Dexcom

[Buttercup1988]

Hi please can I ask if I am right thinking it’s £100 for only three sensors? Or 30 days worth? Thank you

 

[Tdm]

Which dexcom are you thinking of? £100 or thereabouts per month seems about the going rates for cgms suitable for t1 though there seems to be a spate of new releases more aimed at t2 which i expect would be more affordable

 

[Buttercup1988]

Hi there. I was looking at the dexcom 6 or 7 for my Hubby who is Type 2. Just seems a lot for 30 days though? Thank you for your reply.

 

[Tdm]

The dexcom g6/g7 may be a bit overkill...they're perhaps more aimed at people on an insulin pump. I'm pretty lucky to get the g6 without a pump, to be honest. Is he on insulin? If he's not on meds that can cause hypos then you can look at options with less connectivity andxwithout the alerts, that would probably be cheaper

 

[Docb]

Hi @Buttercup1988. Are you, like me,being targeted by ads for Dexcom products?

 

[Inka]

Hi please can I ask if I am right thinking it’s £100 for only three sensors? Or 30 days worth? Thank you

That would be a special offer, I think. The G7 is around £150 for three sensors. The G7 is fabulous and I love it. But, what meds is your husband on? He might not need a sensor, or might be ok with the Libre if he does,

 

[Tdm]

I think you can get a free 15 day trial from abbot/ libre if you have diabetes...good way to look into if he gets on with it and if its worth it.
What info do you want to get from it ?

 

[Buttercup1988]

Good morning. Thank you ALL for your replies. Really helpful and lovely. He is type 2. Just on Metformin which didn’t help that much so now is on 2 Metformin per day with 10mg Dapagliflozin. So we are seeing what happens. He is due surgery but they won’t operate until his sugars are down. I thought a monitor would help us. Maybe the Libre would be better then? Though it all seems extremely expensive for just a few monitor patches? Maybe we should just finger prick test more often? After meals do you think? Thank you.

 

[Buttercup1988]

Also does anyone know what blood sugar of 100mg/dL means in mmols? Is the mg/dL American and Mmols the U.K. measurement? Thank you.

 

[Robin]

Also does anyone know what blood sugar of 100mg/dL means in mmols? Is the mg/dL American and Mmols the U.K. measurement? Thank you.

You divide by 18. There are also conversion charts on line if you google mg/dl to mmol/l, if you haven’t got a calculator handy,
100mg/dl is approx 5.6 mmol/l

 

[Buttercup1988]

Hi @Buttercup1988. Are you, like me,being targeted by ads for Dexcom products?

Hi there. No no targeting just spoke to a friend who had one but she is type 1 etc. thank you.

 

[Buttercup1988]

You divide by 18. There are also conversion charts on line if you google mg/dl to mmol/l, if you haven’t got a calculator handy,
100mg/dl is approx 5.6 mmol/l

You divide by 18. There are also conversion charts on line if you google mg/dl to mmol/l, if you haven’t got a calculator handy,
100mg/dl is approx 5.6 mmol/l

Thank you very much indeed.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Hi there. No no targeting just spoke to a friend who had one but she is type 1 etc. thank you.

Yes, makes lots of sense for those of us who have Type 1, but the value is much lower for someone with Type 2 being treated with metformin and diet. You're almost surely better off using test strips now and again.

And if you want to splash out maybe buy a sensor once a year or something: there's surely some value in seeing what the graph looks like over a few days (maybe there are some surprises that you wouldn't see otherwise).

 

[rebrascora]

Your husband would qualify for a free 14 day trial of the Freestyle Libre2 system, provided he has a suitable smart phone. It is important to make sure he has a compatible phone for whichever system you use and Libre has a wider range of compatible phones than Dexcom, so would certainly worth doing the free trial. I find Libre works brilliant for me.
Most basic CGMs work out around the same price of about £100 per month, so yes it is expensive.
It is possible to get useful data from finger prick tests but you need to be systematic about it rather than random testing. What we tend to suggest is to test just before a meal and then 2 hours afterwards. If his levels rose by more than 2-3mmols then he had too many carbs and you need to reduce the portion of carb rich food in that meal (ie bread, potatoes, pasta, rice as well as the obvious sweet stuff that contains sugar.... be they natural from fruit or added sugar) and then test again next time he has that meal with the reduced carb portion. If he still spikes too high afterwards, then it needs more reduction and swap something lower carb for the high carb food. He should not have to go hungry, I like large platefuls of food but it is what is on the plate that is important. I mostly base my meals on meat/fish/eggs/cheese and plenty of vegetables or salad and coleslaw.

 

[rebrascora]

There should be a means of changing a meter from reading in mg/dl to mmols/L unless you bought it abroad. We work in mmols/L here in the UK.

 

[Inka]

Good morning. Thank you ALL for your replies. Really helpful and lovely. He is type 2. Just on Metformin which didn’t help that much so now is on 2 Metformin per day with 10mg Dapagliflozin. So we are seeing what happens. He is due surgery but they won’t operate until his sugars are down. I thought a monitor would help us. Maybe the Libre would be better then? Though it all seems extremely expensive for just a few monitor patches? Maybe we should just finger prick test more often? After meals do you think? Thank you.

I would just fingerprick then personally. That will give you a good idea of what’s happening. If, after, a number of weeks, you feel there’s something you’re missing, then you could consider a Libre or two just to see if they can give you any clues, but really fingerpricking should be enough done regularly and systematically.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Hello @Buttercup1988,

The CGM market has changed quite a lot in the recent past with some being "higher spec" or more capable and able to help with managing a pump or even Hybrid Closed Loop ( HCL). Hence greater cost variations.

If I were in your position there are 2 CGMs that would suit your husband's possible needs: the Dexcom One+ and the Libre 2. They allow a user to wear a sensor for 10 days or a fortnight respectively, get some insight into what one's BG is doing over that period, then be without a sensor for a period and restart when one next chooses to get further insight. That way your financial commitment is controlled. You might get a cost effective purchase by purchasing more than one at a time; I think Dexcom in particular have deals for buying 3 ( hence 30 days) or 9 (90 days) at a time.

Libre offer a free 14 day trial, with no further commitment and Dexcom might do the same, but don't promote this so publicly.

HOWEVER, I think an initial process of finger prick testing would be well worth doing. Those fps need to be systematic to be truly informative otherwise they really are just random "stabs in the dark". A suitable system would be 1st thing after waking and last thing before going to sleep, which would give some reference or baseline as well as clarity about what is happening during the long fasting period. But also with each main meal immediately before the 1st mouthful and as exactly as is practically possible 2 hrs later.

The 2 hrs is a standard reference duration that allows enough time for the digestion process to start and metabolism to get properly underway - thus to reveal how high (or not) one's BG goes. The immediate target is to find meal types and portion sizes that limits any BG rise to no more than 3 mmol/L in those 2 hrs; preferably a bit less. That clarifies what meals are acceptable to each individual's body. Diabetes may be commonly found in many people, but how each individual metabolises food can be very different from person to person.

The next target is to be able to start a meal at no higher than 7, much better if 5, and ultimately end a meal at no more than 8.5. But this won't necessarily be achievable on day one! The important thing is to make a start at monitoring and use those first readings as markers to improve with time. In due course your husband will acquire knowledge about meals that are fine for him and may be happy to not always take fps for such meals; but should consider fps with a new/different meal type.

A sensor worn for 10 or 14 days allows the user to see more accurately not only what each meal is causing to one's BG but what the BG variation (Glycaemic Variability = GV) across a succession of 24 hr periods. During this sensor period the finger pricking would be much reduced, and really only needed to reassure the user that the CGM is "about right".

CGMs have limitations, they aren't perfect and those of us who are insulin dependent (as I am) and have much greater need for CGM to make our lives easier, tend to know and accept the limitations as part of the process. For us we are very alert to changes, and sensors display trend arrows plus alarms to tell us when a lot of change is happening. For a T2 who is not insulin dependent the daily graphs are the essential bit of a CGM and this can be an expensive aid, in relation to finger prick test.

To convert from the US mg/dl to the European and UK mmol/L units just divide by 18. So 100mg/dl is 5 5 mmol/L. I would expect any test meter purchased in UK to use mmol/L units, but might need a change making in the settings if it opens in mg/dl.

 

[Docb]

Hi there. No no targeting just spoke to a friend who had one but she is type 1 etc. thank you.

Thats good... the adverts as usual don't tell the whole story, you need some real world input.

Your husband needs to get his HbA1c down before he can have an op - is that right? Do you know hat his Hba1c is and where he needs to get to? Thats the starting point. You will then have to work out a plan to get it down and use testing to see if your plan is working. OK if it is, but if it is not you will need another plan.

You can do an awful lot for a lot less money by finger prick testing if you work out what you want to find out and test accordingly. A bit more information and I am sure you will get suggestions on how to go forward from the forum.

 

[Buttercup1988]

Your husband would qualify for a free 14 day trial of the Freestyle Libre2 system, provided he has a suitable smart phone. It is important to make sure he has a compatible phone for whichever system you use and Libre has a wider range of compatible phones than Dexcom, so would certainly worth doing the free trial. I find Libre works brilliant for me.
Most basic CGMs work out around the same price of about £100 per month, so yes it is expensive.
It is possible to get useful data from finger prick tests but you need to be systematic about it rather than random testing. What we tend to suggest is to test just before a meal and then 2 hours afterwards. If his levels rose by more than 2-3mmols then he had too many carbs and you need to reduce the portion of carb rich food in that meal (ie bread, potatoes, pasta, rice as well as the obvious sweet stuff that contains sugar.... be they natural from fruit or added sugar) and then test again next time he has that meal with the reduced carb portion. If he still spikes too high afterwards, then it needs more reduction and swap something lower carb for the high carb food. He should not have to go hungry, I like large platefuls of food but it is what is on the plate that is important. I mostly base my meals on meat/fish/eggs/cheese and plenty of vegetables or salad and coleslaw.

 

[Buttercup1988]

Fantastic thank you so much!!