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Permalink Reply by Roark on March 15, 2012 at 12:13pm

I see this too. One sensor works great and the next just seems like its on drugs. Doing one FS every hour for 2-3 hours when your BS is fairly stable seems to help, but not always.

Interestingly the sensors that fail early for us are the same ones that display this condition early on.

So.. Dunno! YMMV!

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Permalink Reply by Molly on March 15, 2012 at 2:53pm

I'm a new user. Have you put in additional BG readings? Am I making it worse? I agree I had some trouble getting this one in, the little plastic piece snapped of before it I put the sensor part on then had to try to jam it together.... I still find it helpful, I just don't want to make the same mistake next time I replace the sensor.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on March 15, 2012 at 1:00pm

Hi Molly, I've found that site does play a factor in accuracy for me. There are certain spots on my abdomen where a sensor is sure to fail if I place it there. Weird I know. I've found that, for me, my arms are much more accurate than my abdomen. My thighs are more accurate also but it's more comfortable for me to wear it on my arms. You have to try different sites to see what works best for you. Some people are the opposite of me and say that their abdomen is more accurate than arms.

I have my low alert set at the highest setting the Dex will allow to help me with lows at night as I am hypo-unaware. I'll occasionally get a false alarm due to inaccuracies but it's saved me more times than not.

I also do extra fingersticks to calibrate when it's running off by 20 or 30 points. It seems to me like it helps...plus I can't stand just leaving it off by that much.

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Permalink Reply by Molly on March 15, 2012 at 2:49pm

Thanks! I haven't thought of using my arms. Where exactly do you put it?

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on March 16, 2012 at 7:35am

I put mine on my upper arm even to where my arm connects to my torso (sort of even with my armpit) facing frontwards. In other words, I put it where I can sleep on my side and it won't be underneath my arm. Placing it here works for me because if I bump into a doorframe or something it doesn't get hit.

The only part of having it on your arms is that you have to be careful when changing shirts.

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Permalink Reply by Helmut on March 15, 2012 at 5:20pm

Molly,
I can never trust my dex 100%. Still, on most days I prick my fingers only twice a day for calibration. How can I tell when I can trust the dex readout? This is definitely an art, not a science. The dex is right more often than not. This is how I learned how my body responds to certain foods at certain times of the day. If the dex tells a different story then I prick my fingers. Sometimes the dex is wrong, sometimes something else is wrong and the dex is right. Without the dex 12 finger pricks a day were not enough. Now I average about 3. If the dex readout is expected then I forego the finger prick. If not, I test my BG.
It's a little bit like judging whether your kid is lying to you.

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