[Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.

Fri Jul 6 15:36:12 UTC 2018

Andy,

There's no fully accessible way to give insulin, but insulin pens are pretty fool-proof. Each click of the pen is one unit of insulin, and it's a pretty loud click. Thhis is how blind diabetics use manual injections. There are those of us who use insulin pumps, but again, no fully accessible or even talking pump, but we make it work. Although, the current models of pumps are no longer going to work for us, so, not sure what we will do for those of us who will need to switch to new models soon. But, the pens are actually pretty accessible and work very well if blind.

I've been diabetic for over 30 years, and I've been totally blind for 15 of those years. I've never had a problem using either insulin pens or a pump. So, no worries, it's very safe.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Andy Langbart via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Friday, July 6, 2018 8:15 AM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Andy Langbart <langbarta at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.

Veronica,

My name is Andy Langbart, I am an NFB member with diabetes. I have been trying to find a non visual insulin pen or something to help me become more independent giving myself insulin, such as Levemire or Novolog. 
Anyone with any ideas, please call or text me at (516) 708-6771. Also, feel free to email me langbarta at gmail.com.

Thanks for any help.

Andy Langbart

On 7/2/2018 6:56 PM, Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk wrote:
> Hi again!
> Okay, my curiosity got the better of me this afternoon and I went into 
> the calibration area on the app. Wow is it better than the G5. It pops 
> up with the usual edit box and there is a save button at the top of 
> the screen. Then it comes up and says, confirm and it repeats the 
> number you entered and you have a confirm button. None of the stupid 
> ghost save cancel stuff. So far I'm really liking the G6 app a lot. 
> Well, other than that first sign in page.
> I will keep all of you updated on how it behaves. I haven't been 
> swimming yet but it's survived fine through one shower. <grin> 
> Veronica
>
>
> "Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now 
> available on iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club.
> To learn more, visit:
> http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
>                  Veronica Elsea, Owner Laurel Creek Music Designs 
> Santa Cruz, California
> Phone: 831-429-6407
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Eileen Scrivani via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Monday, July 02, 2018 10:27 AM
> To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
> Cc: Eileen Scrivani
> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.
>
> Hi Veronica,
>
> Very interesting to read about how you made out with and your 
> experience with operating the new G6 CGM. Thanks for taking time to write this up.
>
> Eileen
>
> From: Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Monday, July 2, 2018 1:00 PM
> To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
> Cc: Veronica Elsea
> Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.
>
> Hi everyone!
> Oh boy! What a day it turned out to be.
> First, the general process. When everything works, it's easy. But man 
> the inserter is big! It feels like a computer mouse shape but there's 
> like this big horn sticking up. Beats me why. But the tape part is 
> really easy. It's on a flat bottom and when you peel off the backing, 
> you get to just peel straight and slap a flat thing on your body. No more wrinkled tape. Yay!
> Once you stick it to your body. You break off a little piece from the 
> inserter, quite obvious, then push an obvious button. You hear a 
> really big clunk and then the giant mouse just pulls away. What you're 
> left with is thinner than the G5 sensor, but maybe a tiny bit longer. 
> The transmitter feels totally different from the G5 one. You just snap it into the sensor.
> That's the hardware.
> You do have to get a new app, called Dexcom G6. The first thing that 
> happens in the app is that you have to enter your account information. 
> I have to say, the user name password screen was a mess for me. I 
> eventually figured out that I came up in the password field but I 
> don't think those edit boxes were properly labeled or something. Once 
> past that, the app behaved quite nicely.
> The app does automatically import the settings from the G5 app, which 
> was nice. Before you pair the transmitter, you get to enter the famous 
> code for the sensor. The sensor comes in a hard plastic package with 
> paper that you peel off to open it. If you set the package down so 
> it's resting on the paper, you can use Seeing AI or a sighted person 
> to read the code through the plastic. When the sensor is out of the 
> package, in theory you can tell the app to take a photo and get the 
> number that way. I had a lot of trouble doing this because the target 
> area is really really small. I couldn't seem to line things up and the 
> thing kept timing out on me. So I ended up entering the number 
> manually. I did get the transmitter to scan with the camera though. 
> Well, the first time I did it. <grin> After the sensor is inserted, 
> you have a start sensor button. The cool thing is that it now tells you how much time you have left in the warm up phase.
> Then when it finishes the two-hour warm up, you get a notification 
> that it's done, you hit an okay button and off you go.
> The app screen looks a little different than the G5. No more menu. You 
> just have a settings button right there. So far I haven't run into any 
> unlabeled buttons.
> And now for my reality. When I inserted my sensor, umm, the button 
> didn't go down and the inserter jammed. So there I was, sitting with 
> this giant thing sticking out from my belly wondering what to do. I 
> tried to call Dexcom but their phone lines were overloaded. So I forced it off and busted the sensor.
> I had to pull it off and start over. That was fun in the app because 
> it was sitting on "pairing transmitter" and the only way I got it to 
> give that up was to fool it into thinking I was going to pair a new 
> one. On the second try, I was more frazzled and had more trouble 
> getting the camera lined up on the transmitter box. So I got the 
> number off the back and entered it manually. Sheesh! The second sensor 
> behaved well and inserted easily, as it was supposed to do.
> At the end of the warm up time, it started and I decided to see how it 
> compared to a finger stick. Oops! My meter said 240 and the Dexcom said 179.
> Not even close! The short version is that it seemed like it took the 
> sensor about 4 hours to completely sort itself out in my body. By this 
> morning, the difference between the meter and my Dexcom is only 9 per 
> cent. I ended up spending a total of 2 hours on the phone with Dexcom 
> and they're replacing my first sensor. Good thing since I only got 
> three. If the number had been off this morning, we would have replaced this one too but it seems okay now.
>
> I did learn one interesting thing during all my phone time though. If 
> you call tech support and tell them you're blind, they'll send you 
> tape overlays, with the hole in the middle already cut out that can go 
> over the main tape to help hold it on. These are not commercially 
> available so you have to ask tech support for them.
> I haven't yet gone into the calibration screen to see what that looks 
> like yet. The receiver is a bit bigger than the one for the G5. It has 
> one button that feels like a home button on our phones. It definitely 
> comes with a wall wart so probably needs charging. I haven't actually 
> tried to play with mine yet because yesterday was so taken up with 
> getting started. And in the midst of all of that, I had to change a pod too.
> But the tech support people were really good and told me that these 
> kinds of problems were definitely not their intent. Duh! And I've 
> already heard the urgent soon alarm. It's more annoying than the 
> actual urgent low! It seems to hit when I'm in the sixties. It says 
> urgent low soon. You may be at 55 within 20 minutes. So I'll see if it makes any difference for me.
> But I sure hope my start was just a fluke. The sensor is comfortable 
> to wear and I'll let you know how the tape holds out.
> I'll probably do the occasional finger stick just so I can decide 
> whether or not I completely trust this for dosing decisions. Stay tuned.
> Veronica
>
>
> "Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now 
> available on iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club.
> To learn more, visit:
> http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
>                  Veronica Elsea, Owner Laurel Creek Music Designs 
> Santa Cruz, California
> Phone: 831-429-6407
>
>
>
>
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