Hi everyone. I put on a sensor at 7am ( been 7 hours) and it’s been jumping around. I had a low when I wasn’t low with a difference of 60 points. Calibrated and it was within 20 points. But it’s now done it again with a drop of 30 then a calibration. Dexcom says wait it out for 24 hours which is scary when the tslim relies on the CGM.
Curious if anyone is on the G7 and can compare it to the G6. Tandem says they have a limited release happening for integration with the G7. I have read it’s amazing. Also read it’s a buggy mess. Can anyone speak to their experience? Calm and health to everyone!
Hi @Spooky . I’m not on the G7 yet but wanted to say - while you’re waiting on your new sensor to settle down, use fingersticks and resist the urge to keep calibrating - tempting as it may be, that can confuse the system even more.
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The G7 is the same sensor as the G6. Individuals might have different experiences with it but generally speaking most people won’t notice a difference.
I put on a new G6 sensor yesterday and it has been bouncing around like a superball so I’m with you on the ugh factor. Just remember, if the Dexcom is reading lower than you really are the pump is going to deliver less or suspend. When the Dexcom bounces back closer to your actual number the pump will catch up. Or maybe you’ll need to bolus a bit. I’ve seen your other posts, you got this.
Up until 4am troubleshooting the sensor and making sure the pump was working correctly. Dexcom is so frustrating. They only replace the sensor and don’t offer and real troubleshooting. 2 hours for a warm up and 4 bad sensors meant the afternoon and evening was a bust.
Waiting for a call from Tandem advanced tech support today to explain why control IQ wasn’t kicking in last night.
Thanks for the replies everyone.
@Spooky the g7 sensor is not the same as the g6 sensor. Not in any way interchangeable. G7 is a shorter, 90 degree sensor. The physical sensor is similar technology, but it’s similar technology as the Medtronic and Libre sensors … it’s a platinum and glucose sensitive enzyme measuring peroxide formation rates and converting it into an electric current.
G6 has 2 parts, the sensor and the reusable transmitter. There isn’t much to troubleshoot. Sometimes crap gets on the contacts which is maddening, everything else comes down to replacing each part. Don’t forget the Tandem receiver is in this loop too.
I’m using g7. I have used g6 what are you looking for?
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What a great explanation. I am wondering about accuracy and sensor failures I sometimes wear a libre- is it similar in accuracy and comfort? I find the G6 bulky and the libre to be so easy.
@Spooky G7 is really small. I like that. No separate transmitter (1piece design) I like that too. It’s pretty close in size as Libre. G6 and G7 are about the same accuracy (by my observation) in day 2. G7 warms up and calms down way faster than G6. I don’t have enough data for a failure guess, it’s about the same as g6. Tape failure is about the same as well for me. Don’t forget it’ll still be a few months (?) before g7 will work with Pods or Tslim. Good luck
I’m getting my new tslim next month (looking forward to having this one now as a back up) and did get an email from Tandem about a limited G7 release. I am looking forward to the smaller size and the shorter warm up. With the 4 failures I had yesterday it was 8 hours of warm up time which was lousy. I didn’t realize Omnipod worked with a CGM. I was on it when it first came out and had a lot of issues using it and gave up after a year.
Thanks for all of the info again.
Some days I need to calibrate several times and others are ok. I am no expert but May depend on which carbs I eat and if I have mostly protein it’s closer.
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Hi There, I’ve been using the G7 for about 6 months and had used the Libre 2 before that (and also briefly tried the Libre 3). I’m on MDI. I’ve found that the G7 is more accurate than either the Libre 2 or 3- but ALL are least accurate in the first 24 hours of wear. The G7 can be calibrated, the Libre cannot (it is factory calibrated). One tip- because the G7 has a 12 hour grace period, I insert a new sensor the morning when the old one is expiring and wear both sensors for 10-12 hours- until the old sensor’s grace period runs out- at which point I pair the new sensor with my receiver & phone. In other words, I don’t pair the new sensor up with my phone or G7 receiver until the grace period expires, so that the older (more accurate) sensor is what I’m relying on that day. The G7 starts automatically upon insertion, regardless of whether or when it is ‘paired’ with the receiver/phone. This may help you.
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I want to get this straight because it sounds good. So you are saying you put the new G7 on before the old one expires and don’t pair it. The new one doesn’t then have a warm up period? And the 12 hours- is that how long it takes to settle in and be more accurate? Like the G6 takes 24 hours to settle in supposedly.
If I am following correctly this sounds like it would reduce some of the anxiety I experience when switching out sensors.
@Spooky the new one does have a warm up period of 30 minutes, but you don’t have to pair it to start the warm up it actually starts to warm up when you open the packaging automatically. Yes the trick I use is to put the new sensor on and do NOT pair it immediately. I personally only wait an hour because the G7 is pretty close for me but you can wait as long as you like if you time it perfect, when your old sensor “expires” it still gives readings for 12 more hours, and then it dies completely. If you put the new one in you can hold on pairing you can wait that whole 12 hours and have no gaps.
I pair it after about an hour because it works fine for me. actually I delete the old sensor first and then pair the new one. No gaps in readings if you do it this way. Yes g6 took 4-24 hours for me to settle down I usually ignored it the first day. Good luck.
Joe
Ok. I think I get it now. Wow! The first 24 hours on the G6 had been brutal for me. It’s very hard to stick with it when it’s saying my BG is 60 and it’s really 135 and I get these rapid falling off a cliff drops that aren’t accurate. This is exciting. I get my new Tslim in a few weeks and will have this one as a back up. Then hopefully in another month or two the G7 will be up and running. I got an email about signing up to be on a limited release for it.
Thanks so much for explaining this.
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Hi Spooky, The warm up is approximately 30 minutes for the G7 and it takes about 24 hours to get really accurate numbers. However I don’t want to wear two sensors for 24 hours, That’s why I use the 12 hour grace period of the older, expiring sensor to let the new one settle in/get more accurate. Does that make sense? A couple of things to note-Dexcom won’t allow two sensors to be paired at the same time even if using two devices (a receiver and a phone). So the new sensor will be running but you won’t see any numbers. However after 12 hours have expired and I pair the new sensor, I can see both graphs on Clarity- so I see that the accuracy gets closer as time progresses.
I’m due to change sensors next on 9/18 and can take careful notes of each step in the process and send them if you’d like ?
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? So the warm up for g7 is 30 minutes and g6 2 hours? I am still on g6 and never heard of attaching new sensor before the old one expires.
In case of g6 it it says it expires on 8:30pm do you insert new one at that time or earlier and see ink with phone at 8:30pm.
Yes please!!! That would be amazing
@eroig13 G7 total warm up time is 30 minutes. The warmup timer begins when you unscrew the applicator cap. So it begins automatically. so typical warmup times are about 22-25 minutes once you get it in your arm.
Since G7 DOES NOT have a separate transmitter, the new one can transmit at the same time as the old one.so you can play a game and have “overlap” instead of a 2 hour gap in readings.
The lifespan for G7 is 10 days. It expires at 10 days, but it keeps transmitting for an additional 12 hours - it’s called “grace” but it continues to give blood sugar readings. The designers do this because if (for example) you travel and your expiry is 1:45 AM, you can go ahead and keep sleeping and change it in the morning.
Yes. G6 warmup is 2 hours, during which you cannot get CGM BGL readings because you need the transmitter from the old sensor to start the new sensor.
Some folks on G6 stick in a new sensor and leave it in for hours without switching the transmitter. It can help with the accuracy if you allow it to “marinate” for a few hours, and it does not affect the lifespan by putting it in early, but it does NOT shorten the 2 hour warmup.
G7 cannot be restarted or reused, so all extension techniques (tricks) currently used for G5 and G6 are no longer going to work, at all. -hope this helps.
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I used the G6 for about 3 years and switched to the G7 about 9 months ago.
i would say that the G7 is overall more accurate, but for me if nearly always reads low in the first 12 hours or so. I’m in the habit now of chaning my G7 in the morning so that I don’t get any false lows in the night. Also, I’d say try to resist the urge to calibate it in the first 24 hours - in my experience it always sorts itself out - early calibration seems to confuse it.
Hope this help - good luck!
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@Spooky @eroig13 when you do pair the new sensor you will get 2 traces like this. The one with the open dot at the very end is the new sensor. good luck!
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