Yesterday morning the FedEx man knocked on the door with my brand new Dexcom Seven Plus Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. I almost kissed him. And no, I don't know if he was handsome... I was too busy lusting after the shiny box he was holding for me. I've been researching and reading lots of other reviews of the Seven Plus model, (Bernard's and Kerri's are helpful!) and had high hopes that it would be better than the original Seven model.
I've been wearing my Dexcom Seven Plus for 24 hours now and these are my first impressions:
1. The reception between the sensor and the receiver is WAY better. With the original model I lost reception OFTEN at night when my body was nestled under the covers. With the receiver on my night stand I had a constant connection all night long.
2. The screen is better lit, clearer, and much easier to read.
3. There are more added features such as adding health levels, food, exercise, alcohol, etc to the data system.
4. The alarms are LOUD. Last night at 3 am I was awoken with a beep letting me know I was 64 mg/dl and dropping.... which is EXACTLY why I need to be wearing this machine. I was sound asleep with no symptoms, and the Dexcom woke me up way before I was unable to help myself. My husband especially likes this. I think he prefers hearing obnoxious beeps, to passed out on the floor wife.
5. I noticed in the shower this morning that the adhesive was already starting to come up a little bit around the edges... so I grabbed some leftover Tegaderm covers I had from the last time I wore the Dexcom and plastered it securely over the site. This usually helps me get a few extra days out of each sensor. With the old model, I thought it might have gotten in the way of the reception, but it is unclear. It is definitely not interfering with the new model.
Overall, I LOOOOOOOVE it. I think it is an improvement. I hope they continue to design the newer models to have a smaller receiver. And some type of quick set insertion device would be nice too. The manual needle stuff still wigs me out, even after 23 years! :)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!!
6 comments:
I was told NOT to cover the sensor so I cut a whole in my Tegaderm to fit around it. It works nicely and holds it down well.
I LOVE my Dexcom. LOVE LOVE LOVE!
Weird, as you were writing this I was reading a thread on TuDiabetes. I looked down at it and noticed a tiny bit of condensation under the adheasive and cut the little hole right away. Thanks for the tip!
It's nice to hear the improvements from the prior generation - helps us better appreciate what we have since we have only used the seven plus.
Hmm - no one told us not to cover it. I have, though not as a rule. I haven't noticed any difference in reception. I prefer not to cover it bc Caleb has skin issues and I want it to breathe as much as possible. Maybe I need to may closer attention!
I hope you are still as happy after a couple of weeks!
That is great you have better instruments for the checking of the disease.There is also a way ahead improvement in the medications and taking care of the disease which is helpful for the coming generations.
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I honestly feel as though this product is a total letdown. I've been using it now for a few months and it can be sometimes over 100+ mg/dl off. This is simply inexcusable.
The company says it can be 20% off at times, but I am almost finding this thing to be a total waste of time and energy.
It's good, at times, for trends, but for anything else, it's an utter failure.
If you're considering getting the Dexcom, I'd wait another generation or two...this is still really an experimental item. Also, the alarm is not adjustable and would never wake you up...
I am on a loaner of the Dexcom 7 to see if I like it. I LOVE it!!! I have nothing to compare it to, but the piece of mind it gives me when I'm home alone at night is absolutely THE BEST! It is a pain having to carry the receiver around and having to keep it close, but lets face it, us Type Is are always dealing with something like this!! I have been checking my BS more often than the 12 hour calibration requirement just to see how close the results are and I must say, I'm impressed at how so very close the Dexcom 7 is!
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