Yup. Less than a week. On my second sensor, the first was reporting with anything between 53% and 77% accuracy, sending shrieking “Urgent Low” and “LOW” alarms when my meter was reporting between 5.0 and 5.5. Huh.
Replacement sensor is on its way and I’ve switched out the bad sensor with another one. Quite apprehensive as I had some excellent assistance in setting up G6 and first sensor but I had to do this replacement on my own.
Two broken fingernails later, it’s done. Important word of the day is “hinge”. I wasn’t aware that there’s a hinge to be swung down to remove transmitter. I do now and the two hour warmup period has started.
I also found ALL my Clarity data, not just the hourly minimum, maximum, mean and standard deviation available under Statistics > Hourly. Yay.
OK…very delayed reply to your post, but: I appreciate your comment about the hideous amount of plastic waste that the G6 inserter creates. I understand that the G6 has lots of valuable new features, early warning about lows, etc., – but does it have to be at the expense of the environment? I wonder if this was even discussed in the design process. Probably not. I guess if I had a small child with T1, I would feel differently, since this version is pain-free.
Just got the G6 on Saturday and started using it straight away. I am not using the receiver, just my iPhone with the Dexcom G6 app.
Initial thoughts…
Insertion was pain free. Didn’t feel a thing. I think I spent more time selecting a site on my abdomen than it took to insert.
Warm up was pretty straight forward. 2 hours with a countdown clock.
At 2 hours 1 minute I got a Low alarm. I wasn’t low, so I checked with the meter and entered a calibration reading. That seemed to resolve the issue.
It was fascinating watching my sugar rise in almost real time after dinner. This might help me sort out which foods I need to pre-bolus for and/or avoid.
Had a data drop off on Sunday morning, I missed an alert to calibrate as my phone was on silent. Noticed it and did it immediately and it started working within half hour.
Readings all day Sunday were very accurate and I started entering basal, bolus, and carb info into the app.
Screeching low alert, double checked with the meter to make sure I wasn’t. Figured out it was due to compression, entered a calibration and went to sleep.
I appreciate your point about excessive medical waste with diabetes treatment devices. I’ve seen this point raised many times since the introduction of Dexcom’s G6 CGM system. I even heard one podcast interviewer pose this question to a Dexcom executive. I think our collective objection to this will positively affect corporate decisions going forward.
That being said, I appreciate the point of others who feel that a greater need is being served here. The Dexcom exec in the podcast made the point that the G6 inserter contains no more throw-away plastic than its previous G4/G5 inserter, a point I was not aware of at the time. He also stated that the Dexcom inserter serves an individual sharp’s disposal function.
With a little creative thinking and sufficient motivation, I think Dexcom can serve both sides of this argument in future products. I’m happy to see the environmental objections raised with the introduction of the G6; I think the Dexcom decision-makers have heard us and will make better environmental choices with future products.
We should not just single out one company, however. We need to point this out to all diabetes manufacturers’ products we use. And we shouldn’t let Dexcom’s responsibility slide because we love the products they make. They can do better and I think they are aware of it.
As a diabetic I feel like I already generate a significant amount of plastic waste between used test trips, needles, lancets, and used insulin pens/syringes.
Started the G6 this weekend. So far, I’m definitely liking it over the G5 since not having to calibrate makes a huge difference.
I agree with others that the size of the applicator is a bit obscene and will generate a lot of waste. I’m wondering why they switched from the design of the G5 since I always thought that worked fine.
It’s not a big deal since managing my diabetes is a higher priority than reducing waste on something like this, but it definitely seems like a very polished and bulky item for something so disposable.
I’m still trying to figure out this “pain” thing about the G5. I’ve been on it for 13 months. I think I felt a bit of a sting maybe twice (prolly just once) in all that time. My wife has been on it for the same length of time. I can’t recall her ever saying a sensor hurt.
Nearing the end of my first 10 day run with the G6 and it’s been great so far. It asked me to calibrate a few times the first couple of days which was not unexpected and it’s performed quite accurately the entire time. I don’t have the receiver, I am using the app on my phone.
The sensor has stayed adhered and has only barely peeled up on one edge only. The alerts have been accurate except for the one compression low and I’ve discovered that sometimes I go low overnight which I had no clue about before so I have been fine tuning my dinner and dinner bolus.
Average Glucose: 115 mg/dl
Variation: 26 mg/dl
Time in Range: 98.1%
High: 1.7%
Low: 0.2%
Now I am learning how to avoid/manage the peaks and valleys
Great numbers! Interesting you discovered over night lows you didn’t expect. CGM is a great teaching tool. More of us should use them, even if just intermittently. Keep up the pretty BG traces!
