General Dexcom G5 question— how often does the transmitter need to be replaced? I see that it’s guaranteed for 3 months? Does it last significantly longer than that? Will it continue to die even if not in use once it’s activated?
In other words, can you just roll it over and keep going like you can with sensors when they reach their factory-set limit? The answer is no. When the transmitter period runs out it it tells you you have to pair to a new transmitter and that’s it–no further discussion. I’ve also found this happens if I have to change sensors within a week of the transmitter shut-off date. It says something along the lines of “battery too low” and requires you to pair to a new transmitter before it will start a new sensor session.
ETA: on the upside you do get a warning two weeks out from shutdown letting you know you need to order a new transmitter in time to replace the one that’s going to die. They come in pairs, so the effective life is 6 months; you just have to change to a new one in the middle.
So if you used one for, say-- 4 weeks and then shelved it would it still be dead 3 months after the first day you used it? Or could you pick it up months into the future and still have 8 weeks of life left in it?
That was my only end of life G5 transmitter experience. I was planning on a 112-day life (90 days + 22 grace days) and system terminated with the above reason at 110 days, not far from expectation.
Good question as I’ve never tried. My guess with the G5 transmitters is that once the clock starts ticking there isn’t any way to suspend/stop it.
I don’t think so. There’s no “on-off” switch. They turn on automatically when you remove them from the box (there’s a warning not to remove one until you’re ready to use it) and just run until the factory-set shut down.
It’s my understanding that that was true for the G4 transmitters but is not true for the G5 transmitters. I understand that the G5 transmitter clock starts when you input the serial number of the transmitter into the settings menu and hit OK…
I stand corrected, thanks. But in any case there’s no “pause” and “restart” capability.
That is unfortunate…
I agree.
Agreed. I could imagine a scenario where you want to use the CGM periodically to touch things up BG-wise: say every 3 months you wear it for a week, make a few adjustments (or not) and then put it aside again. But that’s not possible. Seems like they could create a software switch you could flip via the phone app. But they have to design these things to be pretty stupid-proof and maybe that wouldn’t qualify.
Thing is, you might think you want to use it discretely like that but then when you have the thing…
I was just thinking about that this a.m., how mentally dependent on it I’ve become. I got the thing for a specific purpose–I was going to be traveling abroad and had a lot of uncertainty how to manage all the time changes with a pump. Figured I might put it aside after the trip was over. But um… no. On a practical level makes a lot of things easier to manage, notably exercise, but beyond that I’ve just gotten used to having a running awareness of where I’m at BG-wise. On a psychological level, when I don’t have it, it’s disturbing. It feels like a disability, as if I’ve gone deaf in one ear or something. I’m sure I could go back to being used to it not having that “sense”–if Medicare doesn’t change their minds I may be in that situation not too long from now. But it really has become part of my subjective landscape that I can know what’s going on continuously, see the whole shape of it, and not just get these little still-frames a few times a day after poking my fingers.
Bingo. My sentiments exactly as I’d be completely lost without my Dexcom.
During the two-hour sensor warm-up period I find myself doing several fingersticks to alleviate my sense of “flying blind” without the CGM stream.
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This is partly what I’m afraid of.
I did just get off the phone with carecentrix, the supplier my insurance contracts with. Based on their copay estimate the cost would not be significant to me.
I just don’t know if I really need it… my goal is to make diabetes a smaller part of my life-- will this help? Or will having 24 hour streaming diabetes data only make it worse? When I used one before I was newly diagnosed and much more overwhelmed than I am now, but at that point I think it just made things worse psychologically, and back then the sensor didn’t even work very well so I didn’t feel like there was a tremendous upside balancing out the negatives.
Then I hear from people like @Terry4— who loves his cgm yet still does dozens of finger sticks daily sometimes ? So I guess I don’t understand what benefit it provides if one is testing that much anyway? Then there’s @mikep who says he only uses his meter to calibrate 2x daily— I can see the appeal of that…
Yes. 
Your cgm obsessive factor may vary.
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My average number of fingersticks per day is down around 10 now. And that includes doing two fingersticks and taking the average when I calibrate the CGM.
For me the CGM produces a lot more benefit than it costs in terms of attention spent and quality of life measures. Some people are pretty good a sensing their relative blood sugar level before they test. I can sometimes but I’m surprised at times when I think I’m low, high, or normal and I’m not.
I’ve experienced that exact mental quandary every time I’ve gone through a major regimen change, most acutely switching from MDI to pump. The pump just does occupy significantly bigger mindshare, and I dithered a LOT about that for the first year or so. I came this close to bailing on it several times. But then my pump died a couple of months ago, and having to revert to Lantus-Novolog for 3 days pretty well convinced me that I don’t want to go back. I could if I had to, but now there are too many things I rely on that the pump can do and are more difficult with MDI. If I had to do it long-term I’d definitely want to look at other options like Tresiba and Afrezza, but everything has its learning curve and I’m good at how I’m doing things now. If it ain’t broke…
I actually test a lot less than I did before CGM. The two most important uses for me are watching the bend for pre-bolusing (I’m guessing Afrezza makes that less useful for you) and being able to monitor continuously while biking. That’s the real killer app for me.
Totally agree. Any situation where it’s impossible or a real pain to test during the thing you don’t want to interrupt with more than a look at a number, that’s a huge advantage.
I’m also on the side of @mikep when it comes to bolusing – I’ll do that off the cgm a lot without the fingerstick confirmation/adjustment.
Back to @sam19’s question, I find that after a while you know when you can ignore the cgm data stream for long periods of time because, well, you just know. I expect that’s exactly why you have some ambivalence about a cgm. But there are other times when getting a little confirmation of what you think is going on, or a reality check when things are different than you expected, with just a quick glance any time of day or night – for me, that is worth a LOT.