Dexcom Sensor always going low

this has been my sensor for the past 12 hours.
I inserted it last night at 5pm, and calibrated 2 hours later, after a pizza at 10mmol/l. ever since, the sensor has shown a strong tendency to go low, so low it doesnt even show a number (just LOW).
by fingerstick, that was not confirmed. First time, i decided to restart the sensor, so i calibrated again at 11.30 pm (after a 2h waiting period) at 6mmol/l, but the sensor quickly went downwards again. this time i shut off the receiver, as a fingerstick showed that i was actually at a 10mmol/l and i wanted to SLEEP.
this morning i turned on the receiver again, and it acutally matched a fingerstick of 6mmol/l. but after breakfast, the same story (LOW, not confirmed by fingerstick).

do you guys have any ideas how to save the sensor apart from restarting it (which i have already tried and didn’t work)?
i dont wanna throw away a new sensor… but probably wont have a choice if i dont figure this out :frowning:
and surprise, dexcom hotline is closed on sundays :see_no_evil:
maybe you guys can help me :grimacing:

These seem to be very similar to a “compression low.” This happens to me when I sleep on my sensor and it seems to squeeze the interstitial fluid around the sensor that impedes circulation causing some sort of local “low.” If I roll over it “self-repairs.” But is this sort of thing is happening to you it may not fix itself on it’s own.

First, I would check that the sensor placement isn’t in a location that could be causing a compression. And then I would avoid doing a calibration at a time when the sensor is whacko. And third, rather than restarting the sensor session, perhaps you can just “wait it out.” The sensor session restart may be adding to the instability in some way. And after all you are doing a check of your blood sugar to know you are ok.

But, you may have to admit defeat and replace the sensor. But I would also argue that you have an entirely valid case that your sensor was actually “defective” and should be replaced under warranty.

Thanks Brian for your as always early and on point answer :smiley:
I dont know how my diabetes/diabetes tech always acts up when I am studying for finals :see_no_evil:

Yeah, I am aware of compression lows, but with the first and the last (out of the 3) I wasn’t even in bed. So no way, I wear it on my arm.
It seems to be working now, so waiting seems to have done the trick. I know that the first 24h of a sensor are whacky, but once it disrupts my sleep I am pretty impatient… :neutral_face:

I’ve found that sensors that want to dive to LOW when actual BG does not correspond are often caused by blood at the site. If it were me, I’d just replace the sensor now and call it in to Dexcom. My experience is that they will replace the sensor.

Good luck wth your finals.

2 Likes

Thanks!
Since the sensor is working now, I’ll give it a try. But it could be a good explanation.
I have made the experience that if you pull the sensor before you call customer service, they aren’t happy, as they always want to restart it with you (doing stuff you have already tried yourself). and since customer service is offline on weekends, i think it’s a good idea to give it a try (but i find this policy totally stupid)

I would call Dexcom and report it as faulty. I have had this problem with a small number of sensors. Even if they recover, they tend to be less accurate than usual and often don’t last as long.

2 Likes

Agreed with previous posters: the only time I’ve had this happen, while it stabilized somewhat, it was never that accurate, and when I pulled the sensor (early) eventually, there was blood on the filament. If it ever happens to me again, I’m not going to wait.

1 Like