My son(23) was diagnosed with T1 in March after going into Diabetic Ketosis. This a quite a shock to the family.
End of June he was able to get the new Dexcom G6. What a relief to be able to follow on the share app. He is enjoying no finger pricks too.
Being new to T1, he finds this technology very empowering.
Is anyone else using the G6?
Both our kids (ages 6 & 4) moves from the G5 to the G6 in early June and weāre very happy with it overall. The transmitters noticeably slimmer than the G5 and the applicator is much simpler with the one-button insertion. We have noticed however, that it seems to take about 36 hrs for the sensor to really dial in. Weāve had them finger stick for the first day or so and have seen variances of up to 80 points from what their meters read. Not totally surprised since I was a little leery of the whole āfactory calibratedā feature. But after about a day or so it seems to sync up pretty well, to the point we donāt do any finger sticks unless thereās a number that seems completely out of whack.
One downside is that the sensors have a very hard 10 day shutoff, where we could get up to 14 days out of the G5 by stopping/restarting the sensor. Not an option with the G6; once it hits 10 days (to the minute) itās done.
All things considered, I would still highly recommend it to anyone considering a CGM. The active alarms and follow app were absolute musts for us with 2 little kids.
On a side note, we had one sensor that malfunctioned and got stuck in a continuous āenter calibrationā loop. I called dexcom customer service and they tried a couple things then said it was probably defective and had a replacement sent out to us overnight. Pretty impressed with their customer service!
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My son has done the meter comparison too. We have found ranges like yoursā¦80 points diff. However, we find its such a relief for the lows.
He works with robotics in a manufacturing plant where temps can reach 110. We see huge swings in sugar now heās on the app. Before, he had to rely on āfeelings.ā He can swing as much as 150 points in a couple of hours. He works 12 days straight then off 2. hard to keep sugar regulated.
I do have to say Dexcom customer service is 2nd to none. But at first, they kept getting his birthday wrong, instead of 1994 they had him as 1940. They kept referring him to the Medicare Department. lol (frustrating but funny too)
My heart goes out to you and other parents with young kids; I just canāt imagine.
This has been terrifying for my wife and me, fear of the unknown and un-understood.
We were moving our son into his first apartment since graduating collegeā¦his move in date ended with a trip to the ER via an ambulance. We went from a happy, busy morning to a near-fatal coma by evening. Unreal.
I did read a book that I found encouraging and fascinating and suggest to all T1s and families. Itās truly amazing how far weāve come in such a relatively short time. We have a lot to be thankful for:
@Banting I hear you on being able to catch lows! We have 3 people that are on the follow app for both our kids, so thereās always at least one of us always āon itā when they go low, or watching closely when they seem like they might be heading that way.
Our daughter was also in DKA when diagnosed. She had been sick for about a week with what we thought was just a bad cold. The morning we took her in she was just very ā out of itā and was having difficulty remembering basic stuff like names and information she had known for years. We took her into our pediatrician who did a quick test and immediately told us we needed to get her to the childrenās hospital ER. We were absolutely terrified. Sure enough we got the diagnosis and spent the next 5 days in the hospital. A couple days later we were right back there with my son. They were diagnosed exactly a week apart, but luckily he wasnāt in DKA when we took him in. My wife was just very observant and saw him exhibiting some of the same symptoms (excessive thirst and urination).
Thanks for the book recommendation, Iāll look into it. Before I was admittedly pretty ignorant about diabetes. Now I try to read and understand as much as I can.
It seems like we have to calibrate the G6 everytime a new sensor is placed. Then 5 days later another calibration otherwise the spread between the meters vs G6 is 40-50 points or more, which puts the lows in crazy range.
He uses an Accu-Chek and a Walmart brand meter. The 2 meters seem to stay within 10 of each other. Then he enters that info into the G6 which averages the numbers, I think.
My son was in ICU for 5 days. The hospital didnāt have a regular room to send him to so they discharged him. Our training was a packet of 30 pages of google searched information that the discharge nurse handed us. Basically no training.
His regular DR was clueless on dosing. The Endro was 2 months out for new patients.
Fortunately, my wife is a nurse but her expertise is Labor/Delivery. we struggled to say the least. My boss is a T1 and coached us through.
What was your experience post Emergency room?
Our post ER experience was pretty positive, considering the circumstances. The childrenās hospital in our area is a university hospital so they had entire teams dedicated to just Type 1 diabetes. So in that sense we felt lucky. It kind of felt like we were back in school with classes to go to and trainingās. After 2 days in the ER, we spent 3 days in the pediatric unit where they would schedule times to have us meet with dietitians about diet and carb counting, pharmacists would come in to go over proper storage and use of insulin pens and glucagon shots, nurses would show us how to do all the other stuff like injections, measuring insulin, glucose meters, etc. Our endocrinologist would stop by once or twice a day to check in on us. We even had a young lady from the JDRF come in and deliver a Bag of Hope with a bunch of info, and showed my daughter her pump and CGM, and answered any questions we had.
Having just spent a week in the hospital with our daughter, they kind of gave us a condensed version of the trainingās when my son was diagnosed. They asked us what areas we wanted to focus on more. We only had to spend 2 days in the hospital with him.
Not sure how it is with adults when diagnosed, but if Iām looking for a silver lining to all of this, itās that we definitely never felt short changed on support or information from the medical teams; even after we were discharged. However, even with all of these resources available, we still felt completely lost and overwhelmed once we left the hospital (and still do sometimes). Itās one of those things that I think you just have to learn as you go and take it day by day.
I use the G6! Iāve had T1 for 15 years and just started the G6 last week. So far its been really awesome. It is so weird not poking my fingers everyday though! It feels so unnatural to me. lol Iām glad your son has been enjoying it. I love Dexcomās technology! I started using their CGMs this last January and it has changed my life with diabetes.
Dexcom G6 and app is fantastic. I would also suggest reaching out to the local JDRF YLC (Young Leadership Committee) in the area. They are a bunch of T1D and friends of T1Dās and they have influenced my treatment methods and told me about new tech, meds and devices.
We have 2 sons diagnosed 2 years ago, started them on G5 almost immediately and now G6. Reading all the comments, I agree that upon initial startup, sometimes the numbers seem a little hinky, so we may calibrate just to be sure, but the other day one seemed to drop suddenly so we tested him and the Dexcom was spot on!
We also have a daughter who follows their levels on her phone, and each school nurse also follows them. Canāt say enough great things about Dexcom and G6. That said, we also did have an issue with one sensor malfunctioning and then bleeding from the next one, but as someone stated, Dexcom customer service was awesome and sent us replacements.
Hi - Our Dexcom G6 is arriving in a couple of days for our 8year old son. Not sure what āextrasā I need to buy? Skin-tac - what is best - liquid, wipes? Grif grips - needed? helpful? Do the ones they sell on Amazon fit the newer G6? I have no idea what the size difference may be from the G5/G4.
Thanks for any help you can provide!
@kabowers we use Skin Prep for both our kids before we put the sensor on. It helps the sensor stick a little better. We then put a Simpatch over the top to keep it on for the full 10 days. Before we started using the Simpatch we were losing sensors 5-7 days in due to them losing their adhesion. Since we started using the combination of the 2 weāve never lost a sensor before it was time to change them (even with lots of swimming, baths, etc). We bought a bunch of the Simpatches for the G5 (different colors) and they work perfectly for the G6 as well.
We buy all of our stuff off Amazon. Iāve heard some people have an allergic reaction to the adhesive on the Simpatch so I know thereās other options out there. But so far for us we havenāt had any issues with that.
P.S. We also use Uni-solve wipes when removing the adhesives, when itās time to replace the sensors. It helps dissolve all of the glue so everything just comes off super easy.
Hope this helps!
Thank you - this helps a lot!
Same happened to my son in May, waiting on training for the minimed 670g and the cgm, hopefully itāll be easier than the shotsā¦
Mark,
We just got our G6 in the mail for my 5 year old, but he was diagnosed in march and the banner university in Tucson and our endocrinologist are amazing. I am excited to start the G6 transistion, but just having something showing and alarming for highs and lows during school is a god send for us. We have always been within 5 and 10 at the most with his g5 vs his glucose meter, but the past 2 weeks have been off by 80,60, and 50 consistanly. Praying for better results for the G6
The G6 has been pretty reliable with numbers in the first few weeks we have had it. Our issue has been with how long the device last. Weāre averaging 6.5 days right now and are currently on our third one.
John @Buffalotypeone, by my calculations you are being āshortedā 19.5 days with every box of sensors - that to me is not acceptable.
If you havenāt already, you should get on the phone with Dexcom and review a representative what is happening.
We have been noticing a deterioration of the G6 sensor accuracy around day 8 and 9, that requires calibration with finger pricks about twice a day until replacement on day 10.
But the biggest issue we see is with the new sensors on replacement day. 2 out of 3(sometimes 3 out of 4)sensors fail within a couple of hours after applying. Most of the time they work then āerrorā out. Weāve noticed a little blood around the injection site(sometimes) on the failed ones. Dexcom says it will still work if the initial injection causes bleeding but not in our case. 100% of the time if bleeding occurs the sensor fails.
Dexcom is great about sending replacements but my son looks like a pin cushion and dreads replacement day. (you have to wait 2 hours between sensor changes before they workā¦last Saturday we started with the first new sensor at 3:30p and finally got a sensor to work at midnight)
The bad sensors seem to correlate to batch numbers, at least thatās what we seem to notice.
However, itās such a relief, as a family, to be able to monitor his levels with the app.
Next month he goes to a TSlim. (there is a great demo app for the new TSlim that helps to learn a little bit about the new pump.)
We did contact Dexcom both times and they are sending replacements.
Hydrate!
We have discovered a relationship between slightly dehydration and G6 errors. My son was error-ing out in the early morning at workā¦same time everyday. However, he noticed on his first break and after drinking a bottle of water the G6 came back on line.(after a time). He started to experiment by drinking a bottle of water before he went to work and the errors stopped.
FYI-stay hydrated.
Itās worth a try.
Iāve also noticed some errors with my G6 latelyānothing too bad, but definitely annoying when they stop working. Regardless of the reason, Dexcomās customer service has been excellent about replacing the sensors when they fail.
And @Bantingāthatās so interesting! I never thought of that but I do know that I drink far too little water during the day, so Iām going to give your suggestion a try and see if it helps. 