[Ark nana]

O.K. Guys, What's going on now. Everything was going great today, then after lunch, I get the alarm I'm doing low. I didnt feel low at all. My pump says 50 with the alarm still going off,so I did a BG and it said 90. Is my senser dying? It's only 8 days old. It's to young to die!! What next!!

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Ark nana

O.K. Guys, What's going on now. Everything was going great today, then after lunch, I get the alarm I'm doing low. I didnt feel low at all. My pump says 50 with the alarm still going off,so I did a BG and it said 90. Is my senser dying? It's only 8 days old. It's to young to die!! What next!!

It is possible that it's dying. I've had plenty of sensors that only last a day or two after I recharged the transmitter for a second round. You can try to leave it alone and see if it comes back up. If the sensor is totally wrong and I decide I don't want all of the false data in my reports I'll turn it off, wait until my BG is more stable (after food is all digested and most of your bolus is out of your system), then I'll turn it on again and see if the isig has improved. If I can do a successful calibration I will. If my calibration factor will be too high (meter BG divided by isig) then I know it's dead and will give up. A calibration factor of 15 is the highest I'll attempt to use. Even then, I know there's not much life left in it.

[Ark nana]

I'll try that today, BUT will my pump not tell me my sencor is dead? Can I just click on New Sensor and get a little more time? Maybe I'm just trying to ask to much of my first sensor. They cost so much I want to squeeze as much time as I can. Thanks a bunch. Ark Nana

[poodlebone]

No, there is nothing specific to let you know a sensor is dead other than a very low isig and numbers that flatline or drop suddenly. You can try turning it off for awhile and the restarting. Check the isig when it asks for the first meter BG and if it's improved, then try to calibrate. I know the sensors contain some of the same stuff they use in test strips, so it's not an infinite supply and they will die eventually. 8 days is pretty good for your first sensor.

[Ark nana]

O.K. Now I know it's gone. Everthing you said, happened. So now I will wait until bed time, then put in a new sensor but don't hook up the transmitter or cal till morn. Right? Let it get good and wet. So do I put the transmitter on the charger, or on the sensor or where? This is Thurs. and I charged on Tues. So glad I found this forum. THANK YOU

[poodlebone]

Originally Posted by Ark nana

O.K. Now I know it's gone. Everthing you said, happened. So now I will wait until bed time, then put in a new sensor but don't hook up the transmitter or cal till morn. Right? Let it get good and wet. So do I put the transmitter on the charger, or on the sensor or where? This is Thurs. and I charged on Tues. So glad I found this forum. THANK YOU

Pull the old ensor and charge the transmitter. You want it fully charged so it will go the full 7 days once you get the new sensor going. While the transmitter is charging, insert the new sensor. If you plan on waiting until morning to start it, go ahead and attach the charged transmitter and tape it down. By attaching the transmitter now, your sensor will still get wet overnight but in the morning you will be able to bypass that 2 hour startup period. Also, if you don't attach the transmitter and go to bed with just the sensor, there's a good chance the exposed end can get snagged on something and get ripped out. So, getting it all set up and taped down is best. Make sure your sensor option is turned OFF on the pump otherwise it will start to alarm during the night. In the morning, go back into the sensor menu and turn it on, then choose the Start New Sensor option. You'll see the message about it asking for a calibration in 2 hours but it will actually ask for one within 5 minutes. Do your first calibration and 15 minutes later the readings will start to appear. Remember that the second calibration will need to be done within 6 hours for a new sensor.

[rak1978]

Subby,
Did you have to give the cgms back yet?
If not, how is it working for you?

[Subby]

Hi Rachel, I reset it for another 3 days 7 hours ago. It's friday night here and I don't need to give it back til Monday... so depending on whether it holds, I might get a couple more days out of it.

Watching my Isig has been interesting. It dropped down to around 25 on the 2nd day and has been oscillating between 12 and 20 since. Just lately it's been hitting single figures as well. I don't have any way to guage, but I guess I would not be surprised if it conks out soon. Hoping to get another day at least. I keep guzzling water, and I found going for a jog really seemed to help it too.

I've been happy. the accuracy had continued to be ok, except not so adept at showing the extremities. It's as if it reflects my BG in a compressed way, if that makes sense. As such it has been no good for even remotely predicting lows, and it has not shown quite the extent of highs. However, for trends, it's been wonderful. I did some basal testing today which tells me that my already dynamic basal rates simply are not dynamic enough through my troublesome afternoon/evening which has been impossible lately (hitting 16+ mmol/l... crashing at about 6pm to repeated hypos... even with basals already tweaked to attempt to cater for the ups and downs). You can understand with such a hugely varying picture, it's hard not to suspect bolus mistakes and the like. However, the basal testing shows it is simply my crazy body doing it's "thing" - and appears to have changed from the last time I basal tested. Seeing the basal trends presented in such a strong way, I feel I have more confidence to make stronger changes I would perhaps have backed away from without it.

I'll make them tonight and hope to get a gauge tomorrow if my changes are a positive.

Physically it's been all fine. Barely noticed the CGMS. No pain, no hassle.

[poodlebone]

Gently massaging the area around the sensor also helps. I find that my numbers can get stuck if I'm inactive for too long, such as sitting in front of a computer for hours on end! Just getting up and moving around for a minute helps.

When you see the isig going high & low, do you do any meter tests at the same time? In general, the isig increases as your BG does, and falls as your BG falls. Many of my sensors have too much lag time for catching highs & lows and then I've had some that were nearly perfect. My last sensor (RIP after 12 days... I was so sad to see it go) stayed on track very well. The only time it really lagged was when I went for a walk after lunch every day, and even then it wasn't as behind as most usually are.

What do you have the low & high alarms set for? I have my low set for 75 and high for 160. I'm thinking of raising my low alarm to 80-90. That can be annoying during the daytime when my BG has more stable periods and my meter & sensor are close, but would be better during activity & nighttime. I still have too many lows, even with the CGMS.

[Subby]

Well, the Isig just seemed to do it's own thing really, seemed to increase with activity and highs as you mention Liz.

I got a good 5 days out of it (excluding the startup day, it didn't really count) and some great data. I really cracked a nut of the troublesome period through the day I get bad resistance and hard to predict basal needs. I have not completely solved it, but I feel I'm far more in the territory of really getting on top of it. It was very gratifying to see the evenness I am getting in between times of trouble. All up, a really useful tool.

[rak1978]

Hi Subby,
I'm glad you got some good use out of it. They are definitely great for identifying trends so that you can fine tune the pump settings. I love gadgets.
I hope your insurance will cover this soon.
Have a great day!

[Ark nana]

Just a update on how things are going. I'm on the third day of my second sensor. I'm gettihg a lot less alarms at night now. I don't go to the book they gave me for help, I go to you guys. I know you guys know what you're talking about. Not just trying to sell more product. It is a lot easier everyday. I guess you really can teach a old dog a new trick! Thanks again.

[poodlebone]

I'm glad that the data was helpful! Is your doctor's office going to download your pump to carelink? Sometimes it's useful being able to see hard copies of all of the days, rather than just what's on the pump screen.

[Ark nana]

Yes I am. My daughter helped me sign in yesterday. It was a little over my head, so I needed help. She is a high school teacher so it was a snap for her. I can't wait to see my endo next mo. with all this new info. She will be so proud of me. Hope you have a great day!!

[Subby]

Good for you Ark nana, I hope you have improvement in your control and health as you work with these tools.

Liz, I uploaded to carelink, my DE has access. I also put up a bit of a private online journal about my own observations and decisions and gave access to my DE. That way she can have a look at my notes, thoughts and conclusions if she likes, about what I thought was going on and why I made the changes I did. Or, not. It just felt like a good way to allow for finding out more about what I found as I used it, and why I did this, without me sending a whole heap of emails to sort through etc.

What I found really useful about the carelink program is that the overlaid CGMS data for the 5 days shows that issues that I was not quite sure if they were consistent or not with finger testing, are really quite consistent. When a spike might start up at 12pm one day, 12:20pm the next, and drop at 5:30 pm one day or 6:30 pm the next, and be different in height, a few single blood tests over that period can really mislead over time. The CGMS gave a much clearer picture.