Carb Counting & Dexcom G6

[SWC123]

Hi All, My 11 year old son was diagnosed with Type 1 two months ago. Given that the finger prick tests were one of the things he was hating, we’ve decided to start to use the Dexcom G6.

At the moment we use an Accu Chek blood smart meter, which takes the blood reading, and advises on the amount of insulin to give based on the carbs my son is going to have in a meal.

Speak with Dexcom they’ve advised that their app doesn’t pricing insulin adjustment info. Just wanted to see if anyone knows of an Good app that my son could use to enter his bg readings and will advise on how much insulin to take a based on that. We seem to have cracked carb counting, and I don’t want over complicate things for him. We’re seeing the DSN in the week and was going to ask, but thought I’d also check on the forum.

Thanks for your help.

 

[edan]

The accu chek expert meter advises on insulin dose without needing to test, could he just test if his Dexcom reading suggests he needs a correction?

 

[SWC123]

Thanks, hasn’t realised. Would make it easier if he could use that way.

 

[Scott-C]

Hi, @SWC123 , I'd suggest having a look at xDrip+, download from here:

https://github.com/NightscoutFoundation/xDrip/releases

And some info here:

https://jamorham.github.io

It only runs on android, there's a similar thing, Spike, for ios.

When dexcom first came out, people liked it, but many felt that it's features were a bit restricted (they had to be to comply with FDA regulations), so some coders got together under the Nighscout Foundation umbrella and reverse engineered the app and came up with dex-drip, which eventually became xDrip+.

A lot of dexcom users use it in preference to the official app, as there is more control over alarms.

It's got a bolus wizard tucked away in the settings: Settings/xDrip+ Display Settings/Show Bolus Wizard Preview.

I'm a bit old school so have never really used bolus wizards (there's so many variables involved, I tend to think they can be misleading, but each to their own), so I can't say whether it is good, bad or indifferent.

What I have found very useful, though, is the Predictive Simulation: Settings/xDrip+ Predictive Simulations.

You can type in personal ratios, then when you enter bolus and carbs, the cgm trace extends out into the future to give a rough indicator of where it thinks that combination will take you.

Just like any prediction, eg weather forecasts, it can be out and will often rethink matters each time it gets another 5 min reading, so I never regard it as set in stone, but after a few months of using it, it becomes easier to read and gives a lot of clues and hints I wouldn't normally have.

Here's an example pic below. The live cgm trace in blue dots just before 00 has me at 6.1 dropping, the red dots based on the last few readings are extending out to predict a low in 51 mins based on that trend continuing but the purple dots are the predictive simulation and that takes into account the 12g I've recently eaten and the 2.15 insulin I've got on board, and reckons it'll maintain around 6 for the next hour or so. I know that there is nothing there which is 100% true or guaranteed, but there's enough there to be reasonably convinced that the drop isn't a major worry at the moment, just something to keep a quiet eye on for the next twenty mins or so to see what develops.

It can also be used as a bolus wizard. I'll quite often see what two different doses look like if I'm uncertain, but am aware that predictions at that stage will very often radically change after another few live readings.

If your son hasn't read them yet, I'd thoroughly recommend two kindle books which deal with cgm, I got a lot from them, Sugar Surfing by Stephen Ponder, and Beyond Fingersticks by William Lee Dubois.

I'm glad you've got the lad fitted out with cgm. It's not perfect, but it makes this game so much easier just being able to see what is actually happening instead of guessing with strips.