I seem to only get 11 days from a sensor . What do you do to make it go longer?
Hi Dee - honestly I don’t do anything in particular and get over 20 days per sensor.
Why 11 days? Is that your average? What is going on when you decide to pull it?
YDMV of course 
I get anywhere from 14-21 days and would love to know what contributes to the variation in duration.
I restart it after it says to change it and usually by the 11th day I get ???. I have tried to restart it after that but will only get a few hours at best. I wear my sensor on my abdomen. I have heard of someone using glad press n seal while showering to keep the site dry. I wonder if the dampness is an issue?
I have a couple of thoughts but I’m uncertain as to their validity. The bi-metal tip of the sensor is coated with an enzyme grease that interacts with glucose and produces an analogous current flow in the sensor wires. This enzyme degrades or otherwise gets consumed over time. Dexcom only warrantees their sensors for seven days. Perhaps the beyond seven days duration of this enzyme is variable.
Another thought that crosses my mind is when we become dehydrated, the interstitial fluid at the sensor tip may fall below a certain threshold and cause the ??? display. Sometimes when I get the ??? display, I try to drink more water and it seems to help. I have not done this in any disciplined or scientific way so I don’t know if that makes a difference.
Finally, I think that good external adhesion of the sensor bandage makes a difference in sensor longevity.
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We rarely get more than 14 days, but that is probably because my son has swim practice almost every day. When he swims regularly, by day 11-12 his signal is pretty degraded and quite noisy, with frequent drops.
hmmmm I wish I had an answer for you. Not sure on this one!!!
Interesting. I have found that my son gets the first round of ??? invariably when he’s napping, usually after day 11 or 12 or so. I wonder if it also is related to some kind of pressure difference.
Same here. We just roughed it out through 2 days of noisy data on days 12 and 13 and I’m thinking that was a mistake. My son was having random, crazy looking drops in BG and it was just too hard to piece together whether he was actually dropping so fast or whether it was some kind of artifact or noise. Now that there’s a new sensor in I’m realizing that, yes, he does seem to be having sharp drops unexpectedly (like when he has relatively little IOB and a belly full of food), so I lost two days on figuring out what’s going on.
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I feel for you. We often have to make that call too - is it worth keeping a lousy sensor for another couple of days or not? I know that, for me, the psychological serenity of getting a clean signal and no drop is worth a lot - as is the ability to make better medical decisions:-) And yet the decision is always a difficult one.
I attended Stephen Ponder´s Sugar Surfing meeting last summer. He talked a lot about glue! Keeping it in its place to make them last longer. Been following advice and has worked pretty good.
I usually get about two weeks out of a sensor. Even though I pay out of pocket, I will make a change if I start getting data I don’t trust. I would rather pay and get numbers I can believe in.
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Are you using Skin Tac and Tape (e.g. Opsite Flexfix) to stick it down?
Where are you placing your sensor. I found that when I switched from my abdomen to the back of my arm I could reliably get 14+ days - and it was just as accurate. Key to getting it to stick that long is also touching up the tape with Skintac (https://www.amazon.com/Skin-Tac-Liquid-Adhesive-Barrier-SKIN/dp/B008IUA6DU/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1488458434&sr=8-2&keywords=skin+tac) when it starts to peel.
I really don’t have a problem with it sticking but if skintac will allow my sensor to go longer I will give it a try.
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There are lots of posts on this site about using skin Tac plus Opsite Flexfix. The extra taping and glue helps prevent it moving around. It might help. You can purchase Skin Tac and Opsite Flexfix from Amazon. Buy the 4 inch (10 cm) wide rolls and cut a hole in the patch just the right size for the sensor bed to fit through.
I would usually get ??? But since I got the Vibe I waited for it to come back. Before I had the Ping and the dexcom reciever. I have only done 1 sensor session with the Vibe as I just got it on the 13th of March. I guess I should have tried waiting for it to come back before, but once I experienced ??? I would automatically think that it was done. Now I wait a little longer.
If I want to get some extra days, I affix waterproof medical tape around if when the adhesive is wearing off.
Hey Jenni-bean
It’s actually quite simple. I just switched sites today, in fact. Imagine you want to put it on the back of your left arm. Raise your left arm and put your hand behind your head. Then pick a location approaching your arm socket and your armpit. Stick the sensor on with the filament insertion in the direction of your arm socket. Insert and then release the applicator. When you lower your arm the sensor will be nicely placed at the very back of your arm, out of the way of everything and you might even forget it’s there. I often do. Then buy yourself some liquid Skin-tac (available on Amazon) and touch it up every so often when you see it begin to peel. I get a solid two weeks at minimum out of every sensor this way, and it’s just as accurate as on my abdomen, I find. I hope this helps and good luck!
There are some great YouTube videos that walk you through arm placement. Diabetic Danica seems to be a particular favorite around the forum (she taught me).
Also, Dexcom rotation differs from pump site rotation. The cannulas are different so you shouldn’t develop scarring from Dex at all. Of course, needing to site rotate for the pump is a must to avoid lipohypertrophy. What sort of pump do you have? I use an omnipod and learned from @ClaudandDaye a while back that I could rotate across my belly with cannula up and then across again with cannula pointed down for territory options.
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