I was wondering if this was related to compression ‘lows’ as well. I wear my sensor always on my thighs and I notice that I can get a compression low if I cross my legs over top of it, or if I lie on it at night and even if my pants become tight across the surface of the sensor, which happens a lot of I am wearing jeans or fabric without a lot of ‘give’ . The device recognizes that there is a problem with the reading and so does some sort of self-evaluation before it starts reading again. You may wish to look at your mother’s positions when she gets these lows and see if perhaps the waist band of her pants is tight over top of the sensor or she is lying on it or has an arm over top of it while sleeping or some such arrangement. Good luck at finding out what is going wrong.
This is 100% not compression lows. The plunging data followed by data loss happens just as often in the daytime as at night, when Mom is just sitting in a chair with the sensor on either her abdomen or upper arm.
That’s funny about the car battery!
Re A1C, Mom gets it tested every 6 months, and it’s been pretty stable so far. But she’s only had the Omnipod 5 for a few months, so I guess the next text will tell.
You are correct, this is an issue some of us have and there is no explanation of the cause either from Dexcom or anyone here.
My guess is that the sensor lead may be attacked by the immune system being isolated from the interstitial fluid. That is just a guess.
What you are seeing looks like this, right? This was one of the worse I had - 5 times in 7 hours. Don’t be fooled thinking it is a compression low because it happened a night. I have never had a compression low cause a loss of signal, and these can happen while walking around. Night is worse because my sleep gets disturbed by an false urgent low.
My mother’s graphs look like that, only more so. Late in a sensor (usually Day 7+, but never earlier than Day 3), her graph can easily drop 150 points over 20 minutes (if she’s starting from a high point), then show no data for 30 minutes to 3 hours, and do that repeatedly all day, so that there is more time with no number at all than with any kind of number. As with your graph, she may have a long outage, then a single dot, then another long outage.
I wish we had an answer to this phenomenon. You would think that Dexcom would want sensors like this returned so they could exam the sensor leads for the cause. But no, they just send a replacement.
I would like to say that the last 4 sensor of different lot numbers have been good for 10 days with one or two doing a data drop out on day 10. I have no clue why. At least one of these good sensors was the same lot number as the ones that acted up on day 7, go figure.
Dear Caregiver Daughter-
Perhaps a baby monitor/camera in your mother’s bedroom would help shed light on what’s going on. You could peek in on your mother as she sleeps, perhaps noting her position in bed (ie, on back, on left/right side, cuddling a pillow) Also, keeping a log of each sensor–listing the days of wear (ie, Day 1, Day 2), note the sensor location (left side of stomach, back of right arm, etc), the time when the sensor stopped working and for how long, your moms activity when the sensor stopped (sleeping, riding in car, . . .). Doing this for several sensors may lead to some new info for you and/or help you analyze things even further than you have. You’re on the right track!
Others have mentioned compression lows from the patient laying on the sensor. Compression lows are also possible from things such as a belt (a bath robe belt did it to me)–anything that places pressure on the sensor.
Your mom is so fortunate to have you helping her! Kudos to you! Hang in there! Update this forum when you have the opportunity.
Thus proving once again the futility of changing the terminology to deal with the fact that Type 1, formerly known as “juvenile,” doesn’t track with age!
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This happens to me too.
It even happened once when I was in the middle of my appointment with my diabetes nurse She was amazed and took notes. To me it just happens. Could be on day 4 or day 7 or 8. No discernible pattern really.
I´ve never used Omnipod 5 only Omnipod Dash, so I can´t speak to how constant bad data is fouling up the Omnipod algorithm.
One strange thing has happened lately and may be worth mentioning. I switched to Tandem Control IQ seven weeks ago. Along with the switch I get my Dexcoms from a new supplier. Since the switch I have not had a single incident of Dexcom failure with these new sensors. Not a single plunge.
First I thought the help I got from the Tandem algorithm reduced my stress level to such an extent that the Dexcom sensor finally got the conditions it needs to work properly.
But then I tested a couple of replacement Dexcoms I had from my Omnipod days. They both failed just like they used to.
I have no idea why Dexcoms from a different supplier makes such a difference or even if that is why I experience this.
Hope you find a way to make sure the Omnipod 5 works reliably over time.
One supplier got a bad lot that they’ve been foisting on an unsuspecting public?
Storage issues? (Temperature regulation).
Other transportation issues that one can’t imagine? (Exposure to vibration, weakening internal connections in the sensor wire).
Are a few thought that enter the mind
Thanks for all these good, helpful thoughts. We’ve used Dexcom G6 sensors from various sources, though, and never seen any difference in performance among them. Also, we had the same problems with G5 sensors, and also while Mom was using both the the older Eros system and now Omnipod 5. So that probably rules out a lot (for my mother, at least).
As Dexcom is moving to the G7, they have been using up their supplies of G6 sensors. I would not be surprised if they are sending out some questionable lots to get rid of them. Some lots have always seemed to perform better than others.
We’ve seen no sign of this. As I said, my mother has had the exact same problem for years, going back to the G5, with two different models of Omnipod. So it seems very unlikely that this has to do with bad Dexcom lots.
Being well hydrated is important, especially in warmer weather. Try increasing fluids as that may help. Or it may just be a bad batch of sensors, or were shipped/stored in hot temps.
Get replacements from Dexcom.