Can you help me improve my daily life with sensors?(Research as a nurse and at the same time a medical student).

Hello everyone:

I hope you're having a good day.Let me briefly introduce myself: my name is David Tovar and I am a nurse and medical student.Because of my profession, and especially because of my vocation, I spend a lot of time listening to patients with diabetes.I know perfectly well that, although technologies such as glucose sensors have been a revolution, the reality is that day-to-day life with them is far from perfect.

Sometimes, large corporations or medical offices forget the real burden of carrying a device attached to the body 24 hours a day.

I do not work for any multinational pharmaceutical company nor do I intend to redesign the internal software of the sensor.My goal is totally independent: I am starting a personal project to developexternal solutions, accessories or toolsthat improve your quality of life, reduce daily stress and, consequently, facilitate adherence to treatment.

I am especially concerned about the impact that the sensor has on your mental and physical health, and that is why I would like to ask you about three very specific fronts:

1. Night problems:How many of you suffer the dreaded false alarms due to pressure (compression lows) when leaning on the sensor at night?How does this affect your sleep or that of your family?

2. Daily and physical problems:Beyond snagging with doors... How does your skin respond to factory glues?Do you suffer from dermatitis, allergies or itching?What homemade solutions or patches are you forced to use so that they don't fall off prematurely?

3. Stress and fatigue due to alarms:At what times in your daily life (work, studies, social life) do you find the sensor or its alerts most invasive?

If your biggest headache with the sensor is something completely different,What would you say it is and how does it affect you?Don't be afraid to add any problem you deal with daily.

As healthcare workers, sometimes we lack that vision "at the foot of the bed" that only those of you who live with this on a daily basis have.Therefore, any complaint, frustration, idea, homemade trick you use or suggestion for"I wish there was an accessory that did X thing"It will be of infinite help to me to focus this project towards something that will truly serve you.

I read you very carefully in the comments.Thank you very much for your time and for sharing your experience!

Best regards, David.

P.S:If you prefer to tell me about your case in a more private or personal way, I leave you my email (davidtovarsosa@gmail.com).

@davidtovarsosa said:

Hello everyone:

I hope you're having a good day.Let me briefly introduce myself: my name is David Tovar and I am a nurse and medical student.Because of my profession, and especially because of my vocation, I spend a lot of time listening to patients with diabetes.I know perfectly well that, although technologies such as glucose sensors have been a revolution, the reality is that day-to-day life with them is far from perfect.

Sometimes, large corporations or medical offices forget the real burden of carrying a device attached to the body 24 hours a day.

I do not work for any multinational pharmaceutical company nor do I intend to redesign the internal software of the sensor.My goal is totally independent: I am starting a personal project to developexternal solutions, accessories or toolsthat improve your quality of life, reduce daily stress and, consequently, facilitate adherence to treatment.

I am especially concerned about the impact that the sensor has on your mental and physical health, and that is why I would like to ask you about three very specific fronts:

1. Night problems:How many of you suffer the dreaded false alarms due to pressure (compression lows) when leaning on the sensor at night?How does this affect your sleep or that of your family?

2. Daily and physical problems:Beyond snagging with doors... How does your skin respond to factory glues?Do you suffer from dermatitis, allergies or itching?What homemade solutions or patches are you forced to use so that they don't fall off prematurely?

3. Stress and fatigue due to alarms:At what times in your daily life (work, studies, social life) do you find the sensor or its alerts most invasive?

If your biggest headache with the sensor is something completely different,What would you say it is and how does it affect you?Don't be afraid to add any problem you deal with daily.

As healthcare workers, sometimes we lack that vision "at the foot of the bed" that only those of you who live with this on a daily basis have.Therefore, any complaint, frustration, idea, homemade trick you use or suggestion for"I wish there was an accessory that did X thing"It will be of infinite help to me to focus this project towards something that will truly serve you.

I read you very carefully in the comments.Thank you very much for your time and for sharing your experience!

Best regards, David.

P.S:If you prefer to tell me about your case in a more private or personal way, I leave you my email (davidtovarsosa@gmail.com).

1. With freestyle libre 2 and 2+: you have to be very careful to avoid false alarms at night from sleeping on that side, with 5 minutes that you are on it (and honestly, when I'm asleep I don't know which side I'm on until I hear the alarm) it already goes off.The glue?Hell, at least for me: itching from minute 1 until I took it off.Of course, it came off well (in fact, sometimes I had to reinforce it with patches... which also used to give me allergies).The worst thing about the sensor is its lack of reliability, it is one thing if it reads a little above or below or has a small delay, but having a difference between 50 and 100 seems excessive to me.In fact, what made me try another brand was being at 49 and reading 115 (my problem since I was prescribed semaglutide is that I don't notice hypoglycemia).Thank goodness I felt strange, but without symptoms of hiccups, and I had my hair done...

2. Dexcom one +: so far (I've been with it for about two and a half months) I haven't had a single lack of pressure hypoglycemia.It is more reliable than the other and can also be calibrated, which makes it much more precise.I check almost every day out of habit, but in this sense great.As for the glue, it hasn't given me a reaction, at least so far, nor does it come off after 4 or 5 days.It is true that these hotter days the reinforcement patch that it comes with starts to come off, but after a week or so, there are only 2 or 3 days of use left (this one lasts 10 days) and even if you remove that patch, the sensor holds up perfectly, in fact, it is difficult to take it off, but zero reaction or itching.And since it costs my pocket more or less the same per month as the free one, I'll stick with this one.

In either of the two, working well, of course, it never seems invasive to me: prevention is better than cure.I also have to say that the alarms have decreased considerably since I have had the dexcom, which helps a lot (it has only rang once at night, and I had the beginning of hypoglycemia, and a couple of times at school - I am a teacher - and also with the beginning of hypoglycemia).The worst, perhaps at work: for class, check your glucose, take glucose (pills if it is little, gel if it is more pronounced), rise... and all this while controlling between 20 and 25 teenagers who are not at all interested (most of them) in what you are telling them or the exercises they have to do... but I have to say that when they hear the alarm they usually behave better, not everything is bad...

cgs said:
@cgs said:

davidtovarsosa said:
@davidtovarsosasaid:

Hello everyone:

I hope you're having a good day.Let me briefly introduce myself: my name is David Tovar and I am a nurse and medical student.Because of my profession, and especially because of my vocation, I spend a lot of time listening to patients with diabetes.I know perfectly well that, although technologies such as glucose sensors have been a revolution, the reality is that day-to-day life with them is far from perfect.

Sometimes, large corporations or medical offices forget the real burden of carrying a device attached to the body 24 hours a day.

I do not work for any multinational pharmaceutical company nor do I intend to redesign the internal software of the sensor.My goal is totally independent: I am starting a personal project to developexternal solutions, accessories or toolsthat improve your quality of life, reduce daily stress and, consequently, facilitate adherence to treatment.

I am especially concerned about the impact that the sensor has on your mental and physical health, and that is why I would like to ask you about three very specific fronts:

1. Night problems:How many of you suffer the dreaded false alarms due to pressure (compression lows) when leaning on the sensor at night?How does this affect your sleep or that of your family?

2. Daily and physical problems:Beyond snagging with doors... How does your skin respond to factory glues?Do you suffer from dermatitis, allergies or itching?What homemade solutions or patches are you forced to use so that they don't fall off prematurely?

3. Stress and fatigue due to alarms:At what times in your daily life (work, studies, social life) do you find the sensor or its alerts most invasive?

If your biggest headache with the sensor is something completely different,What would you say it is and how does it affect you?Don't be afraid to add any problem you deal with daily.

As healthcare workers, sometimes we lack that vision "at the foot of the bed" that only those of you who live with this on a daily basis have.Therefore, any complaint, frustration, idea, homemade trick you use or suggestion for"I wish there was an accessory that did X thing"It will be of infinite help to me to focus this project towards something that will truly serve you.

I read you very carefully in the comments.Thank you very much for your time and for sharing your experience!

Best regards, David.

P.S:If you prefer to tell me about your case in a more private or personal way, I leave you my email (davidtovarsosa@gmail.com).

My experience with sensors:

1. With freestyle libre 2 and 2+: you have to be very careful to avoid false alarms at night from sleeping on that side, with 5 minutes that you are on it (and honestly, when I'm asleep I don't know which side I'm on until I hear the alarm) it already goes off.The glue?Hell, at least for me: itching from minute 1 until I took it off.Of course, it came off well (in fact, sometimes I had to reinforce it with patches... which also used to give me allergies).The worst thing about the sensor is its lack of reliability, it is one thing if it reads a little above or below or has a small delay, but having a difference between 50 and 100 seems excessive to me.In fact, what made me try another brand was being at 49 and reading 115 (my problem since I was prescribed semaglutide is that I don't notice hypoglycemia).Thank goodness I felt strange, but without symptoms of hiccups, and I had my hair done...

2. Dexcom one +: so far (I've been with it for about two and a half months) I haven't had a single lack of pressure hypoglycemia.It is more reliable than the other and can also be calibrated, which makes it much more precise.I check almost every day out of habit, but in this sense great.As for the glue, it hasn't given me a reaction, at least so far, nor does it come off after 4 or 5 days.It is true that these hotter days the reinforcement patch that it comes with starts to come off, but after a week or so, there are only 2 or 3 days of use left (this one lasts 10 days) and even if you remove that patch, the sensor holds up perfectly, in fact, it is difficult to take it off, but zero reaction or itching.And since it costs my pocket more or less the same per month as the free one, I'll stick with this one.

In either of the two, working well, of course, it never seems invasive to me: prevention is better than cure.I also have to say that the alarms have decreased considerably since I have had the dexcom, which helps a lot (it has only rang once at night, and I had the beginning of hypoglycemia, and a couple of times at school - I am a teacher - and also with the beginning of hypoglycemia).The worst, perhaps at work: for class, check your glucose, take glucose (pills if it is little, gel if it is more pronounced), rise... and all this while controlling between 20 and 25 teenagers who are not at all interested (most of them) in what you are telling them or the exercises they have to do... but I have to say that when they hear the alarm they usually behave better, not everything is bad...