Continuous monitoring

I have a medtronic standalone guardian connect cgm that works with iphone.
Only trouble is they are apparently in short supply and funded persons in UK are currently top of the list for them to supply.
Very accurate. Really easy to put in and just exceptionally good.
Although sensors are meant to last 6 days I have managed 13 days. Mostly around 10-12 days.
Nothing but praise for accuracy and ease of use.
£525 for 10 though to the NHS. Plus £475 for the transmitter that is meant to last 12 months. I cant confirm how long it will actually last.

I have a dexcom g5 mobile which I self fund. It has been invaluable to me. The sensors are guaranteed for a week but you can restart a sensor without changing it I tend to get about 3 weeks out of 1. The transmitter needs to be replaced every 3 months I think so it isn't a cheap option but I find the accuracy is better than the libre and the fact it can alert you to highs/lows and if you are rising/falling quickly. I find the sensors are more secure too. However you can use skin tac or rack tape to secure sensors. Dexcom also requires 2 prick BGs a day to calibrate it.

What about the Freestyle Libre?

Sensors last for 15 days...

i use dexcom g4 with xdrip
My costs are
Once/year: £260 ish g4 transmitter (warranty is for 6 months but last about 12, mine is jst over 11 months old so far)
Once/month: £50ish per sensor (warranty for 1 week but i get 4-5 weeks from each)
One off: £60 xdripkit and £40 android phone.

I find costs similar to freestyle libre but dexcom is more accurate for me and has alarms

I've tried dexcom G4 and Libre.
Many people seem to love the Libre but I didn't - the readings were a long way out from my finger prick (and not a consistent amount or direction out) and the first one fell off.

Dexcom has been better but more expensive. I feel more comfortable with the readings because I calibrate it with finger pricks at least once a day and it alerts to tell me when my BG is too high or too low. I have the G4 so I can use my pump as the receiver and get BG and IOB on the same screen.

Due to the expense, I use the G4 on an ad hoc basis rather than constantly and find it useful for occasions such as a work trip when I have less control over time and content of meals or when I start a new program at the gym which I know will affect my BG.

Unfortunately, CGM cannot fully replace finger pricks as they are 15 to 20 minutes out and the DVLA do not accept them. So I use compulsory pre-driving finger prick as G4 calibration reading.

The libre you have to scan to see blood results.
The cgms are live and give warnings of changes.

They all count down the days and hours till they go dead.

With my guardian if you pull tge transmitter carefully away from the sensor you can charge the transmitter up again and reconnect.

When it starts to get inaccuacies generally when the sensor life has been extended, well then its time to change for a totally new one.

Guardian needs a minimum of two tests but best with 3 or 4 to calibrate it.

Best to calibrate when levels arent changing too much to get best accuracy.

TangoDoc said:

Hi Group, I am a Type 2 who, after 30 years is on Insulin, so naturally test my blood a lot. I don't have a problem about it but was thinking I would splash out on a continuous monitor. It looks as if they are very similar in most respects though the Dexcom one can talk to my iphone while others need an android. Who has experience of these bits of kit and would be kind enough to tell me the problems they have run into?

Click to expand...

I'm on my second Dexcom G5 sensor and had been using the Libre pretty much full time for the best part of a year prior.

I switched to a true CGM due to the convenience factor when exercising (alarms when going low, predictions before going low, etc) and also because the Dexcom systems can actually work out cheaper.

Expanding on the latter point, I got 25 days from my last sensor. That's 11 days more than the Libre's auto shutdown time. So basically, I'm getting a true CGM for a lesser cost.

My only criticism with the G5, is that that because the transmitter/sensor is substantially larger than the Libre - I have found compression lows to be somewhat more prominent as a result. Although interestingly, the compression lows only became an issue when running the sensor past the 3 week mark. But as I'm only on my second sensor, I can't be sure if this is a common occurance.

Hi, @TangoDoc , there's a long thread at the link below by a new libre user describing her experiences with it over a few months which might give you a few insights into it.

Although it's to do with libre, some of the points made in it hold true for dexcom and medtronic, principally that, for reasons of biology, cgm readings will usually differ from bg meter readings, and what's common to all is that it can take some time and experience to interpret what it is telling you.

Once you've got that experience, they can make a massive difference to control, compared to strips alone, in the sense that you're seeing a more or less real time 24 hour movie instead of snapshots, so you can deal with situations more proactively instead of reacting after an out of range event has already happened.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/life-with-libre.118450/

Whichever one you opt for, they're all good in their own ways!