I finally got the bad inserter that can’t retract the needle.
My most common problem is I have almost 0 sensors that work fully.
Usually they fail most on day 2 and mostly at 2 am and wake me to say my glucose is at 30 when it isn’t. I have no way to shut off the alarms the rest of the night till it recovers.
I also get messages there is a problem and to calibrate at 11:20. This is when the time is already 11: 40! This often takes about 10 more messages and strips before it resolves.
The good news is they usually work fine once I get beyond the bad day.
@YogaO, you ever get suspicious about temperature damage during distribution? Are these things getting shipped across the ocean from the Philippines? I’m getting more and more suspicious about seeing such variable rates failure between shipments.
Whacking anything that doesn’t work is the best!!! Because at least I feel better by doing so!
I use the back of my arms, so you do have to go by “feel” to take out the transmitter, I do have a hubby as a back up if needed. But if I use him I have to hear about why am I restarting my sensors and is it worth it etc etc, no matter how much I tell him I like restarted ones better. The front of the arm was really easy to remove the transmitter but it got more raggety on the front of my arm and both times didn’t last quite as long on restarts.
Don’t remember the lot #s but they replaced every one of them. Just a pain to have to call so often.
If memory serves, didn’t someone say that they track the # of replacements and when it gets to a certain threshold, you get put on a naughty list or something? I haven’t been tracking, but it seems like more and more and not working either with this issue or not lasting the full 10 days.
I recently read that last quarter Dexcom year over year sales were up 42% and they plan on doubling production of the G6 in 2020 while they tweak their G7 for 2021 delivery because currently manufacturing can’t keep up with G6 demand. That makes me nervous and I will stay on G5 as long as possible or until quality issues and potential delivery issues have been sorted out.
I was also interested to read that Abbott freestyle libre worldwide sales exceed Dexcom sales, however, Dexcom still holds the lead in the US.
Well Abbot has virtually a monopoly type set up with UK and Europe. In UK for example only 17% of type 1’s even qualify to get a CGM/Libre. Less actually get it, but that is their aim. They just don’t offer Dexcom. A good percentage of people self fund the Libre themselves and Dexcom is self funded over there at a lot cheaper price. ($175 a month) But I believe most/all? of Europe is the same way.
Well, let’s see. First, Dexcom’s manufacturing is in Mesa/Phoenix, AZ area. Second, no I don’t worry about heat damage to what they are making.
I think it’s a quality control issue, and I think that getting the defective inserters back will help them identify the source of the problem. Whether that leads to a solution is another question.
That may have been true at one point, but in an interview with Dexcom’s CEO about moving CS/TS to Manilla, he said they had been manufacturing there for some time and were comfortable with the workforce and business environment. Now that doesn’t mean they’re making sensors there because it could be transmitters or components that go into the sensors and transmitters. Injection molding is dirt cheap there compared to the US, so perhaps some of the inserter parts come from there.
I’m considering if there have been any major changes to their manufacturing process/location because that frequently impacts quality control. We see some physical defects popping up. But, I’m unsure what to make of the accuracy issues. Because it seems to pop up and affect some ‘shipments’ of supplies, I’m guessing that there’s some physical issue with the devices.
That’s good info about injection molding. I can’t find any info about Dex’s manufacturing process anywhere. Looks like manufacturing is still in the US, by their job postings, but I know there have been significant changes at those locations in the past couple years…from posts on Tu.
Absolutely. I notice around day 8 or 9 my sensors have begun to get sensors errors and have been way off as far as their accuracy. The trending arrow disappears and I have gaps all over my graph. I usually just replace my sensor at the first sign of this as once it begins it never stops…
I have been using the G6 for over a year now. I have had a few maybe 2 or 3 over that timeframe that didn’t connect to my pump. So when that happens I called Tandem, they did a few troubleshooting items and 2 did reconnect, 2 was a loss. And last month I had one that won’t insert. Sorry I didn’t know about the wooden spoon beating. Anyone remember a parent back in the day or maybe it was a nun?!
So I had to call Dexcom on that one. So in the past year only 2 that needed to be replaced but for different reasons.
And as stated before, you need to wait at least 15 minutes before you start up the new sensor.
Not sure why the sensor would have anything to do with connecting to the pump or any other receiver. All communication takes place between the transmitter and the receiving device via BT. The sensor shouldn’t be involved. Interested in how Dexcom explained it.
I have not had problems with phone connecting when starting a new sensor just with the pump. Which is why the pump says to call Tandem not Dexcom as it is a problem with the pump connecting not the sensor as it does connect to the phone. But of course I need it to connect to the pump to get full benefits of its systems. Never had a problem, always very helpful and they just record the lot number and send me a new one. Thankfully it doesn’t happen a lot. Once or twice.
Yep, I have a complicated prep system, so it is at least 15 mins before I actually get to the point of starting the new sensor. And usually the sensor is auto-stopped before I get to changing it.
