Dexcom G6

[Floridatilly]

Hi. Anyone have a Dexcom G6?
We have just spend 3 hours at the hospital with another family being trained for it.
My daughter has had the Libre freestyle which we love but due to constant nocturnal hypo’s, extreme Hypers and loss of hypo/hyper awareness she has been given the Dexcom G6 on a 3 month trial.
We are hoping this will help bring her hbc1a down (high 70’s to mid 80’s)
How have you found it?
Where do you wear it?
Have you had any problems (libre fell off quite a few times)
Any advice or comments appreciated
Thanks

[ely3857]

Yes my 10 year old does. She wears it on the front of her thigh (this is not a Dexcom approved site but our team are of the same opinion as us, if it works then let it work!). She has skin tac under the patch and if it’s getting grubby or lifting at the edges we cover with rock tape.

Initially we had huge teething problems as DD was automatically sent this when her G5 supplies ran out about 18months ago and the first wave of devices promised a lot more than they could deliver.

In the last 18m the device has improved significantly and stands up to the promises.

DD wears her iPhone (which is her receiver) in a pouch around her waist while at school and has an Apple Watch which alerts her by vibrating. The watch means she can also just glance at her blood sugars.

Her dad and myself are ‘followers’ and can see her bloods constantly and have alerts aswell should we want to do so.

DD’s HBa1C is always in the 40’s. In order to achieve that we trust the Dexcom implicitly and I’d recommend you do the same unless you really feel you can’t (in which case it’s not the device for you). We respond and react to anything over 8.0 and as DD is on a pump we also reduce or stop basal if going low. We prefer to do this rather than treat the low and maybe have a rebound high. Obvs when needed the lows are treated if we can’t prevent. We’re very very proactive in using the Dexcom information to make decisions on insulin both in the moment and for changing ratios and basal for the coming days if we see a pattern developing.

I’m genuinely baffled at the three hour training, what an earth was said about it that took that long?

Good luck!

[Shani]

My 13yo son started with the libre when it was first released. We barely ever got 14 days out of it and he had severe skin reactions to it.

We switched to Dexcom G4 after about 18 months and it was simply amazing. Superior in every way to the libre. He started on the G6 last Summer, when he started on the omnipod (he had the animas vibe pump before that) and it's great.

He's looping now, and his last HbA1c was 39. Clinic tomorrow so fingers crossed!

[Floridatilly]

Originally Posted by ely3857

Yes my 10 year old does. She wears in on the front of her thigh (this is not a Dexcom approved site but our team are of the same opinion as us, if it works then let it work!). She has skin tac under the patch and if it’s getting grubby or lifting at the edges we cover with rock tape.

Initially we had huge teething problems as DD was automatically sent this when her G5 supplies ran out about 18months ago and the first wave of devices promised a lot more than they could deliver.

In the last 18m the device has improved significantly and stands up to the promises.

DD wears her iPhone (which is her receiver) in a pouch around her waist while at school and has an Apple Watch which alerts her by vibrating. The watch means she can also just glance at her blood sugars.

Her dad and myself are ‘followers’ and can see her bloods constantly and have alerts aswell should we want to do so.

DD’s HBa1C is always in the 40’s. In order to achieve that we trust the Dexcom implicitly and I’d recommend you do the same unless you really feel you can’t (in which case it’s not the device for you). We respond and react to anything over 8.0 and as DD is on a pump we also reduce or stop basal if going low. We prefer to do this rather than treat the low and maybe have a rebound high. Obvs when needed the lows are treated if we can’t prevent. We’re very very proactive in using the Dexcom information to make decisions on insulin both in the moment and for changing ratios and basal for the coming days if we see a pattern developing.

I’m genuinely baffled at the three hour training, what an earth was said about it that took that long?

Good luck!

See more...

Well the first hour, I kid you not, was warning after warning. This is an expensive kit, if you do not follow the rules it will be taken away, you must share details, you must follow rules etc etc.
I agree we are extremely lucky to be given this opportunity and it is a lottery postcode. The conditions that need to be met in our area are very strict so we can not waste this because it in affect taking the opportunity from another child.
Then it was the positive results we should see. Because my daughter dances so many hours 5 ties a week her bloods drastically change on the two days she doesn’t dance.
We can’t play about with the tresibre (Basel) and it’s a case of one size doesn’t fit all of you know what I mean.
She has had really serious hypos & is terrified of them happening so she gets panicky and over treats the hypo (at college) then suffers a massive high/hyper so it’s a vicious circle really.
Any emotion, upset or excited make her suddenly drop or hyper and she is extremely sensitive to insulin so for the past ten years it’s been a nightmare to be honest especially with her lack of hypo & hyper awareness.

We chat with other families at clinic and they have never had any real problems with their diabetes. So I suppose everyone is different.
It certainly got worse during and after puberty though.
I must say I am extremely drained after the 3 hours lol

[Floridatilly]

Originally Posted by Shani

My 13yo son started with the libre when it was first released. We barely ever got 14 days out of it and he had severe skin reactions to it.

We switched to Dexcom G4 after about 18 months and it was simply amazing. Superior in every way to the libre. He started on the G6 last Summer, when he started on the omnipod (he had the animas vibe pump before that) and it's great.

He's looping now, and his last HbA1c was 39. Clinic tomorrow so fingers crossed!

See more...

Amelia is on a waiting list for the omnipod they say it can take 18 months. Dexcom took 12 months.
Wow those HbA1c readings are great. Amelias are shocking, it doesn’t help that she is terrified of needles so unless we do her injections she avoids them (a whole other thread &#128555
We are really hopeful at getting her readings down because we know the long term damage that is happening internally.
Her libre was always falling off too, never reached 14 days then it would be tears because she reverted back to finger pricking

[Shani]

My son has extreme anxiety when it comes to needles, too. There's no way he can inject himself, so the pump is great.

We self-funded the libre, and then self funded the Dexcom for about a year, before it was funded together with his animas vibe pump.

The alarms on the dex are great. It lets you set your own alarm limits, so you can react before bloods get too far out of range. We still have good days and bad days, hormones and failed pods, and looping has been amazing, letting him be a teenager and think about T1 less!

The only drawback I can think of is the phone (which is the receiver) needs to be relatively close to get the readings. My son has an apple watch so he doesn't even need to get his phone out in class to see how his levels are doing.

[Floridatilly]

Originally Posted by Shani

My son has extreme anxiety when it comes to needles, too. There's no way he can inject himself, so the pump is great.

We self-funded the libre, and then self funded the Dexcom for about a year, before it was funded together with his animas vibe pump.

The alarms on the dex are great. It lets you set your own alarm limits, so you can react before bloods get too far out of range. We still have good days and bad days, hormones and failed pods, and looping has been amazing, letting him be a teenager and think about T1 less!

The only drawback I can think of is the phone (which is the receiver) needs to be relatively close to get the readings. My son has an apple watch so he doesn't even need to get his phone out in class to see how his levels are doing.

See more...

We currently inject her bottom so she can’t see the needle.
She never wanted a pump because of the tubing and her dance but the omnipod looks perfect.
She is on a waiting list and has to have so many hours of training before she can have one. Hopefully this year 👍🏻

[Clare]

I hope it works for your DD but I really think it will, and I hope you can get some comfort from it as a parent of a T1.

At times my blood drops like a stone, particularly over night in my sleep (I used to have bad non waking hypos). My Dex is set at 5.5 over night, as soon as it drops the alarm sounds waking me up and I then have something to eat to stop me dropping. On the flip side my upper limit is set at 10 - if my bloods are 10 overnight I want to know, just in case my pump is malfunctioning.

It’s invaluable.

[Floridatilly]

So far so good. Her bloods were high in the night, alarm woke us so insulin given. She did continue to rise to 22.
It’s set at 15 at the moment and we are going to lower it gradually.
It’s so clever!

[mlbolger]

Hi, my 13 year old was initially on libre and then G5 and G6. We love it. Uses with omnipod and we have gone from a Hba1c of 9 to a 6.3 at last 2 clinics. You will love it. In fact we don’t realise how much we rely on it till we suddenly don’t have it. Eg lose WiFi and data on follow or get an error or during the warm up period after change.! Lol.