I’ve had 2 sensors in a row give me ???'s, failing to start. I’m not sure if this is just a bad batch of sensors or if it’s because my transmitter and receiver are already well over a year old. Have any of you had them die, and if so do you remember what errors they gave you? (I don’t want to waste a sensor if the issue is because of the dying transmitter!)
Thanks so much…
Yeah I’d say you have a couple of bad sensors. I had. That happen when I was wearing a borrowed one from my CDs. I went thru the warm up period and got??? When I took it off I found that the filament was missing. Save them and call dexcom! They should replace them for you!
Ann is correct about contacting Dexcom. The other thing you can do is try stopping and restarting the sensor before you pull it. Jay
The dreaded ??? on starting a new sensor is recognized by DexCon as not entirely abnormal. Usually the ??? state resolves within 3-4 hours. If it does not, call DexCom tech service and report the problem. They will give you guidance and a replacement if necessary.
MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE has been that a “good” sensor will settle down within 8 hours of insertion and thereafter be quite accurate for a least 14 days. If the third day arrives and I find questionable BG values, the sensor gets reported. I do not like to waste or time and energy agonizing over a sensor that is providing questionable results.
Sensors are the most likely component to malfunction. Therefore the sooner the sensor’s performance is evaluated by tech service, the sooner you can have a replacement. If other components are potential problems DexCom support people are the best ones to evaluate the issues and provide waranty replacements.
In the past I have experienced the ??? other than at startup when my BG has very sharp up and down fluctuations over a short time span. These are rare instances where I have gone low from too much insulin, eaten too many carbs to compensate, then taken insulin and headed down again . I manage things better today and have not had that issue arise again.
Aaron
Yeah, I haven’t had my Dexcom for very long but, so far with tis first batch of sensors, I haven’t had a new sensor yet that didn’t give me ??? at some point during its initial operation. The time has ranged from a few minutes to hours before the sensor settles in and starts giving reliable readings. I’ve also had the ??? for one sensor when my sugars are rising or falling quickly, but that also resolved itself after a couple of hours.
I also get the ???s sometimes if I have my sensor in a position where it gets bumped or rubbed a lot - like my lower back or sometimes my arm. Pressure on the back end of the sensor can cause the wire to move around and the transmitter gets confused.
Yes, in my experience ??? means the sensor is confused and can’t process the info its getting. Frequent ???s have usually meant that the sensor will die very soon.