On Christmas morning I awoke to several paramedics standing over me. I was having a diabetic seizure due to extremely low blood sugar. On the 29th I had another seizure in the middle of the night. Both times were terrifying for both myself and my family. Now I will never have to worry about that again thanks to a new technology by Dexcom.
I just bought a new Dexcom Seven system. It is a Continuous Glucose Monitoring ("CGM") device for people with diabetes. It basically takes a glucose test about every 5 minutes throughout the day and night, allowing users to see trends and patterns in glucose readings. It also has an alarm that goes off when your sugars hit below 70 and above 250. This feature will be lifesaving for me.
The Seven Continuous Glucose Monitoring System consists of 3 parts:
Sensor
Transmitter
Receiver
The sensor looks much like an insulin pump infusion set and lasts for 7 days. The transmitter connects to it and send the info wirelessly to the receiver base. There are many ways to view the data on the transmitter. It can also be downloaded to a computer with Windows for viewing on the Dexcom software.
The rep who helped me was extremely helpful and answered ALL my questions. I had to pay in full for this product since it is a brand new technology. After I receive it they will automatically contact my insurance company with a claim and a letter of medical necessity from my doctor that they have on file. There is no guarantee that the insurance will cover this, but hopefully they will!! In total I paid $718 for the system and six sensors. This also includes training in my home next week by a tech rep. Refill sensors come in boxes of 4 and are $240.
Hopefully you found this article informative! Please check back in a couple weeks for my reviews of this product after using it for a while!
For more information please visit the Dexcom website by clicking HERE
5 comments:
OH YES! I am so excited for you. This will help you so much. Love you!
Love the new blog Windy! What a great concept!!!
~Leann (from WAH)
That's great news Windy! So glad this technology is available.
Although - I can think of several women who wouldn't see any problem with having those big, strong paramedics giving them some attention .... not the way to get that kind of attention!
//BRB
I've been on the Dexcom since March of last year and just love it.
I put a long post on my blog with some of the things I've learned from using the Dexcom. I hope you'll find it useful.
The biggest advice I can give you is to try not to use acetaminophen (Tylenol), it really throws the readings on the Dexcom for about four hours. When I have to take it, I try and put the Dexcom far away from me for the duration - that way the statistics don't get messed up.
Yesterday I took Dayquil and ended up with a reading of 350 (my bg was around 155) before I remembered that Dayquil contains acetaminophen.
Anyway, welcome to the wonderful world of CGMS.
Sorry you had to go through such a scary time, but glad you are on the CGMS.
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