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I did it. I broke the code!

Up until now, people in most Western nations (including the United States) were unable to download their Dexcom CGM to the web-based Diasend program.

Not only did this make it impossible to merge pump/meter and Dexcom CGM data into the same reports, it also left Mac users without any options for downloading their Dexcom at all. Why all the obstacles? A lot has to do with the US FDA, which has yet to “approve” the importation of Dexcom data by Diasend. (apparently, they heard rumors about Europeans blowing themselves to bits by downloading their dexcom receiver)

laptop-computer

Well, now it’s doable, and all you have to do is pretend you’re a Spaniard. Luckily for most, Spanish-speaking skills are not required.

Here’s how anyone (PC or Mac user), anywhere, can download their dexcom G4 to Diasend:

  1. Go to www.diasend.com
  2. In the upper right corner, click on the pull down arrow and select “Global-English”
  3. Below the username/password entry boxes, click on “Register Here”
  4. On the next screen, Select Animas Pump Patient Registration – and choose “click here to register instead”
  5. Click on the world globe for your country of residence (bottom right of all options)
  6. Create your username/password
  7. Fill in your personal information, but designate your country as SPAIN
  8. Enter the serial number of an Animas pump

(if you don’t have one, select One Touch Ping, serial number: 97-76003-15)

  1. Enter our clinic ID: 91-14799
  2. Accept the terms/conditions
  3. Install the Diasend Uploader (if you don’t already have it on your computer)
  4. Log in to diasend using the username and password you just created
  5. Click on the “My Profile” tab
  6. Enter the serial number (SM…) under “Glucose Meter and CGM Devices”, and then click on “Save My Information”
  7. Now if you go open the Diasend Uploader software on your computer, and plug in your dexcom receiver, the data will be stored and ready for review on your Diasend account.

Interpreting your data:

The Diasend report can be viewed a few ways depending on how you want to look at your data.

You can click on Standard Day and then to the right of the screen (in blue fine print) above the graph you’ll see a note that says “box plot/modal”. Click on this and you’ll be able to see a week’s worth of days overlapped on top of each other similar to what you’d get in the patterns reports in Dexcom studio software. Clicking the box/plot again will give you a graph that shows the variance in glucose values hourly. It’s best to zone in on the hours with the most variance and determine why it’s happening (basal insulin/bolus ratios) to make appropriate adjustment.

diasend min-max quartile

I like to look at the view of midnight-midnight rather than noon-noon because the 12a to 12a gives a view of only one day, where the noon-noon goes from mid-day one day into the next. This might be helpful is if you are looking at an overnight trend from post dinner one night into the morning of the next day – then it’s helpful to use the noon-noon.

You will see you can also view daily glucose trend strips by clicking on the Day by Day tab at the top of the page – you can choose how many days to view at one time. If you have used your event marker in the receiver, you’ll see events noted to the right of the graph as well as below the graph noting carbs, insulin, exercise, health. This helps when you are trying to evaluate a trend and see the affecting event.

CGM data view

The “compilation” tab is nice because this is where you can see sensor glucose averages, standard deviation, and percent of time spent above/below/within your target glucose range.

To evaluate where you might need to make some changes you can take our “Think Like a Pancreas” Quiz – you might find out why your CGM reports show data you didn’t expect!

If data interpretation isn’t your forte, ask for some help! Integrated Diabetes Services would love to analyze your data for you (and with you). Give us a call or send an e-mail to set up an appointment to help you tune-up your management as well as understand how to analyze your data for long term control.