Yesterday I was in the process of starting a new G6 sensor, and was about 1/2 hour into the warm up when I got a Sensor Error. Anyone else had this? The application went smoothly.
The error went away after about 15 minutes and the warm up continued. The sensor was low compared to finger sticks, and I got about 4 incorrect low alarms over night. Then today I got an urgent low alarm at 44 when I was 101 according to finger sticks. Then I got another Sensor Error, so I called tech services.
They told me that any time I get a sensor error to immediately stop the sensor and put on a new one. He said the sensor error means the transmitter has detected something wrong with the sensor and it’s not worth it to continue to use it. I hadn’t heard this before. He also said that even though G6s are approved for use with Tylenol it’s better not to take any. Opinions?
I hadn’t heard that from Dexcom i.e. the sensor error issue. Thanks for reporting that. It helps to stay on top of what they say.
The Tylenol (Acetaminophen) issue means to me that while they solved the issue (things like acetaminophen artificially raise the current the sensor sees, leading to a higher reported blood sugar than actual) from the ability to market it, they didn’t really solve the issue, like acetaminophen won’t affect the sensor. I suspect they added a new coating that excludes a normal dose for a period of time, but if the dose is higher or is taken for too many days in a row, you overwhelm the system and it has the same old performance it used to.
They started asking about Tylenol and Acetaminophen a few months ago. I questioned the rep on this because Dexcom made a huge deal about the G6 not being affected by taking Acetaminophen. The response I got was you can take it but once you reach 1000mg the sensor will not work properly. This is a far cry from their original marketing BS that the G6 can be used while taking Tylenol or anything containing Acetaminophen.
The acetaminophen issue is important to me as I have rheumatoid arthritis and can’t take NSAIDS any more due to renal damage ( from taking NSAIDS for 20 years). And I’m not thrilled about going the opioid route. So all I had left was acetaminophen. Don’t know what I’ll do now.
So the issue is that acetaminophen raises the expected blood sugar reading, but it doesn’t actually harm the sensor. So if your dose is fairly consistent I would guess you could get acceptable performance using calibrations.