Guardian 4 Sensor Failures Medtronic

[deanfeast]

Hi everyone, I’m keen to understand from this forum if anyone else like myself is having issues with the Medtronic G4 sensor Failing.

I’ve noticed over the past 2 months that I’m very rarely getting past three if not four days use before the sensor fails with no prior alarm such as the usual “sensor updating”.

I’ve had no issues with adhesion, and I’ve had no issues with blood contaminating the sensor site.

I have contacted Medtronic support, and they suggest it could be a faulty batch, but they would not know for sure.

Have any of you found any tips for improving sensor life so they reach the maximum seven days as advertised?

I look forward to hearing from you all.

 

[Rokaab]

I know if mine fail it has normally been on the day of inserting it rather than 3/4 days later
About a month or two ago I got really pee'd off cos a whole load failed (5 out of two boxes ) - Medtronic replaced both boxes cos they reckoned it may have been a dodgy batch as well - if all your failed ones are the same batch it could be the reason - especially if you haven't had the same repeated issue before

 

[Nicola M]

I rarely have failures and if I do like @Rokaab it's usually within the first day and doesn't come out of Sensor Updating. I've heard before that being dehydrated can affect sensor life and I know that if my blood sugars are changing either way quickly (low->high and vice versa) it can make my sensor go into updating and then fail.

Like above if it's all from the same batch I would request a replacement set from Medtronic. In all fairness though if my sensor fails before the 7 days are up I slightly unplug the transmitter and then clip it back in and hit "start as new sensor" it rarely if ever fails again and I still change it on what should have been Day 7. I always make sure with finger pricks its accurate after restarting it as a new sensor, I've never found issue with doing this, I think sometimes the sensors just aren't happy so they fail but there's nothing wrong with them. If they were wildly inaccurate before failure then I wouldn't start them as new again though.

 

[Phaid]

Since I started using my arms and not my stomach I've had no failures. I know it's a pain to apply the sensor one handed but it's worth sticking with and it does a get a lot easie.

 

[Alistair Wood]

Hi everyone, I’m keen to understand from this forum if anyone else like myself is having issues with the Medtronic G4 sensor Failing.

I’ve noticed over the past 2 months that I’m very rarely getting past three if not four days use before the sensor fails with no prior alarm such as the usual “sensor updating”.

I’ve had no issues with adhesion, and I’ve had no issues with blood contaminating the sensor site.

I have contacted Medtronic support, and they suggest it could be a faulty batch, but they would not know for sure.

Have any of you found any tips for improving sensor life so they reach the maximum seven days as advertised?

I look forward to hearing from you all.

I hate the G4 sensors with a vengeance. Sticking one on your arm is almost impossible. Why such complicated strapping? And why such a complicated procedure to get the sensor to connect to the pump? They tend to last about 5 days if you're lucky. I also have Freestyle LIbre which is a doddle. I know it is only a sensor not CGM but nevertheless the attaching and inserting is so much easier. No tapes whatsoever.