Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by KevinMR on December 10, 2012 at 1:47pm

I just finished my 4th Gen 4 sensor. The first one lasted 13 days and was absolutely perfect from the first minute until the end. I killed it on the 13th day just because the tape was going bad (the original adhesive plus the Opsite tape.

Second sensor was operating perfectly through the first seven days, but only lasted 3 days in the second week..."???" showed up and never cleared.

The third G4 sensor was a disappointment. It behaved more like a Seven or 7+....bad readings and it gave false "Low" readings. After several hours of bad performance one day, I killed it. That was just the third day with it.

The 4th sensor so far has been like the first...absolutely perfect. Hoping I can get close to 14 days with it as well.

Permalink Reply by Laddie on December 10, 2012 at 5:33pm

I also have my first Gen4 sensor inserted in my arm. I am new to using arm sites, but the first arm site I used was the best 7+ results I ever had.

I usually got about 10-14 days from my 7+ sensors. Sometimes 16 days. My first year of using the 7+ system was much better than the last 6 months. Don't know whether it was sensor quality or me, but I'm been frustrated. Even at the worst, Dexcom has been tons better for me than Medtronic.

Permalink Reply by MaryMary on December 11, 2012 at 4:58am

I think that we will try arms next. Michael has always used arms, but that is why he was frustrated having the receiver go out of range when it was in his pocket with the 7+. That happened a lot to him. Melissa is now wearing and liking the pods on her stomach, so it is tough finding real estate for them both.

Permalink Reply by Clare on December 10, 2012 at 1:47pm

I love the Gen 4. I have had mine since Nov. 12th and except for the very first day of any sensor, it has been within ~20% of my Freestyle lite meter readings. From the sound of it the Verio might be a bit off ? I have had the current sensor vertically on my arm since November 30th and don't plan on changing it out until I start to get some really off numbers. I have not had "false" alarm lows during the night, I have had real alarm lows during the night, which makes me sleep a whole lot better.
I do hope you like it as much as I do. Good luck.

Permalink Reply by Laddie on December 10, 2012 at 5:35pm

I watched part of the Dexcom DVD this afternoon, mostly the calibration section. Talk about glossing over the fine points of using a Dex. Yes, you calibrate every 12 hours when things are perfect. But what about the rest of the time. Every technical rep seems to tell me different stuff when I call.

And then of course it ignores the fact that the meters we use are unreliable.

Permalink Reply by Clare on December 10, 2012 at 6:32pm

I calibrate when it tells me to, or when I feel as though my blood sugar is not what the dex is indicating which is rare.
I have had 2 instances where I felt low and the dex said I was not. I was right in both instances and it was the same sensor which they did in fact replace free of charge.

Permalink Reply by MaryMary on December 11, 2012 at 4:54am

That is really funny about your power going out, because the same thing happened about a minute after I plugged Melissa's G4 in for the first time. I couldn't believe that little thing had caused us to lose power, but it was the middle of the day and no storms or anything. Then my neighbor came knocking and said theirs had gone out also. They thought it was something that they did too, replacing a thermostat at the time lol. We got a kick out of that.

Permalink Reply by Laddie on December 11, 2012 at 6:04am

Our power outage happened about 15 minutes after I plugged in my Dex, but it did take me quite a while to realize that of course the unit wasn't charging even though it was plugged in....

The Dex was not super accurate for me last evening or through the night. It kept running high which is at least a change from always running low. It seems to have settled down after multiple calibrations and I hope to see more accurate numbers today.

Permalink Reply by Clare on December 11, 2012 at 6:27am

The first night I had it on I did not sleep at all, if it wasn't buzzing I was high, it was buzzing I was low. The trainer said for the first day of a sensor you should set all the alerts as high and as low as the unit would allow set. So I set the high to 350 and the low to 60 and hope I won't reach either number. Even the Dexcom literature says the first day of the sensor is only 71% accurate, but by day 4 and day 7 it is at 87%. Of course on day 7 when the sensor is super accurate, you're supposed to change it out ?

Permalink Reply by KevinMR on December 11, 2012 at 12:15pm

Clare, your point about Day 7 accuracy is why many here have had good experience re-starting an existing sensor on day seven. Performance in the second week (or at least as long as it will last in the "extra" time) is usually pretty good.

Permalink Reply by Clare on December 11, 2012 at 1:02pm

I agree Kevin I wore my first sensor for 12 days and got consistently good performance. I only changed it out when it started to become inconsistent with the glucometer. I got a piece of marketing material from Dexcom the other day "Discover Dexcom" very pretty, glossy advertising for the G4. They compared 3 CGM's accuracy over time.
The G4, the 7+, and Medtronic Revel. The numbers day 1, 71%,77% and 81%, day 4, 87%,80% and 65%, day 7, 87%, 70%, 41%.