Continuous Blood Glucose Monitor

Anyone had one of these fitted? If so, how is it fitted, how big is it, where on the body is it fitted? Thanks for any info.

Not had one personally or seen one in person, but I believe the sensor is similar to a pump cannula in size and in fitting.

the sensor sits at a similar depth to the cannula and measures the glucose levels from the interstitial fluid as opposed to the blood.

So I think if you were to compare your BG and CGM readings there would be a alight delay on the CGM, so its good for spotting patterns and I suppose with a little tweaking could be used all the time as a method of monitoring glucose levels.

Are you going to be getting one....?

Yes I am going to get one in January. I've looked on the internet for info on it and watched videos on YouTube of how it works, how it is fitted etc so feel ok about it. I'm sure it will be an eye opener as to how my blood sugar is reacting. It is measured every 5 mins or something and you can get graphs and all sorts of lovely technical stuff! Something to look forward to!

How long will you be using it............?

This is me assuming its a short term thing as funding one permanently is rarely heard of.......

For a week. . You can buy them though cany you but it seems a bit much to wear one permanently. The whole point is to wear one to discover how you should adjust insulin ismt it.

This looks good, if it ever happens, they talk of a CGM version too...

http://www.integrity-app.com/

Not being invasive you could wear that (if the sort the size and look out) all the time, would be good for me while cycling, never sure if hypo or tired on long rides!

DianeW said:
For a week. . You can buy them though cany you but it seems a bit much to wear one permanently. The whole point is to wear one to discover how you should adjust insulin ismt it.

Hello Diane

I have been on CGM for a week while i was in hospital when i was first DX with diabetes after a heart attack and a MMOL of 60 it was high BG that gave me the heart attack,I was also connected to a huge insulin pump to clean and treat my blood,The DNS use come twice daily to the acute heart ward to read the numbers from the CGM and calibrate the pump for insulin dosage and she explained how the CGM worked and let me look at print out of DATA she use get from the machine it was really interesting this was nearly 4 years ago,

I do no two brits who use CGMs one has been using one for nearly 12 years and would not be parted from it,Sensor can be worn inner or out thigh or on the arms or on the tummy,I also have two friends in the states who use them,First one had her first in 2001 and is on her 4 machine and is very is every experienced with the technology she also been pumping 25 years also,As she said to me its how you use the DATA from machines to improve your overall use of insulin and keeping stable Bg numbers,The other has only been using a CGM for past 18 months and has had diabetes 50 years she is 53 and was originally from UK but moved to the US 35 years ago,Clare suffered from awful dawn phenomenon for nearly 25 years and she is hypo unaware and only until her insurance told her that she needed one as she ended up in coma,She use test in evening her BGs when her hubby use to check her out three times a night,she went into coma her husband was away,She also went on the CGM under protest as she hated the idea of being hooked up to sensor but how she has changed,Her hubby was telling that they now both have decent nights sleep for first times in there marriage and Clare has not suffered with DP because of the alarm system that will wake her up if she starts going low and her hubby does not have worry so he not as stressed,

Am my self hypo unaware but dont get DP to often,But i have looked at getting one and if i did i would go for the G4 from dexcom and it really is nice bit of kit,That is what the two ladies i no use also and i have a work colleague in HK who i work with who uses one,Most people think she is carrying a i phone,It can also carry DATA through a app to your smartphone and laptop with live DATA,My DSN is right about one thing there is a 15 minute delay from readings with your blood,When you finger blood test it downloads the DATA to the CGM that is how you change the sensor https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaN_iPP-wq8 you will have paste it into the browser

Overall cost for the CGM and sensors and its sensors and transmitter where they make there money is around £1100 for starter kit,As my DSN said its rare NHS will fund such a thing as a CGM, I did researched four types of CGM and G4 one i liked but my endo and DSN want me to go onto a pump and again i would have learn how to use it but we will see am happy with MDI at moment.

Hello DianeW,
I was on a CGM device about 1 week before starting an insulin pump nearly 18 months ago. It was helpful in detecting unrecognised night time low blood sugars. It was not a problem to wear. There was a small plastic cannula and a sort of paper sticky tape to hold it in place and a meter the size of a moderate size match box. One had to do regular finger prick blood sugars as well.
One of the problems I noted with it was that it does not measure true blood sugar but tissue sugar which represents what one's blood sugar was 15 minutes previously. I was woken at night as soon as my blood sugar reached 4.0 mmol/l but when I tried to correct this the alarm still kept going off until in the end my blood sugar was very high. This may, of course be because I was in great trouble with getting adequate control even on 5 injections a day.
I gain the impression that in the UK CGM is mainly used short term for recognising night time hypoglycaemic attacks, but I may be wrong. I understnad that advances in the technology are already in process. It might be worth asking more about CGM and the pros & cons from your diabetes team.
All the best!

Sorry,
I forgot to mention. I wore the cannula on the anterior abdominal wall and the meter on my belt.