I just started on a G4 two weeks ago and I have a couple of questions:
1. Do most people use the sensors longer than a week? If so, do you just leave it in and tell the receiver it's a new sensor? How long do they tend to last?
2. How about alternate sites? The manual says only to use your abdomen, but I'd love to have more options. I'm pregnant and my shirts are going to start getting tight on the belly, so it'll look pretty weird to have a giant bump sticking out of one side!
My 8 yr old uses her sensor for 10-14 days. We stop the sensor on day 7 before it is due to be chaged and restart it. She also wears the sensor on her arms. We have gotten pretty accurate results.
We also average about 10-14 days, although I think we had one that made it three weeks once. My son only uses his back - I don't think I could pay him enough to get him to wear it on his stomach!
I've been using the G4 for a couple months now and my favorite sites are on the back of my arms and at the bottom of my ribs/top of my belly (slightly off to one side or the other, not centered). On the back of my arms I've found the best placement for me is if I stick it in the upper end of my upper arm, but close to my body, not pointing out away from me. (Looking in a mirror, I do a mock tricep curl keeping my arm right next to my head and aim for a spot about midway between armpit and elbow, and just to the inside of an imaginary line drawn down the center.)
My thinking is that anywhere anyone says I can use for an infusion site should also work for a sensor, but I so far I'm happy using my arms and my almost-ribs so I've not tested that at all.
When it tells me its time is up, I just tell the receiver to start a new one, wait out the 2 hour warm-up period and I'm good go!
I don't reinforce the tape with anything, and generally after about 10 days I'll bump it (hard) on something and it will get knocked off, but I have yet to actually have one fail while still attached. I think I got 12 days out of one once before knocking it off. I bet if I bothered to tape it I could get at least a few more days out of it but I've had enough problems with tape not to want to bother (yet).
I have been on the G4 for a little over two months. The first week I ran it for one week, then two plus. It will be for weeks tomorrow and all is well although I have had to use tape to hold it on after the first week or so. The numbers are still accurate but I think I will make a month my limit. No real reason for that, I just think t that is enough.
I have used my stomach (least favorite) arms and upper legs (favorite so far) without issue.
Almost always I get 2 weeks, many times 3 weeks with pretty good readings, and a couple of times 4 full weeks. By the 3rd and 4th week, the sensor "slows down" when indicating a rise or a fall in sugars, more so the rise becomes less accurate. But since I am more worried about lows, I push them as long as I feel comfortable! I just use my abdomen, buttocks and thighs are for infusion sites.
Just tell it to start and off it goes! Many times it will "fail" when you enter the starting sugars as it gets older too, just another sign it may be time to put a new one in!
I don't have any alternate sites that I use. I generally don't extend the use of my sensors, however I have occasionally when I have knocked a sensor off. I restart the next one to get back on schedule. I have good insurance, so I follow the recommendations. If the cost were out-of-pocket, I would be trying to extend the life as long as possible.
