I see this all the time. Several hours of nothing. It blanked out while I was running and stayed with the “???” question marks for several hours today. It came back for a very short time and back to the “???” question marks again. Basically, I’ve gotten nothing from this sensor for over 6 hours now. And all I did was run.
This sensor is only 3 days old!
I think I have more problems with Dexcom than anyone. The ironic thing is, I follow the rules more with Dexcom than any of the other diabetes rules. When I consider all the normal D rules I break, it’s kinda odd that Dexcom is like the only thing I don’t do anything crazy with, and look what I get out if it.
Yes we sure are, and if it’s worth it for them then by all means I encourage them to pursue it. I benefit from them from time to time to help pin down patterns, etc… but it’s nowhere near my bread and butter of management
I love it. We don’t use it consistently but when it is on - it is the best thing since sliced bread.
Calibration this morning was off between meter and Dexcom by less than 5 points. Last calibration was 24 hrs ago.
Before you call Dexcom for a replacement, you might want to do a sensor stop/restart. Even if it doesn’t work you can let Dexcom know you tried it. I would expect if not then they would ask you to try that.
Also - Did you try removing the transmitter and wiping both surfaces (sensor/transmitter) with alcohol, giving it a few minutes to dry then clicking the transmitter back in place? This is what we do after a shower when the ??? happens and it is effective. Maybe a run/sweat is similar to shower?
@Eric Sorry you’re having so many problems with your Dexcom.
My Dexcom was, and continues to be, lifesaving for me. Prior to using it I would do finger sticks maybe 15-20 times/day, and I still had problems. I wear it every hour of every day and would be much worse off without it.
You probably don’t have enough fat for the sensor to be stable. My success with it probably revolves around the fact that I don’t have that problem
6 hours is more than enough. this is part of the reason i no longer use my dexcom. i got ??? everyday; and i spent most of my time calling for replacements. i thought it was b/c i am so thin that i didn’t have enough sub-q fat on me, but then i thought about all of the athletes who have great success w/ it, so i knew that that could not be the problem.
it frustrated me more than anything. so i hung it out to dry and have not used it in over 2 years. i would rather do multiple (sometimes 20+ ) finger sticks than deal with that F-ing sensor.
Yeah, not to be that jerk, but I’ve generally had extremely reliable results with Dexcom. Usually calibrations are within 10 or so. I’ve even gone several days without a calibration before, and was only 15-20 points off—while that’s rare for me, I often go with only 1 calibration a day once my sensor is settled in and performing well, simply because it doesn’t seem to need more to stay on track.
It would be great if someone did a survey with a broad sample of Dex users to examine what user characteristics and usage practices predict reliable sensor functioning. I do suspect having a decent bit of fat to put mine on on my stomach helps a lot.
Every support call I’ve ever made to Dexcom included them asking me the question, “Are you lean?”. I know they were not asking the question to be personal. So certainly there is some reason for that particular question!
While that sucks for lean folks like yourself, for people who are not, like me, it’s sorta of nice that, for once, having some extra fat is a good thing, heh. They really ought to preemptively warn people about that though.
We fingerstick if a CGM reading that does not make sense. Doesn’t mean the CGM is wrong - we might just need to think through. But if any doubts then we fingerstick.
With that being said - the CGM accuracy is unreal (good sense - lol) - For Us at least.
For me, given that with blood sugar readings alone for many years, I never was close to getting my A1c to where it is now, I’d take Dexcom over meter no question (assuming you use the meter still for the needed calibrations), even though I wouldn’t want to be without my meter as backup or to double check extreme/quickly changing readings occasionally.
But it’s a fair question. And I think it makes for a worthwhile discussion and exchange of opinions, thoughts, feelings.
If nothing else, if each of us examines the value we place on each, I think that is beneficial.
I’ve made no secret of the fact I believe both are better than one, and they perform different functions. But if I could have only one, I would make my choice in a New York minute. For me it is not even close.
