So my question is obvious- as I was going outside the door knocked on my G6 transmitter that I had just restarted the sensor about 3-4 days ago. It got knocked off and I wonder if I can stick the sensor back in me is that even possible? Or do I have to start another one now? UGH
Fortunately with the G6 I have been changing it every 10 days which was probably stupid of me due two bad irritations with the sensors and I had stopped putting opsite over it because it stayed on for 10 days no problem.
But it looks like if I’m restarting them I’m gonna need to start sticking something over it and that is going to be a huge problem for me because I can often get very bad irritations. It does not happen every time so I don’t know really what is going on but it is not happening since I stopped using anything on top of them and used for 10 days.
Read what I wrote, I asked if I can stick the sensor back in me, Transmitter is still attached. This is the first time I have reused this sensor and the first time I’ve ever restarted a g6 sensor so no that is not the case. But I have noticed after only for 10 days the stickiness on the g6 Dexcom thing wears off.
Tim no offense or anything but this has to be the third time you have replied to my posts when you clearly did not read what I wrote- please make sure to read the question- it is in the title of this post by the way as well as in the body.
My apologies. I could not possibly envision someone reinserting a G6 sensor wire, without going back and reloading the original insertion gadget properly reset to original factory.
I’ve played around with the mechanics of the G6 inserter and I do not know how to re-wind/re-load it.
Maybe just maybe if you had an old G4 or G5 inserter you could McGyver something together
If it was a new sensor, you could call Dexcom and they would send replacement.
But if after a sensor restart, you already got 10+ days, so reporting as failure would not be valid.
The inserter device actually pushes the sensor filament in with a needle, that retracts back into the inserter device. I haven’t tried it, but if you disassembled the inserter, you might figure out a way to do it.
Well, they would not know if I had restarted it though and that has happened to me before where it was knocked off and I did not report it because I did not know they would replace it due to that.
I read here years ago there was a member from Germany I think who said he pulled out and put back his sensors for some reason, I can’t remember how he did it. He did it by hand I think.
I don’t have a used inserter, but have old g5 sensors, but maybe I should save those, they may be useful some day. But someone on here used to do it by hand. I have forgotten his name now, and he left here prolly after the site changed as did so many.
@meee The sensor cannula itself is a soft cannula plastic wire, it would be impossible to insert back into your arm on it’s own. The inserter has a nice stiff needle that uses power to insert the soft cannula into your arm and then retracts back into the device. The soft cannula is just too pliable to “insert” by itself again.
No, it cannot be reinserted, and knowing what is involved in getting it inserted in the first place implies any attempt to do so would be an unsettlingly damaging, and possibly hazardous, endeavor.
I think it is like anything else in diabetes, try it and see what happens. Since we are all different, as we know, what works for one may or may not work for another. I have never tried re-inserting a sensor after it has been removed, but I have also never had a sensor knocked off due to where I place mine.
I would think that re-inserting the filament may not work for most of us because of the toughness of our skin, but try it and let us all know how you make out. There are many of us on this forum that would love to know about your actual experience as that is a lot more helpful than a handful of armchair experts that have most likely never tried but feel compelled to chime in.
Most definitely not! There’s a protective coating on the wire that moderates the sensor’s exposure to glucose. If you bend the extremely flexible wire (and I can’t imagine any way of sticking it back in without the inserter that wouldn’t) and crack that protective coating, the sensor will read falsely high. Potentially dangerously so.
It was clear: read it: the title: “can I stick my sensor back in” the sensor came off partially when the transmitter, which is the part that sticks out a bit, was knocked as I went out the door and the door hit it. I never said the transmitter became detached from the sensor.
That has never happened to me and it would be exceedingly unlikely to happen in that situation since it is quite difficult to get the transmitter out now, you have to bend the sensor holder to do it when you are done with it.
You can do it with a credit card or a hair clip when it is still on you when restarting the sensor, but it’s difficult. The most likely event is the transmitter gets pulled away from your body and stays attached to the sensor which is what happened.
I have saved the sensor and I will try at some later date if I can figure out a way to do it. I inserted a new one and I saved the insertion device- I was looking at it but there doesn’t seem to be any way to put it back into the trigger system so the needle will work. If anyone has his tried it let me know.
As I mentioned before someone who I think was from Germany said here that he used to do this all the time, it was with G4 for five maybe_ for some reason he would pull the sensor out and put it back in because he thought it was getting better readings. I don’t remember his name here and I don’t know how he did that. But he did do it so it is not impossible and it still worked.
When I inspected everything and looked at the sensor it seemed like the end got cut off of maybe so I checked with a flashlight to make sure, but there didn’t seem to be anything left in me.
I can’t quite figure out how he could stick that thin wire in him because once you take it out I think the hole is going to close up-I don’t remember if he was putting it in a different place- I think so.
Anyway, for now I have put opsite flex fix on top of the new sensor so when I restart it hopefully I will not have that problem again.
I wear them on my legs, I can’t wear them on my stomach because they are too ttirritating and painful and that’s where I sometimes have pump insets. there’s no way I’m going to damage my arms with the ugliness of dexcom sensors. I have scars all over me from all of these awful insertions both pump and dex. I also recall with my very first sensor that I tried to put it on my arm and I could not even do it- the inserter got stuck on me and my father had to help me get it off- never again.
And last night I made the mistake of going for a walk before the new sensor had started, crashed to the 30’s, I had to rest and eat glucose, thank goodness I was ok and eventually able to walk home. But it took a while to stabilize, even after I got home and it had climbed to 50’s.
The G4/G5 inserter were totally different from the G6 inserter. Perhaps there was a way to release and pull back the plunger in the older applicators, I don’t remember ever trying. I was quick to forget those older inserters as they were often painful to use. The only good thing I remember is that you could slowly push the plunger if the insertion was painful, and that dramatically reduced the pain as the needle entered the skin.
Reinserting a sensor is nothing I have ever tried and I never saw a post from a German with a hack for that. I don’t use FB, so perhaps you saw something there.
No it was not a “hack” He removed the sensor and put it back in by hand. It was not on facebook, it was here, about 8-9 years ago probably a while after I first signed up here- I don’t belong to any fb diabetes groups, maybe one or two but I never read them anymore.
I found some of my old g5 sensors, I also found them much easier to use I don’t like the huge contraption of G6 although I have gotten used to it. There are times when I use it and it stabs me so aggressively that I start bleeding profusely this is due to the fact that I am on blood thinners again and it’s worse with warfarin which I just switched back to.
Oh well if I do attempt this and it is successful I will post about it here.
The original post and a response to it was removed - there might have been disagreement about tone and and politeness - but I’ll leave it here for posterity. On the other hand, I will bold the text for what I think other people might have found relevant:
Although I agree that the phrasing was less than ideal, “knocked on”, but if one read the next sentence, “knocked off”, it became clear what had happened; she dislodged her sensor. I’ve had the experience of dislodging my sensor twice in the past two years, usually when twisting my body to navigate narrow space. Maybe my experience made it more salient to me, easier to understand.
And yes, the harsh response was less than ideal. A good reminder when writing, is to always be polite, at least when disagreeing. Directly expressing one’s thoughts, without the filter of kindness, can easily come across as hostile and attacking.
