I've been using the Dexcom G4 Platinum for a few weeks, I put a new sensor in today and everything seemed mostly normal, I did see a bit of blood under the inserter but I snapped the transmitter in, waited 2 hours and calibrated like normal and everything seemed fine.
I received 22 sensor readings (just under 2 hours worth) and then the upper right corner of the display started showing "???" and it stopped giving me glucose readings. It has now been like that for an hour and a half. The manual just says to call customer support if it's been like that for more than 3 hours but does anyone know anything else? If it's been this long is there any chance of it "coming back" on its own or am I out a sensor? Thanks in advance.
I just went through the same experience this week. I put in a new sensor and noticed I had some blood leaking under the adhesive. I did as you and stuck with it through the calibration. The sensor was giving me appropriate data for a few hours and then went to ???. A few hours later it came back online but then later went into another ??? session. I took it out and installed another sensor. I didn’t report it to Dexcom since I’ve used so many sensors well past 7 days. They will replace it, so it’s probably worth your trouble.
Inserting a sensor always risks hitting a blood vessel. I’m just glad it doesn’t happen very often. My preference is to pull the plug quickly since I really want to get to the dependable traces that I’ve come to expect from the Dex. I have had a few sensors get back on track after an early ??? error but when it does that, it usually means more trouble to follow. That’s my experience anyway.
Wait out the 3 hours, and if still ??? then call Tech support, or just replace it, and call them later. I try to avoid calls on the weekend when not urgent.
They may ask you to download the data, and they can have it transmitted to them to analyze. But often they just send a replacement sensor when the ??? is over 3 hours, without hassle.
I've had some that have ??? for less than 3 hours, and turn out working fine, and others that don't. But overall, have only had to get 2 replaced by Dexcom over the past 2 years.
Thanks for the replies, it kicked back in at 2 hours and 45 minutes after going out and has been going strong since then. I appreciate the extra info, it just makes me feel better knowing it's not a bad unit or something, being so new I was worried. Thanks again.
In addition to waiting it out and calling tech support if it doesn't come back sometimes a sensor just needs a little more time to stabalize once inserted and patience is the key. Also if your blood sugars rapidly changed it may cause the sensor to give you the ??? as it could not keep up with the changes in the blood sugar levels. I had a "bleeder" with this last insertion, thought it was a goner for sure as the first 2 days were hard to get accurate readings but I'm on day 12 with good readings - not perfect but meets the dexcom guidelines - this one probably won't make it to 21 days, but it's still going strong!
I'm glad it came back for you. We've had many a sensor do that. Sometimes the ??? come in times of rapid BG change and it can't keep up. Sometimes - well I don't know why it's doing that. We've had more ??? than I'd like while Caleb sleeps lately. It's as if DexCom is sleeping along with him.
As far as blood - we've had several "bleeders" and they have never seemed to impact the efficacy of the sensor. DexCom has told us as long as it is not painful, there is no need to pull it just because it bled. I've found this to be practical advice.
