Here’s a real headscratcher… Dexcom user since about February, sensors averaging ten days with the longest being 12 days. Current sensor started 4/29, restarted 5/5; still on first transmitter which spit out the 22-day low battery warning a week ago. Current sensor still going strong on 13th day, under three layers of tape of varying thickness/shapes. It would just suck if this proved the longest-lasting sensor as the transmitter bleeps its last gasp…!
A lot of us were hoping that 6-month limit on the transmitters would turn out to be as merely notional as the 7-day one for the sensors–that there’d be an alert message or something but you could just ignore it and keep on until the battery actually showed signs of crapping out. But nope. When the limit is reached it shuts everything down until you insert the new one.
The big problem is that it’s nigh impossible to remove the old layer(s) without detaching the sensor anyway, but as they become unstuck it gets harder to keep the whole mess stuck down tight enough to hold the sensor in place no matter how many strips of tape you slap on over it. On my last one I was two days into my third session, sensor still going strong, when it just kinda shook itself loose despite all the extra bits I’d patched it with.
Maybe we should start a thread dedicated to people’s pictures of what their Dexcom installation looks at day 14 and beyond!
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The longest I’ve gone is 17 days. For me, it becomes a question of how much Opsite tape I’m willing to use on one sensor. If I’m at two weeks and the tape is flapping around, it just makes more sense to me to put a new one on. I have no way to gauge the difference between sensors, because I’ve only used the G5 since February 25th.
But the contrast in problems I’ve had with sensor performance and longevity to Medtronic is night and day. I still haven’t had a “bad” sensor. The needle hasn’t failed or become stuck, the inserter didn’t jam. The needle didn’t “bounce” off, the initial adhesive didn’t fail. I can’t compare customer service between Medtronic and Dexcom because I haven’t even CALLED Dexcom for anything since before my G5 arrived in the mail.
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I’m really liking this idea of posting pics of day 14+. Maybe it could turn into a kind of friendly contest to see who can get the longest (accurate) use out of one sensor.
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Or who has the ugliest looking patchwork of tape, tegaderm, baling wire, velcro and chewing gum holding it on!
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Or who has the largest and most varied collection of animal hair stuck to the edges of the adhesive. Different prizes could be awarded for most colorful or highest number of different animal species represented (no extra points given for hair from more than one human)…
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ok bring on the pictures!!! or start a linked topic
Shoulda taken a pic of the complicated patchwork as it started to fall apart last Sunday. Right now I’m on day five and only have the one emergency patch at this point. Maybe I should go for a time-lapse?
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Animal hair, heck–it’s the human hair that’s been the biggest problem for me. That is to say: my own armpit hair, which grows long enough that I can’t seem to avoid it getting painfully trapped under the Tegarderm. I tried trimming it back a bit but getting that sheet in position single-handedly, reversed in the bathroom mirror, while trying to keep it free of the fur is an exercise in contortion followed by frustration. I finally broke down and did the necessary. In short, CGM has led to a whole new experience for me as an adult male: shaving my armpits. Who says T1 can’t be fun.
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How do you get a sensor to last more than a week? Mine automatically shuts off?
This is for a Dexcom. Stop the sensor. Sing the ABC song. Now start the sensor without doing anything to your week-old sensor (except maybe make sure it’s well-taped). It will begin the warm-up period as if you actually replaced the sensor. Then input the two BG readings in two hours and away you go.
You can skip the ABC song if you’re tone deaf. Besides, if you’re in public it MIGHT seem strange.
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Wait–the song is optional??? Nobody ever told me! This changes everything…
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Just keep singing it two times in a row when washing your hands. You’ll be fine.
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Omg. Thank you so much . I never knew that or thought of it. I’ve had it for about a year. Any issue with infection by leaving it in longer? Also every time I shower, even a short 5 min one, my readings show my sugar is crashing even tho it isnt. Do you experience that?
I don’t have the crashing problem. To ward off problems from long-term sensor use, I always put half a Tough Pad on my skin before I insert a sensor. (I also put the Tough Pad on for a few hours before insertion so it sticks to my skin). Oh, and I cover it all over with Opsite tape.
I did have that problem every morning but a lot less so since I started wearing mine on the back/inside of my upper arm. Not sure why that makes a difference. Maybe something to do with the hot water not landing directly on that area so much, as compared with the belly? I’ve thought of bugging Dexcom about it but never have–and like I say it doesn’t seem to be as pronounced an effect now.
For anyone with muscular arms. Can you place dexcom on triceps?
I didn’t realize you could wear it places other than your stomach. I called dexcom and theit answer is always replace your sensor. I say it always shows a crash with showering so it can’t be a sensor issue but they still insist it is. It also shows I’m crashing when I run but I never am crashing
I’d have run through an awful lot of sensors if I had replaced them every time this happened! Of course they are limited in what they can say–they aren’t going to tell you you can just keep rolling over to a new session until the sensor really wears out either, but it is certainly a common practice. Sensor placement falls into a similar area–I assume this all has to do with how the devices were tested to gain FDA approval. The upper-arm position is more convenient for some people and many find that the accuracy is just as good or better. I prefer it because the thing takes up so much space and I’d rather save the easier-to-reach territories for infusion sets (I’ve tried upper arm for those but it’s just awkward with the tubing and all and I find I yank them out too easily when taking my shirt off). There are several videos showing how to do it–here’s one that gets posted a lot: Arm Dexcom G4 Sensor Insertion Tutorial! (Continuous Glucose Monitor) - YouTube
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Have you tried covering the sensor with press-and-seal and some waterproof tape when you shower? Great stuff to cover post-surgical dressings, too.