I’ve only seen this once (in six weeks of G6 use) so it’s not really fair to complain, but I got “Sensor Errors” and no BG readings while running G6 with xDrip. Naturally this happened when I was dropping fast about 15 minutes after an IM correction bolus (something I VERY rarely do) so I really wanted to be able to track my BG. Oh well.
Dexcom manual doesn’t say much. I assume this is the error I would have seen with Dexcom receiver: “Sensor Error alert: The receiver is not getting sensor glucose readings. You will not receive sensor readings, Alarm/Alerts, or notifications display until this error is fixed. Use your BG meter for readings. It may take up to 30 minutes for the system to autocorrect.”
Has anyone seen this before? Is it more likely to happen when BG is dropping very quickly (I’m thinking the sensor stops transmitting if it detects an internal error such as BG dropping unreasonably quickly?) Or does it happen for other reasons?
Since I hadn’t searched the manual entry quoted above, and since I had gotten no readings for about an hour, to recover I stopped and restarted my sensor. After the two hour warmup it started working well again. Was the restart unnecessary and just prolonged the blackout time?
I am under the impression (and I’m not sure if this is correct) that the sensor errors on the G6 are because it doesn’t have to be calibrated and it does a sensor error if it thinks the readings might not be accurate and the sensor wants a little time to try to sort itself out. So it doesn’t show you readings during this time because it doesn’t want you to make treatment decisions off of the number it thinks might be inaccurate.
I have seen them when dropping quickly from a high BG, so I’m guessing there is something to that theory. I’ve also seen it when at a steady high or steady in range though, so I don’t think it’s exclusive to dropping BG.
I have had sensors with an error for over an hour, but usually not much longer than that. You probably didn’t need to restart it but there’s no way to know how long that particular error would’ve lasted.
Thank you, that helps. FWIW, this could also be a sign that a sensor is getting close to the end of its useful life - I got “sensor errors” again two days later, also when I had an overnight high that I was bringing down (normal injection, not IM this time). It was mute for less than an hour then recovered for a while, but readings were noticeably jumping around soon after, which I’ve learned here is when sensors should be replaced. Replaced on day 17 of the sensor. To be fair, I am probably pushing sensors longer than I should, but that is part of my learning process since I’m new to CGM and still pretty far down the learning curve.
Yes, it’s common for the G6 to report sensor error when there is a abrupt change in bg. Then again we have had many sensor errors with my daughter’s G6 and quite a few that ended with sensor failure. Overall it’s not nearly as stable as G5 especially for children.