Last Friday, my daughter got a loaner from her endo to give her the opportunity to see if a CGM is right for her. Without question, she loves the Dexcom. At 10:00 this morning, which was exactly 7 days from when the sensor was activated, the graph screen went dark from that point on. I have been reading about sensors lasting more than 7 days so I was a little surprised. Was this because loaners are set up to only work for 7 days or is there some setting that needs to be adjusted? We are set up to return the loaner on Monday and were hoping we would get readings through the weekend.
She certainly is looking forward to getting her own CGM. Thanks for your input. It is so great that there is a place to go and ask questions like these of other users.
Actually, if you go into the menu and 'stop sensor' and then a few minutes later 'start new sensor' then the receiver will react as though she has a new sensor in place. 2 hours later, enter the 2 blood glucos readings and you should be good to go! Some sensors last longer then others. I have had some that only last 7 days and have had others that last as long as 23... on average mine last about 12 days each. so YES, you can get more than 7 days out of your regular life cycle per sensor!
The only thing that doesn't have that long of a life cycle is the tape. Tegaderm has been amazing for me to keep that sensor stuck in place without irritating my skin like crazy.
Thanks so much for the quick reply. I am looking at the menu right now and don't see a stop sensor option. Do I just start sensor or take some other action?
If you don't see the 'stop sensor' that means the 7 day life cycle of the current sensor has timed out. Just start a new sensor and you should be set.
The 'stop sensor' is great when you are having a lot of ??? issues. Sometimes just stopping and starting a sensor will fix that. However...if you have a sensor that is within its first 7 day cycle and those ??? pop up for longer than 3 hours - call customer service. They will send you a new one no questions asked! I LOVE Dex's customer service.
Some times I just don't give up on a seemingly useless, non-functioning sensor. I have re-pushed 'start' a couple of times, pushed 'stop' and then 'start'. A couple of days ago, a new sensor just kept giving ???? for about six hours. I called Dexcom tech support and was told to 'stop' sensor and switch to a new sensor, that they would replace it. Well, I did push 'stop' and then thought, "what the heck" and then pushed 'start' again. It has been working now for two days and the tech guy wanted me to change it. My motto....'If it seems hopeless, just keep pushing buttons, it may work'. Suzan
