Last night I started a new G6 sensor AND new G6 transmitter (I’m on Omnipod5 and the G7 is not yet compatible). Lately I’m having issues with false lows on startup - those were rarely an issue in the past.
Around 2am I got an alert that I was low (54) but my fingerstick showed 120. I calibrated and went back to bed.
Around 5am I got a LOW on my Dexcom (<40). Fingerstick showed 80 so I had some juice and tried to go back to bed - but I’ve gotten a couple more low alerts about 30 minutes apart (starting in the 50s this time and rising). The difference is greater than 20% but calibrating too frequently can throw off the system so I left it alone.
My question is this: while I’m waiting for a snack to take effect, what can I do about the friggin’ alerts? I get them from my Omnipod controller as well so it’s overkill. Here are the low alert settings from my Dexcom.
Juices or sodas respond the fastest for me but it still can take a while. Any suggestions for adjusting the alerts?
You may ask why I actually went low (50s): I went into manual mode about 8:30 last night - about the time my warmup ended (a periodic reminder that you’re in manual mode would be helpful) so it looks like I need to review my basal rates.
Thanks!
@wadawabbit Dorie, I don’t have a solution for you other than the settings that you know about. I experience the same from time to time, to my great irritation (why only at night?!). I do as you: take a tab or two or some relatively fast acting carb (juice, we don’t keep regular soda in the house). The only difference is i often sit/recline in a chair downstairs so the alerts don’t wake the wife too. Once I’ve made this move, the alarms often stop; perhaps it’s the “exercise” of changed position, walking a few feet, etc. to get the body fluids moving. Usually takes 15-20 minutes for my “treatments” to start working. The one difference I often take is to do a double calibration on the G6 if finger stick shows I’m fine (think we’ve discussed this previously); perhaps that gets the G6 false low fixed, hence, no more alarms (usually), but it often creates a false high several hours later that also requires fixing (I usually forego the double entry).
For the alerts coming from the Dexcom App on your phone G6 Manual Page 152
10.4 Confirming Alarm/Alerts
Alarm/alerts require you to confirm them. How this is done depends on your display
device. If using both display devices, you need to confirm the alarm/alert on each
device separately.
Due to its medical importance, the alarm is more persistent. Even after the alarm is
confirmed, if your G6 readings remain at or below 55 mg/dL, the Urgent Low Alarm will
sound every 30 minutes until G6 readings are above 55 mg/dL. During this 30 minutes,
you won’t get Low or Urgent Low Soon Alerts.
and
Once you confirm an alert, the home screen will show the alert. You only get the alert
again if you go back into your target range and then re-enter the alert range
Note that confirming an alert means opening the G6 app and clicking OK on the alert message box.
If you are 100% sure the G6 is wrong and after treating you aren’t going to go low again the only way to silence the alarms on an iPhone is to quit the app. Quit and reopen an app on iPhone - Apple Support
I had this problem with a new G6 recently. I calibrated 3X within 15 mins, which a Dexcom rep had told me to do in the past. It worked fine after that. So, if it happens again, this is what I would suggest.
