Yep, the sure sign of impending sensor doom. I can understand why people will nurse a sensor along as long as possible, but this is a great example of where I would bail out. I typically get 16-20 days of reliable data, sometimes a few days more or less, but rarely a lot more.
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I’ve noticed the shorter life with the recent batches of G5 sensors. Usually I get 28 to 35 days out of a sensor, the most recent one failed on day 22
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Awh man, your last day was even worse than mine. LOL Gotta love that random jump from dead low to high.
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Agghhh…
At step 5) After the timer expires, start the sensor on the first device… …when do you reinstall the alcohol cleaned transmitter?
Sorry, thanks for pointing that out. I edited my original post with the steps.
The transmitter gets reinstalled after the 15 minutes has elapsed, right before you start a new session.
Drat! I think I modified the process a tad!! I hope it works for me!!.. …t-minus 114mins to activation… …warmup in process!
No kidding. There was plenty of warning over a couple of days, typically repeating arching patterns that have data gap jumps.
Anything to get another couple of days 
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Update: violated @Robyn_H updated procedure. Started the timer, started the sensor, & entered the sensor code on the pump. Then installed the transmitter.
Android device G6 app, found it & as with the pump, the app had started the 120min countdown. Calibrated this morning, device was measuring high by about 2.5mmol/l over meter. Seemingly all good. Thank you all for your support.
Question: blood at the insertion site has not been mentioned. Noticed small amount of old blood visible through the clear plastic housing, when the transmitter was removed. Concerns?
I would just make sure to clean the transmitter is all.
I am never concerned with a little blood. Usually they seem to give excellent readings. I did pull off a Libre once that was bleeding some through the middle hole of the Libre, no big deal, but I had huge area of bruising around it. It looked nasty. I wasn’t sure what was going on under it. But when I pulled it off the bruising was only around the outside and a circle of normal skin was under the Libre. Never figured that one out.
You didn’t “violate” it too badly. Lol. You did the important part, making sure the transmitter had no contact with the sensor for 15 minutes.
All you did was tell Dexcom to start collecting new data before it physically could, but it would have resolved itself within the next 5 minutes of plugging the transmitter in.
Happy you got it up and running!
Blood is usually no problem. “Bleeders are readers”
I just tried my first G6 sensor restart but couldn’t get the sensor out of the receptacle (or whatever the correct term is) stuck onto my abdomen. Does anyone have tips on how best to do that?
I found it helpful to practice on a sensor I removed already, but didn’t snap in half. But once you get it, it’s super easy.
You know the weak spots on the sensor plastic where it would usually break in half to remove the transmitter? Very close to that point on both sides, there’s a tiny clip that locks onto a divot in the transmitter. All you’ve got to do is force something very thin and flexible down between the transmitter itself, and the plastic housing holding onto it. Since there’s a spring in the base of the sensor, the transmitter will actually jump out at you once it’s released on both sides.
Some people use a test strip, but that’s the most difficult one, in my opinion. Others have bought guitar picks off the internet, which seem to work great.
I had really great success with the corner of a thin, plastic-laminated insurance card. But have since switched to a hair clip. The metal ones that you flex to open/close.
If you open the hair clip, the wider end will flatten out. You just stuff that wide, flat end of the opened clip down the side of the sensor. You should hear a faint “click” when you get it. Remove the hair clip and repeat on the other side. I really recommend doing this over the couch or something soft, because sometimes the transmitter ejects itself!
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Hi Robyn,
Many thanks for the tip!
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I found the hair clip easier to hold compared to test strips, and depending on which brand of strip, some were not stiff enough. No problems since using hair clip, but have not tried a guitar pick that several have mentioned also works well.
@Robyn_H how often had you need to calibrate your sensor after a restart. I’m on day 17 and I think I’ve had to do it on a daily basis since day 14. The whole day it’s okay but all of a sudden it get out of wack.
It depends on the sensor, really, but usually I barely calibrate at all days 1 through 18-23ish (except for startup calibrations, of course), and have to calibrate a lot more as the sensor nears it’s end of life. I trust it enough, that I almost never test anymore during those early days. And as long as I keep calibrating during the last session, I can keep limping it along until it starts getting too erratic and loses data.
Until the very end, the data is still reliable, it just starts to drift a little. So a calibration will knock it back down to where it should be. If a sensor is being particular difficult, but still yielding data (no missing dots on the graph), then I’ll sometimes do a pre-emptive restart. A lot of timrs a restart will stabilize it, and you’ll get more life than you thought you could.
I’m on a new sensor right now, but near the end of the month I’m going to try the “no code” method, now that I’ve learned it doesn’t force you to calibrate at a given time. I think since I’m calibrating often anyway (1-2 times a day) near the end, it might just be easier to go the “calibrations required, but we’ll trust anything you say” route.
It sounds like you’re probably nearing the end. You’ve done really well with your first sensor, though. A lot of people can’t get any restart time. I think I only got like 14 days on my first sensor, but sugars were crazy then. I had no clue just how crazy! I wouldn’t give up on it yet, though. I’d suggest you stop the session and restart it one more time without entering a calibration code. I’d love to see how long you can get when you’re not fighting the internal calibration programming.
Sometimes I just get a really 
y sensor, and I have to calibrate it constantly. Those ones, I usually get Tandem to replace after a week or so, though. They drive me crazy… Tandem expects your Dexcom data to be reliable. They have zero qualms with sending you a new sensor if you tell them you had to calibrate three times in a single day because it’s too far off.
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Wow, you’ve gotten two restarts out of a single sensor? I’m so jealous! I can usually get one restart, but then start getting a lot of gaps in my chart and sensor errors. I usually put in a code for my restarts though. Do you think leaving out the code on the restart, and just calibrating twice a day will help me get extra restarts out of my sensors too?
I do get several restarts, yes. But I couldn’t in the beginning. It wasn’t until I was able to get my numbers in really good control that I started getting the long life. I honestly think that the big post-prandial spikes a lot of us experience after meals eats up all the reagent in the sensor, or something. I’ve seen others theorize that it just has to do with keeping a lower average. I really don’t know. I know that control is paramount for me in extending life, though.
If I’m sick or otherwise struggling, I know I won’t hit 30 days.
I don’t think it’s just as simple as control, though, because I know there are others with good control that just can’t get the same life I do. There’s got to be a body chemistry factor there, too, which is unfortunately outside of our control.
I honestly can’t answer if a no-code restart would help you get extended life. I would think probably not. Though, if you’re getting dropped data and are willing to possibly waste 2 hours warmup time for nothing, I think it’s worth seeing if any type of restart would help. I often think a sensor is nearly dead, but the restart seems to revive it.
I’ve never tried a no-code restart, but I’m going to try it on day 20 next time. I usually have no problem just calibrating the sensor after the first restart, as the difference is small. The second restart, though, is a lot more troublesome. Since the sensor is off by WAY more that 100 mg/dl, it can take hours before I get it back in line. Sometimes my pump rejects the calibration and have to keep entering them many times over before it believes me. It’s this day 20 PITA I’m thinking the no-code method would be easier for, since Dexcom won’t have any preconceived notions I have to break. If you don’t struggle with the initial calibration after a restart, then I don’t see any inherent benefit for doing it the no-code way.
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Oh I definitely struggle with inaccuracies after a restart. I always have to give it a full 24 hour period to calm down. The less I calibrate it, the better it seems, oddly enough. Usually. It can show up to 150 points high, which always freaks me out but I never dose according to dexcom anyways.
Interesting theory about being in better control helping dexcom work better. I’ve been eating low carb for several months now, trying to follow Dr Bernstein and also lose some weight, and it seems Dexcom has been fairly accurate. Until this week when I ran out of omnipod’s and had to switch back to mdi and can’t seem to bring my blood sugar down into range at all. So that theory seems to hold some weight.
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I always use the code when restarting and I’ve had them last all the time past 25 days. I don’t think it makes a difference on putting in no code. But since I’ve never tried that I don’t really know except they last just fine for me with a code entered.
After that initial first 24 hours I hardly ever have to calibrate them until the next restart. If they start being off it usually signals the end of the life of the sensor. Usually I start to lose communication around the same time.
I can’t stand the first inaccurate readings so I always immediately calibrate and usually a few hours later. And then I fine tune it the next morning.