Just when I thought they had it right, finally, the same old crops up with the Dexcom G-7 blood glucose sensor and my night's sleep is blown yet again.

First, when this thing works it is amazing. The problem is that it has about a 30% failure rate.  They supposedly addressed the reliability issues which had it failing at nearly 50% back in May-Oct of last year.  The last 3mos it has been better but.... the last three have failed in far less than the 10.5 days they are supposed to function.

When these things fail it can play havoc with blood glucose as the insulin pump has no BG data to manage BG against.  Though the pump does go to default insulin basal rates upon sensor failure so if carbs are not a big part of caloric intake BG can stay fairly stable until you can test BG with finger sticks and a BG tester then enter it into the pump.

The annoying part is that the Dexcom app starts screaming when a sensor faults out which stands you bolt upright in bed, along with your mate. Even that would not be so bad if you could clear it and get back to sleep and put a new sensor in when you wake up. But noooooooo.  It screams at you every few minutues until you start a new sensor.  The pump can be muted in settings so it only vibrates with no auditory alarm. But not the phone app screams at you until you consume another sensor so it basically torments you until you spend more money on the ridiculously unreliable product.

They have a new version that is supposed to be a 15day sensor, but I am not sure I want to go forward with another Dexcom product at this point. I have made my living for the past 25yrs in the reliability engineering space and would do myself in if equipment I had any relationship with from a design. manufacuting, or quality perspective was as big a POS as the Dexcom G7 is.  

So, the last one I have on hand just synched with my pump and my phone. Let's see if it will STFU and do its job long enough for me to get back to sleep.


 

Last edited by Rags (1/23/2026 4:30 am)