Not mirroring a blood glucometer from a finger stick is one thing. A dozen low glucose alarms a night is another…going off so frequently that one is reaching the state of exhaustion due to lack of sleep. It’s expected that due to measurement of interstitial fluid, a fifteen minute lag will occur…but that implies that in fifteen minutes, the CGM will catch up. When there’s a 100% error in the values and they never catch up, when one is normal and the other is setting off alarms, that’s a failure. When the CGM gives a single datapoint every two hours, for twenty four hours and then gives a failure notification, as mine did yesterday, requiring replacement again, that’s not acceptable. That’s a failure after three days. When one has replacements coming from the manufacturer at any given time…always coming because so many have failed, so often, that’s unacceptable. When one runs out of sensors because they’ve all failed and there are no more left before replacements arrive…that’s also unacceptable, and that’s been my experience. Several times.
Right now my sleeve is discolored from the fluid weeping from the location of the sensor removal yesterday, and my arm feels like it’s on fire…both arms, actually. I’ve run out of locations on the arms because of the sensors, and some places a month or more later, are still inflamed, leathery, weeping, or have sores, rashes, welts, etc. Films, underlayments, bandages, skin treatments, etc…so far, nothing seems to work. The problem is getting a sensor to last the ten days, fifteen days, etc. Not have a wife poking out the back in installation. Alarms around the clock for low glucose.
For Abbott to suggest it was a few people globally is to suggest the absurd.
If you have not tried Skin-Prep (brand name of product) it is worth a try. Be sure to not use alcohol on you skin, it does significant damage by stripping it of natural protection and drying it out.
@Carbless Both you and another member seem to have taken offense to my comments. To be clear, no offense was intended. If I had the issues you relate, I wouldn’t be using the devices any longer, preferring instead finger sticks and MDI until I could find a method to allow more automated means without the consequences you outline. I hope you find relief and an alternative that works for you!
I used skin prep. It seemed to help initialy, but the skin is thick, and inflamed, and wept fluid for days, soakign through my sleeve, after the sensor was removed. It feels like a burn now; hurts to get in the shower, feels like it’s on fire. Same for the location where the sensor was on top of an underlayment. Didn’t help.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what’s causing it, whether it’s an allergy, or a chemistry problem. A lot of users experience it, enough that it’s one of those most commonly discussed aspect of the sensor (and to be fair, it’s not just this sensor). I see clearly the marks from sensors 30-60 days ago, something more typical of scarring.
I’m the poster-boy for lack of allergies. I’m so non-remarkable and non-reactive that if the industry says that they need someone disposable with no notable history or use to society and need to test hammering a nail into the head, I’m their guy…no known allergies. Until now, apparently…but allertic to what? The only allergin in the known universe, to which I may be reactive…and they found it. A remarkable achievement on their part. Thanks, Dexcom. The saving grace is that the sensors don’t seem to need to stay in place the full ten days, because they fail too often. Another replacement is due to arrive at home in a few days…I have replacements in shipping all the time, due to so many failures.
Too bad I’ll be overseas, and unable to get the replacement…I can’t carry enough sensors to keep up with the fialures, or get replacements, until I get home again. This is a consistent fact that just keeps happening.
Can you imagine a car on the market, with this kind of track record? Can you imagine getting in an airplane for a flight to Grandma’s for Christmas, knowing it has a near zero chance of making it? Dexcom and Abbott don’t seem to suffer too much with such a track record. Just us end-users. They’re doing a remarkable job of uninstilling confidence in their product, however.
I would suggest that possibly you are having a reaction to the adhesive. There are some here that have, and have discussed tactics on how to mitigate any possible reactions. As I said previously, I’m not a Dr so I could be way out in left field here
Another sensor failed today on the way to Incheon. It was my last one, until I can get home. It replaced the last sensor, which failed. That one was a replacement for another failed sensor. I believe presently I’m at a 97% failure rate, in the G7.
Unimpressive, to say the least. This one lasted six days . The last one, just three.
@Carbless sorry to hear about your extreme failure rate! I hope that your last sensor will last the rest of the trip.
I am a bit confused by your thread posts though. It seems that you are seeing failure both from Abbott’s sensors AND from Dexcom’s. To me (no offense intended) this seems to indicate that you are possibly not…
Having strong skin reactions to both the Libre and Dexcom sensors is not a common issue.
So, despite your past expectations, I would suggest talking to an allergist about this?
I know this is not something you are accustomed to doing. FYI, for my first 50 years I also was convinced I had no allergies, until I found out that I appear to be allergic to a pill-making substance that is present in most anti-histamine pills—out of all things! So, given my personal experience, I totally understand that we may well be convinced that we have no allergies, yet eventually find out to the contrary.
It’s kind of an odd thing that most thing we become allergic to, we weren’t before. Poison ivy, oak and sumac will not cause a reaction the 1st time one is exposed and maybe not the next 100, but then it does.
If a drug that was never a problem then causes hives - NEVER TAKE IT AGAIN! The very next dose may cause anaphylaxis and death.
I am a bit confused by your thread posts though. It seems that you are seeing failure both from Abbott’s sensors AND from Dexcom’s. To me (no offense intended) this seems to indicate that you are possibly not…
I’m a liar, then?
I experienced a 100% failure rate on the Libre 3 and Libre 3 Plus.
For a brief period, transitioning from the Libre to the Dexcom, I wore both, for comparison.
Presently I see a high failure rate on the Dexcom.
The last failure, yesterday, occurred during warm-up, and occurred after three minutes. Go figure.
Having strong skin reactions to both the Libre and Dexcom sensors is not a common issue.
Strong skin reactions to the Libre sensors was not the issue. The fact that every sensor failed was more of an issue. Not all of them quit: I considered grossly unreliable readings, or constant low glucose alarms going off all night to be failures, too. Not once was the alarm legitimate. If the sensor isn’t doing its job, then it’s a failure on the part of the sensor. Addressing failed sensors with Abbott was a royal pain, however, and after the first few times, I gave up even reporting them. Dexcom, on the other hand, doesn’t bat an eye at sending out replacements, and doesn’t even bother to ask any details about the failure…apparently springloaded to replace failed sensors…something that doesn’t happen when failures occur only rarely.
As for skin reactions not being common for Dexcom users…was that a joke?
Where did you see this in my post? I’ll be happy to apologize if you can find a reference.
Any person who provides a lengthy reply is trying to help. You have used the same form of interpellation to several of us. As for me, I have found that the best way to get help, and to get along, in a community, is to always assume that others are animated by the best intentions. It is almost always true!
When you tell me that I say I am having failures on both sensors, and you can only conclude that I am not…it’s hard to see that conclusion any other way. I said I am, because I am. You said I’m not. If you’re correct, that would make me a liar.
I asked if you were joking when you suggested that skin reactions to the sensor are rare. They’re very common, and a common source of discussion here regarding the Dexcom sensor. If one were to suggest it isn’t a common thing, the most charitable response would be to presume it a joke.
I’ve been told here that the my experience is so rare, I should be a special study by the manufacturer, as if what I’ve experienced is unusual. That is an insult. It’s dismissive. What I’ve experienced is common and one needn’t read far in any of the threads by participants here to see that many others experience similar. Perhaps discussion of the problem as it exists is threatening to a sense of well being? If someone is experiencing a problem, they must either be exaggerating, lying, or an outlier?
One needn’t read far to find plenty of others experiencing the same. Mine is hardly an aberration.
You are the first I recall who seems to have issues with all CGMs you’ve tried. There are folks who have expressed allergies to a particular make or model but you seem like all CGMs give you issues. If you haven’t tried them all, maybe try others on the market. If that’s not an option, honestly not sure how to help except state what others already have. Stop using CGMs altogether and go to full time fingersticks alone, which you haven’t indicated cause problems for you.