Hello, I purchased my Dexcom G4 2 weeks ago and have just had so much trouble with it. I’ve kept trying as I’ve seen so many on here have great success with it, but it’s just too inconsistent… Maybe I’m just not using it right.
Anyhow, I want to get rid of it since I paid so much for it, but after much talking to Dexcom, they are refusing to take it back. I thought for sure there was a 30 day policy, but I’ve been told by a couple different reps that no, there isn’t. So now I’m stuck.
Have any of you had similar experiences with Dexcom? Or any thoughts on what to do with it?
If you haven’t already I would suggest asking your rep for a lesson. It is possible that you are not doing something or are doing something you shouldn’t. It is also possible, of course, that for whatever reason the Dex just doesn’t work for you. Given that so many of us are seeing fantastic results, I would want to rule out ‘operator error’ before dumping it. Hope this helps.
I double what metheniac said, seek help and training from your rep or their site. Regard returning it back, as any prescribed product or medicines, by law they can not accept a return!
The 7 plus had a 30 day return policy, as did my current Minimed Pump. Regardless, thank you both for your advice… I will keep researching my options and will seek that as a last resort.
that is a shame. I lost my sensor ( little grey thing) for my Dex 7 and they are charging a fortune to replace. Conidered the G4 but the upgrade was 400 $ out of pocket. Since its not that good, I will go off sensors for awhile. They are often more frustrating than convenient.
That said, I sure hope you cn get help and have success with the new system.
Lisa, we have had incredible results after upgrading to the G4. I hated the 7 & am in love with the G4. Our experience is that it is well worth the upgrade fee.
We used the 7+ for two years before getting the G4. We had tremendous problems with the G4 for the first 3-4 weeks and went back and forth with the local trainer and tech support. After that, it's been great. There were only two things that we could think of what went wrong at first - 1. My son is prone to terrible skin infections, and we have to use Hibistat to clean his sites. When we switched back to just plain alcohol things worked better. The trainer said it shouldn't matter, but I believe in general the G4 sensor wire is more sensitive (which brings pros and cons) than the 7+ so we have had to be much more careful on site prep - make sure anything we put on really, really doesn't touch the site insertion except for alcohol. The G4 wire is actually half the size in diameter of the 7+ wire to make it more comfortable. 2. Bad box of sensors. Once we were able to go to a new box, we had no more issues as well.
I clicked on this group this evening to post a similar post. Am I the only one who is struggling with the G4? I definitely have some very good days, so it’s not all terrible. But I can’t say that I’m having a better experience than I did with the 7+.
Since I usually got 2 weeks from the 7+, I’m definitely having a shorter lifespan of my sensors. I changed one out yesterday that was at 10 days. That’s not terrible except that the last two days were crap. I put in a new sensor yesterday afternoon. 24 hours later I’ve had the Dex say 183 when my meter was 110. Then tonight the Dex crashed down to LOW while my BG was steady in the 80’s. I did the “enter 3 calibrations over a period of every 10 minutes” and it seems to be on track now.
I’ve already had one sensor replaced. As I said above, I’ve had some good days but no sensors that are fabulous. Since I have good insurance, it’s not a financial problem to have sensors with a shorter lifespan. But the advantage of the longer lifespan is that I had more good days in the middle with the 7+ than I have having with the Gen4.
The most frustrating thing for me is that I continue to get the false lows during the night that I used to get with the 7+. Most of the early reviews of the Gen4 indicated that this wasn’t happening as much. I feel so sorry for my husband who keeps getting woken up by multiple alarms every night. Of course I keep getting woken up by his snoring, so maybe we’re even.
I had a terrible start with the G4. I was in love with the Dexcom and started the G4 and had HUGE discrepancies in numbers. I contacted Dexcom and they said to try another sensor. I had never had a bad sensor before with the 7, but sure enough - a new sensor was all it took. We've been sailing smoothly ever since. However, in the process of contacting Dexcom, I also learned that the G4 is different from the 7 in that with the 7 you can calibrate ANYTIME. It didn't matter if your blood sugar was in the process of plummeting - you could calibrate away. The G4 - not so much. You CANNOT calibrate if you have a straight up or straight down arrow.
Long story short, if you haven't already, try another sensor. Barring that, make sure you're not calibrating too much or at the wrong time. Also make sure you're using the same glucometer.
OK so this is what Dexcom told me about G4 calibrations - they said you can not calibrate on one arrow up or down, or two arrows up or down. However, they said other than that you can calibrate as much as you want on the G4. They said this was different than the 7+ in that they suggested you calibrate as few times as possible. Anyway, it seems we were told different things - essentially, that the G4 is "calibration friendly" (except for swinging blood sugars) whereas the 7+ was not. I have to say this advice is working for us.
In general - When we didn't do well with the G4, I just figured that it was basically a new technology and we just had to figure out what works for us, and things have been running smoothly since. The range and overall improved accuracy have made things so much better.
Sorry to hear you're having issues :| I've been in the "mine works awesome" camp since starting it. Yes, the sensors definitely need some help to stay on, but my readings (for the most part) have been extremely accurate. The things I have learned to accept with my G4 are that it's a great device to keep track of trends and how food/exercise/life is effecting me. It is not a full replacement for finger sticks. At first I was worried that the G4 would save 99 and a finger stick would be at 124. However, with the standard deviation of results, I can get see the same thing using 2 finger sticks. Yes, there are times when I look at my G4 and it says 110 and I stick test and it's 110. But a 20 point difference is quite common.
Also, as someone else said. Do not calibrate while you have anything other than a ---> arrow. I've noticed that readings at that time are about 10 minutes off of real time. So a 90 with a down arrorow usually results in a FS test of +/- 80.
Just to add a couple more points. I've been a CGM user for about 7 years, first with the Freestyle Navigator, then the 7+ and now the G4. I put a G4 sensor on my upper arm on Sunday and had terrible luck; lousy accuracy and lots of ???. Finally I removed it last night and found the sensor wire quite bent up. This always causes problems for the Dex so I kind of expected it. I think the Dexcom sensor wire, and the G4 more than the 7+, is very prone to bending when hitting any muscle tissue at all, which is likely what happend on my upper arm. I moved the sensor down lower on the same arm and more toward the back last night and it's been great since. Also, I use Skin Tac to improve adhesion (which works great) and I've noticed that if you get ANY of this on the location where the sensor wire inserts it will dramatically affect accuracy and life.
As a side note, my Navigator absolutley never had these issues and I think it's because they use a 90-degree sensor wire that inserts only about 4-6mm. I could put that anywhere on my upper arm with no problems and accuracy was always spot on. Shame it's not on the market in the US anymore but rumor is the Nav2 is out in Europe so who knows.
I've also had some false lows at night. I usually wear my Dex sensors on my side just above my hip bone. I've noticed that sometimes when I sleep on the sensor side and compress it against my bed that I get a plunging low that triggers a false alarm. When I roll over the trace will then resume in the normal range. I've had this happen several times and I try to avoid sleeping on the sensor side if I can. Other than that I've not had problems with false nighttime lows.
How are you doing with your G4 at this point? I have had mine for 3 months and have terrible readings. It will be accurate for 2-3 days then off by 30%-over 100% for 3-4 days and the cycle starts over. Since it's the same sensor and same site that is not the issue. I had the 7 before and had NO problems with it. Have a friend that is having the same problems and he works in the medical durable goods field and says he has had numerous discussions with Dexcom that have not gone well. He believes they have a quality control problem at their manufacturing plant that they will not admit to. Plan to submit an official complaint with the FDA. They have a simple form on their website.
