So i called Dexcom tech support to ask about the alerts on the receiver. I thought if you had it set to vibrate and sound you would get sound the first time you needed an alert (like low) but was told that it only sounds if you don't touch it after 5 minutes. Is this true? If so im a tad annoyed with that as that could be a problem in the middle of the night when my girls are low and has a double arrow down ( which happened last night).
Yes, it will vibrate first, then if it's not acknowledged it will beep 5 minutes later. I was a bit annoyed at first, but it's actually a great feature to have for school and out in public. The Navigator beeped ALL the time, so it's nice to for DS to have a bit of privacy with the CGMS. I hear you about the night vibration, but is 5 minutes really going to make that huge of a difference? I feel like an "elderly" parent of a CWD sometimes. I keep saying to people "Back in the olden days, when CGMS did not exist........" I have to remember that we lived for years without CGMS, so a 5 minute delay in a beep isn't a big deal. Some people put the Dex in a bowl filled with marbles or quarters so they can hear the vibrate at night. I put the receiver directly on top of a baby monitor and can often hear the vibrations at night.
What I find more annoying is that even the "55" alert is vibrate first, then 5 m inutes later 4 beeps.
The night thing could be an issue depending on how fast they are going down and where they were to begin with, but I guess it is something i have to deal with. I like the idea of putting it on top of a baby monitor. Over Christmas we are going to be re-arrainging both of my girls's room and I will have to look at doing something like that. Elly's room is right next to mine but that doesn't mean I will hear it (I tend to hear it if I'm awake but that isn't the time I'm worried about LOL) so i think doing the baby monitor thing with her is a good idea. I have one in Anne's room since her room is down the hall but i think we need re-vamp her room so i can do this. Thanks for the tip! It is pretty amazing how quickly we get reliant on CGM's. My girls have only been Dexing since July and i can't imagine ever going back!
We don't get the 55 much because it's set to alarm first at 80 or below. Where is your low alarm set?
Now I bet if you put the receiver in a bowl of coins directly on top of the monitor you'd really hear it! I sleep with a loud fan on (to mask DH's incredibly annoying CPAP) and I'll still hear the vibrate over 1/2 the time with it sitting on the monitor, so I bet if you didn't have a fan or anything, you'd hear just the vibrate. I just stretch the monitor cord on the floor next to Carson's bed and lay the receiver right on top of it. That way it's always in range too.
Yeah...my DH has a CPAP as well. Aren't those things wonderfully loud. I could easily put the cord across Elly's floor but Anne will be different. In December we are moving Elly into a twin bed and then putting Anne into Elly's toddler bed, so having a cord stretched within her reach as well as the Dex will be WAY too tempting. I wonder if we could find a way to hang the Baby monitor on the wall of her room???
I'm with you worrying about not hearing alarms! Last night, I checked Andrew at 2 am & Dex said, "LOW, under 55" & ???. BG was 57. He had lots of ??? last night so I'm thinking the first alarm may not have gone off since there was a big gap in the 3 hour graph. It looked like he had been in the 50s for at least an hour! He's fine, but it scared me to death. I have the baby monitor on & usually I hear the alarm. I bought marbles, but if I put the receiver on the nightstand, he will roll out of range. It's a twin bed next to the wall with the nightstand as close to it as possible. Currently, we're keeping Dex on his bed where we can go in & check it easily & it's still within range. It works well most of the time, but we find it occasionally on the floor. I'm not sure what else to try.
I'm finding that I can sometimes hear the vibration if I put the Dexcom on the counter by my bed. The big problem is if I pick it up to look at it, put it down in my bed... no chance or feeling or hearing any alarms the rest of the night
