would u mind elaborating a bit, Marie?
@Dave44
The first one I didn’t have Skin Tac yet and had globs of Elmers glue all over it so I was ready to pull it off when it expired. The second almost the same thing as I tried the overpatch and it turned out just as bad. After Skin Tac, not knowing how long a sensor would last I had an x-ray coming up in 26 days that I would have to pull it off for, so I had the first one on for 16 days and then put a new one on. That x-ray was canceled so I have now restarted that one.
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[quote=“Hammer, post:175, topic:68655”]
I have to either start a new sensor right before bed, or right before I go to work. Both spell a recipe for disaster for me. So my first day now is NOT FUN.[/quote]
You aren’t the only one. This batch of sensors haven’t warmed up as quickly as my last batch did. If change day happens on a work day I have to choose between being annoyed at the various alarms and requests for calibration (morning insertion) or losing sleep (evening insertion). At this point I’ve given up on getting anything reliable for the first 8-12 hours of the newly inserted sensor.
Today I put in a new sensor around noon. I got a bleeder so I just dabbed up the blood with a paper towel and put in the transmitter. Urgent low two hours later, a couple of rejected calibrations, then temporary sensor error “wait up to 3 hours” interspersed with occasional readings that seem to be within error tolerance.
If we get a bleeder that bad, we don’t bother with the transmitter. We pull the sensor, (save the bloody used sensor) and put in a new sensor (obviously in a different spot).
Then call Tech Support and request a replacement sensor. For a bloody insertion, they typically ask us to send back the bloody used sensor (which is why we save it).
Minor blood that does not extend past the sensor housing usually works fine for us.
A completely bloody soaked patch never gives us anything but garbage so we no longer waste time with those plus Tech Support has never given us any trouble sending a replacement for when the patch is soaked upon insert.
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Good to know. It’s the first time that happened, it didn’t even soak the patch at all. It’s trial and error and frankly tech support isn’t very useful other than asking if I want a replacement or wait it out.
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Thank you for the information.
Just thought I would share an update on this issue. I have moved my sensor to my arm, and now every sensor I have used has lasted the 10 days. I guess there was something about my abdomen that it didn’t like! Also, I’m so glad to read about “compression lows” as I had never heard of this before and I was getting overnight lows really often, which I would correct with juice and peanut butter crackers without taking a finger stick (who wants to bother with that at 3am??). I would wake up with really high numbers, which tells me all those times I wasn’t really low.
Reading all of your entries makes me feel like I am not scientific enough about how this thing works. I just put it on and calibrate maybe twice a day, if that. It’s usually pretty accurate, except for one time where it was wildly off and resulted in me treating a low (that didn’t exist) and raising my BG way too high. I should have known to double check with a finger stick because I didn’t feel low…
I was also happy to learn about compression lows here too, I hadn’t had an issue with it on my arm until I did!! Just recently, I wake up to the alarm reading 60, I was deeply asleep and I vaguely remember wondering why I hadn’t gotten an alarm earlier but gobbled up some apple juice. Went back to sleep and see this obnoxiously high reading when I woke up in the morning and it’s right after a hour gap in no readings, then the low reading. And then remember people talking about compression lows, hopefully I realize it next time it happens before the extra sugar!
I just switched to a new G6 sensor this a.m. after a full two sessions (20 days) on the previous one. AFAIK I could have rolled on to a third session, but I figured a full double was long enough. Didn’t notice any degradation of accuracy; the only thing that did seem to be an issue was that I started getting dropouts the last 4-5 days. One thing about the G6 that has impressed me is how very few of those I’ve been seeing as compared to the G5. Really just about zero until this last string of maybe three over four days.
Someone suggested somewhere that connection losses could be caused by the sensor somehow, not the transmitter as such, but that doesn’t make sense to me. It’s the transmitter that’s maintaining the Bluetooth connection—hence “transmitter”—and I wouldn’t have thought the sensor could have any effect on that. I’d be interested to hear what anyone else thinks.
I rarely get drop-outs with my G5. Are u saying that your G5 would miss quite a few readings?
Hi Marie:
Compression lows are not the same as drop-outs. When you have no reading for a period of time it is due to a drop out which is a lack of signal between the transmitter and the receiver. That can happen when your transmitter is pressed up against the flesh of a partner as bluetooth does not transmit through the body (body is 90%+ water and bluetooth and water don’t like each other). The signal can also be lost for other reasons.
Compression lows are the result of the transmitter being buried into the mattress causing a distortion, but no loss, of the bluetooth signal resulting in a lower BG reading in the neighborhood of 25-40 mg/dl lower than what you actually are, making you think you are hypoglycemic when the Dexcom alarm goes off.
I sleep on my sides so always place the transmitter somewhere between my xiphoid process and my belly button so that either side my transmitter never gets buried into the mattress and as a result never get anymore compression lows.
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Yes, pretty frequent Bt dropouts with the G5 for me. 2-3 times a week anyway. That’s why I liked having both the (old style) receiver and the iPhone app, because they’d rarely both drop at the same time. Can’t use the old receiver with G6, and that was one of the things I was concerned about before making the switch, but so far it’s been absolutely minimal except these last few days.
Are you extending your sensors past 7 days? I have never had BT dropouts between the transmitter and Dexcom receiver in the first 7 days, only when I did restart to extend sensor and even there I found places to insert sensor that give me 14 days without BT loss.
I get some “dropouts” sometimes, but not too frequently, with my G5. When I do get them, and if they are becoming constant, I know it is time to change my sensor. I can get 28+ days with one sensor. I might try to keep track and get an annual average.
I met someone today who has a G6. I showed them my G5 receiver and they said they didn’t have that. I nodded and said, you probably get it on your phone. She (our waitress) said yes but their phone is either off or the phone battery is too low (empty). She said by the time she gets to getting a reading, she’s high. She mentioned picking at the food that’s around probably contributing to being high. I thought with all the running she was doing (table-to-table), it would drop her. No pump; MDI. I showed her my OmniPod.
She was working, so we couldn’t talk too much. I might try to go back and open up another conversation. She said she was newly diagnosed, only about a year or so ago.
I haven’t read Sugar Surfing yet, but plan too some day. I hear that it is a great resource, so I might just drop off a copy to her. You can sugar surf with a CGM and MDI, yes?
The G6 has a receiver, yes? You don’t just have to use your phone, right?
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IMHO there are different reasons for what show as a connection loss.
One is an actual BLE connection issue such as something blocking the signal or being too far away.
Another issue is when the G6 transmitter intentionally stops sending a signal as the algorithms in the transmitter do not have confidence in the data coming from the sensor and as such do not send the data.
A third type of issue is a local app issue on a Smartphone. If this is the problem, it may require a restart of the app or a reboot of the phone.
We receive the G6 data on both the Tandem X2 and the Dexcom G6 Mobile App on an Apple iPhone. If the Phone does not have current data but the X2 does have current data then clearly the issue (of the moment) is not the G6 Transmitter but rather the BLE signal or the app on the phone.
On the other hand, if both the X2 and the iPhone suffer a loss of data at the same time, this most likely is the G6 Transmitter no longer sending the data due to unreliable data coming from the sensor.
In terms of the BLE signal strength, this was improved upon with the G6 as opposed to the G5. The X2 also improved on this with the Basal-IQ update.
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You can use the new (touchscreen) Dexcom Receiver with the G6 while also having a phone connected at the same time.
Which I am sure you are well aware.
So I would assume that you choose not to use the new receiver as you don’t like it?
(Understandable)
Absolutely. The G6 can use the new (touchscreen) Dexcom Reciver. However compared to the old receiver, the new one is (IMHO) a PITA to use. It seemed to be intentionally designed to discourage use of the receiver.
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Yes, that was the question. This started around day 15 or so, that’s why I was curious about the sensor being the problem rather than the transmitter, even though afaik the sensor doesn’t directly have anything to do with the Bluetooth connection.
That was my understanding and it certainly seems that way on the whole.
I didn’t get a receiver when I did the upgrade—my endo thought she’d spare me the expense and see how I did with just the (iPhone) app. I was apprehensive, but so far it has been fantastic.
I’ve had that happen once, but it’s a different error message—says it’s checking something and may take 3 hours. Fortunately it’s only happened once. The message for these dropouts is just something about losing connection and give it 30 minutes. Restarting the phone sometimes clears it.
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Thanks, @Tim35 If I get a chance to chat with her again, I’ll know to mention this.
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Absolutely. It’s the CGM that’s indispensable (unless you want to finger stick yourself ~20x a day!)
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