I’ve still got a few leftover libre 2 + which would use as backups if it was me. Do you have the libre 2 + or 3 they would work in automatic mode / HCL .

PDM needs to be in manual mode as others have said, but then it’s important she knows her amounts. You can use Glooko or the PDM history to work out what amounts she’s been on, it’s a right faff but is possible. Have a look and note it all down.

Call the diabetes team tomorrow or her GP if you have no luck and state how important this is. This in my opinion is an emergency situation if she / you don’t know what to do in manual mode or the amounts she should be having back on pens / injections. Do it first thing, don’t take no for an answer. Sometimes we have to make a fuss to get an answer and it’s not tech related if the tech is broken.
Good luck,
 
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