This is just a “for your info” “for whatever it’s worth” post.
I had a sensor failure this morning that I hadn’t anticipated. And, judging from the failure description choices listed on Dexcom’s online reporting page, I don’t think Dexcom expects the sensor to fail this way either.
The sensor was attached to the (lower) outside of my left arm. When my t:slim x2 pump displayed a CGM result of “–––”, I felt around on my arm for the sensor and was surprised to not feel anything.
Looking closer, I found that while the adhesive tape was still in place on my arm, the socket containing the G6 transmitter and sensor cannula wire had broken away from the adhesive tape. Huh?
The Dexcom online report page seems to focus primarily on adhesive tape failure as the reason a sensor would “fall off”. The recommended solution is to apply some sort of sensor tape overlay patch.
But apparently even if the tape stays in place the sensor can still “fall off”. And I don’t think Dexcom’s overpatches would fix this.
I put an under tape for this reason. I use an iv3000 then I poke through it. This will keep it more stable and it also stays on better.
Usually when the tape starts to peel off, I lose my accuracy, so that’s why I use the under tape.
I am not understanding how putting an iv3000 under the G6 sensor tape would help prevent the G6 sensor socket detaching from the G6 sensor tape. I would not expect it to make a difference.
Perhaps if you covered the sensor socket with the iv3000, but I’ll probably wait and see if this happens to me again before resorting to that approach.
I did that once. I was helping our neighbors move out. Was trying to maneuver something large out the door, so my arms were spread as wide as the door, and scraped it right off. Left nothing but the tape behind. It took four of us to find the transmitter that got launched. Hurt like a son of a beach, too!
I was wearing a light jacket. Maybe mine was also scraped off, but it seems more likely the fabric of the tape around the plastic tabs used to attach the socket just “worked loose”. In my case the transmitter was still in the socket which was inside the arm of the jacket.
This has happened to me once and I agree that conventional overpatches or undertape won’t help. Fortunately, it is a rare manufacturing defect and Dexcom replaces the sensor without hesitation.