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Monday, 16 June 2014

CGM Sensor Crunkiness

I'm glad that Jamie understands the value of CGM in my life.  Since adding it to my diabetes arsenal 18 months ago it has whipped away an incredible amount of the worry and frustration I had been feeling with increasing frequency in recent years (See also: Buuuuuuuurrrrrrn.  Oooooout).   It is my safety net; my road map. But because CGM funded full time (using on-label guidance) can cost the equivalent of a monthly payment which would buy you anything between a second-hand VW and a brand new Beamer, I had to find a way to make full time CGM use work for me, without bankrupting us.  

Thanks to a well-timed promotion and a determination to lower my HbA1c in the approach to parenthood (yup, we're heading thataway) I was able to commit to two sensors a month.  But only if I used them for two weeks at least, per sensor. I've been recording how long my sensors last and two weeks is an easy achievement in terms of time, but there is a drawback; the crunkiness.  

Only days after a fresh sensor goes in - the adhesive tape almost shimmering in photographs because it is so very white, and so very crisp - comes the crunkiness.  It is the point between 'crusty' and 'manky', when the tape has started to come away and re-sticking it with my sensor lengthening lifeline, Skintac, means the tape has turned hard and attracts fluff where no fluff should be able to get.  The surface of the once silky tape is now somewhere between sticky and solid, and it is pretty nasty.

This is the stage when I look in the mirror and thank my stars that Jamie understands the value of this crusty, crunky abomination, currently camped out like an unwashed squatter on my upper thigh.  If CGMs could suffer leprocy, mine has it.


2 comments:

  1. Hi Anna, great info for us as Amy gets her Dexcom fitted tomorrow. Do you only use skintac to keep the Dexcom tape down or any rock tape as well? If skin tac only do you put it on before placing the sensor or only once the Dexcom losing its stickiness? Thanks

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  2. I use skintac on mine too, but I cover over it (with a hole cut out) with Opsite so that I can cut away as needed until it gets replaced by a new piece over the top. It helps it not look quite so cruddy.

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