Anyone else having issues with sensor not lasting 7 days? When my son first started with the Dexcom, a sensor would last a full week and then we would restart it and it would go for another full week. Our DNE told us that some people were able to restart them 3 or 4 times and they would continue to work.
For the past couple of months, we can’t even get them to last 7 days. Frequently, they stop working at 5 or 6 days and when we try to restart, they don’t work. Last week we had one that worked for 2 days! Dexcom is always good about replacing them, but I would just like to be able to put one on and know that it will last a week and not have to keep calling them.
We even changed the location where he was wearing it to see if that was the problem. Anyone have this issue?
What do you mean when you say they don’t work? Do you mean that you have trouble getting a signal or that the readings are off?
I ran into problems getting a signal for awhile. I called Dexcom, and they said the problem was that I wasn’t deleting the old transmitters from the list of Bluetooth devices on my iphone under Settings > Bluetooth. You’ll see a list of all the Dexcom transmitters ever connected. If you have too many listed here, you can run into signal problems. You can delete all but the transmitter you’re currently using.
Not sure if this is your problem, but it’s an easy fix if it is.
Welcome, @mlg!
@Katers87’s could be one of the reasons. But children often have problems keeping their sensor alive when they are lean. For my kid, who is 13 and lean, this happens often.
How does your sensor die? What is the symptom?
@Katers87 I will check to see if he deletes them. That is good to know!
@Michel That’s what Dexcom told me today. My son is very lean and they said you need an inch to pinch. He doesn’t really have that anywhere.Where does your don place his?
I can tell when it is going to die. I start getting crazy numbers. Last week I got a low alarm in the middle of the night. It said he was 47 going down. I went and checked his bg twice and he was around 180, so I re calibrated and then woke up an hour later and it said he was high, which he wasn’t. Then came the ???
Last night, it alarmed and just said “sensor failure.” They have been lasting 2-5 days for the most part in the past 6 weeks or so.
When we first got it a couple of years ago, you could even restart it at the end of 7 days and not have to replace it for 2 weeks. Has anyone else done this? Maybe Dexcom fixed it so you can no longer do that.
I still restart my sensor session at the end of 7 days and then continue to use it. I’ll use the sensor for as long as my readings are good and the tape is staying on (also use Skin-tac for this). Usually I can keep a sensor on for 1.5-2 weeks, but not always. The back of my arms work best for me and give me the best readings. I haven’t had the kinds of problems you describe, but I’m probably not as lean as your son.
Your son is pretty athletic, right? Do you think he’s lost fat since he first started using Dexcom?
I’ll second the back of the arm and 1.5-2 weeks… though right now my sensor is falling off and its been 6 days but I was in a hurry and sloppy getting it on.
We now exclusively use the back of the arms and have less issue than we had with other sites, and routinely get two weeks, occasionally a little longer.
@Katers87 I think you may be right. He has been working with a new trainer since August, so he probably is losing fat and gaining muscle. He has exclusively worn it on his left arm. I thought maybe he was getting scar tissue and that was why it wasn’t working well anymore, so we moved it to his butt. Unfortunately, he cannot use his right arm because he pitches.
Multiple locations are a good idea to limit scar tissue, but I think this is definitely more of a priority with pumps than with sensors. I’m surprised he’s not having more absorption problems with his pump if lack of fat is causing the problem with his sensors. My younger sister had real trouble with pump absorption problems when she was younger and very thin (though not because of athletics, just naturally thin).
Sounds like it was a good idea to try out a new spot. Maybe there are other spots that could be better? I’m not sure what your son’s fat distribution is. I’m sorry I don’t have any other suggestions!
Ours doesn’t either. Probably the most reliable area is around the abdomen for us, but it still isn’t very good.
Some thoughts:
- we have noticed significant improvement to his sensor life when he hydrates really well. We live in the upper Midwest, which is quite dry in winter, and we noticed his sensors fail more in winter. We ask him to drink a tall glass of water many times per day, and it appears to make a difference to us. In fact, I have noticed that he goes straight to the kitchen to drink a glass of water whenever his sensor drops
Is the symptom “signal loss” or “???” (or the hourglass)? Bluetooth problems are always a signal loss issue.
We often get 10 days to 2 weeks, but we also have short weeks (4-5 days), and sometimes 1 day (lean kid). We have used abdomen, thighs, and back of the arms. We like using the back of the arms for pods, so we generally use other locations for the sensor.
Understandable. Our problem with most of the other sites is they were getting ripped off pretty often. And baseball catcher isn’t the best with the abdomen, it hurts when it gets hit while blocking. Additionally, while pump sites seem to need lots of rotation due the tissue damage from insulin, the sensors are easy to move around a very small area without developing scar tissue.
One thing to consider also is that, if he’s sweating and the sweat is getting between the sensor and the transmitter, this could cause the loss of signal. It is possible to remove the transmitters, clean them, and re-insert them. You may try this if you believe this may be an issue.
For our son, we use his upper arm solely for the CGM and we usually get 2 weeks (or close to 2 weeks…sometimes 12 or 13 days) life out of each sensor. But our son doesn’t get hot or sweaty often (when he’s chasing his brothers around the house mostly), so he doesn’t have a lot of moisture issues with his sensor/transmitter.
Anytime they get wet, there is a chance for signal loss, but you can remove the transmitter, dry it off, clean it off, then re-insert it.
That is an interesting thought. We live in the Northeast where winters are also very cold and dry. I will have him try that!
Sweating could also be an issue although a lot of the failures come overnight when he is sleeping. Next time, I will try to remove transmitter as you say and clean it and try to restart. Thanks for the input!
@mlg, are you sensor problems always “???” or “sensor loss”?
Hmmm. What about love handles area like lower outer back? I’m not sure it wouldn’t work for me as a swimmer but I do have a small area with a little more fat there. I don’t think at least the catcher gear mlb guys wear would be in the way but I’m just a fan. I’ve seen some pictures of dex’s on some pretty low fat areas like forearm, pecs, and calf but no practical experience with places like that.
Agree with the hydration as first thing to check try I’m having dex issues. Its very dry in Colorado and I’m a runner… I’ll be at all 3 Cubs @ Rockies games in April and Cubs got Morrow now (so I can cheer for him, I really couldn’t last year since I bleed Cubbie blue).
I like the love handles too because that’s where I have the most fat. I have used them for my pump, but not for my Dexcom because I’ll get pressure lows if I sleep on my back.
The only time when it’s really a sensor problem is if you get the ? ? ? or the hourglass. The sensor loss always has to do with Bluetooth for me.
So you really need to know if the problem is ? ? ? or signal loss.
I think you must have had a sensor loss error then. I have sensor loss errors almost every day unless I restart my phone. So I restart it every evening before going to bed. I have an iphone.
@mlg, I am 13 and I also get that from time to time. it goes in series. For months I’ll be fine, then I lose several sensors on a row after a few days. I am also rather lean, because I am a swimmer.
Mostly “sensor failed” message. Sometimes we get the ???. Dexcom said when that happens, wait up to 3 hours and if it doesn’t come back replace the sensor.
He usually puts his Omnipod on the lower back and the cgm can’t be too close to it.
He also gets sensor loss errors and just has to restart his phone.
Lucky you! I am a Red Sox fan, but Brandon Morrow is my favorite player!
Cool! I was a freshman in my dorm at MIT in 04 when they won… could see the Fenway lights from the roof and the screaming went on all night long 
That was pretty cool. I didn’t follow it as much then, but I did spend 5 years in Boston area 01-06 between boarding school and the first part of college so I know a bunch of Boston sports fans.