Has anyone herd of an Enhanced Enlite Sensor, released from Medtronic. I am from Canada and used the original Enlite sensors and found them to be unreliable and of questionable value , based on the price paid. I have been reading about an enhanced version of the Enlite sensor, which was released in Canada last October. Has anyone used it? If so is it better? I don’t want to spend any more money on these, unless they can give me some reliability.
Yes, I am aware of it. No, I have not used it. It is only available outside of the US. In the US it is still going through apparently tedious clinical trials.
Medtronic seems to refer to it as the “Enhanced Enlite” while some folks in the press or in discussion forums go with Enlite 2. In truth, I’m never really figured out what to call it.
If you had a bad experience with the “original” Enlite then I would not suggest giving them a try unless you can do so “for free”. While I cannot speak from experience, my gut feeling is that you would not consider it to be that much of an improvement.
More specifically, I don’t think they made any changes which would pertain to the problems people most often run into which lead to huge discrepancies between the Sensor Glucose (SG) and your meter determined Blood Glucose (BG). It would probably be just as potentially finicky to work with as the original.
I dug up the link to Medtronic Canada’s news release about this.
Medtronic Introduces Enhanced Enlite Glucose Sensor For People Living With Diabetes In Canada
The list of improvements quoted from the news release are:
I think the third item, Improved sensor-to-transmitter connection, is potentially misleading. Anyone who has ever used Medtronic’s CGM is probably going to immediately think this refers to the chronic “weak signal” problems one encounters when using it.
However, improving that would require them to change the transmitter, not the sensor. So I don’t think that’s what it refers to. Instead I think it refers to the physical electrical connection between the sensor connector and the transmitter connector.
I had never heard that there could be problems with these physical connectors. But then I stumbled across the PDF Tips for Success with the Medtronic 530G Enlite Sensor lurking about on the Integrated Diabetes Services website. (The company Gary Scheiner is associated with.) One of the tips contained in that 2 page PDF document is the following.
Use a newer model transmitter whenever possible. Older, out of warranty transmitters may produce errors because the pin contacts can be out of place. A “vampire tooth” trend graph pattern usually indicates pins that are out of alignment.
Huh. Hey, @Emily_Coles! Could you find a way to ask Gary Scheiner
- Is this document on “his” website still valid “as is”? Or does it need some update tweaking?
and - What the heck are some of these bullet items in it talking about? (for example, the one I quoted above)
tell me exactly what you think is wrong with the Enlite (the current one). I have my theories but don’t want to contaminate your answer or the discussion, prematurely with my idea that I formulated years ago after having watched some in-depth reports on the Soft Sensors.
If your not happy with the Enlite just stop using it. I have used the MiniMed sensors for many years with great success. It’s not for everyone, there has been many, many individuals that simply could not get it to work to their satisfaction. I have been using them for over 8 years, the soft sensor was within 3-5% of all of my average meter readings for years and the new Enlite is giving me average results that are as good as my meter and sometimes probably better than my meter. They are expensive and if I had to pay for them I would probably switch to the DEX…just because many individuals can get more than two weeks of good readings…
If it’s not a helpful tool just stop…why use it…JMHO
Thank you for the great responses. I have stopped using the Enlite sensors, but I guess I feel cheated since it did not live up to my expectations. If they improve it, I will give it another try, as I want it to work.
I found the results really good when I was active and relatively stable. But, if I spend a day working at my desk, or during the night, I get lost sensors, or false low readings. If I have a crazy blood sugar day, I get calibration errors.
I purchased the Veo for the CGM and was excited to use the alarms and low blood sugar shut off. I found I had to turn the alarms off at night and I don’t trust the pump to shut off for low blood sugars. The CGM takes a significant time respond once my blood sugar returns to normal. It can take over an hour after a normal reading on my meter.
I pay out of pocket, so I must say the experiment failed. I used it for almost a year, but found myself getting ticked off with always calling support and getting the same answers. My life is busy and I don’t have time to stop and fiddle with the technology. I realize this is new technology, but it needs to be nearly as reliable as my pump. It needs to work as advertised. Maybe with my next pump I will try the Dexcom.
OK I’m ranting…Sorry