Medtronic 640g and Enlite sensor life

Hi there! I've had the 640G since October. I've watched a video of how to insert the sensors/transmitter to get the most out of them... it involves making sure they are situated with the sensor pointing to the north or south. So up/down. And when the inserter is placed on the body, not pressing at all - just have it held lightly in place. Lots of problems are caused by the sensor or transmitter being able to move (being up/down helps with this) and so making sure they are firmly taped in place is important. I use Tegaderm film over the whole thing, which my GP supplies.

I also remove the transmitter when it says the sensor is up and recharge. I do this by having a special pair of tiny, very sharp scissors, and I cut round the transmitter very carefully before pulling it from the sensor, making sure I hold on to the sensor.

The sensors are not okayed for being put in the leg, but I find the leg and arm are the best place for them - your torso twists and stomachs are very movable things. in fact my last few sensors have lasted through 12 days and one longer than that by being situated north south on my arm, removed and recharged before being put back and firmly taped again.

Spicey245 said:

I have tried the enlites with my 640g pump. I was not impressed by them at all, it was turning off my pump saying I was low when I wasn't and giving readings which were nowhere near what I actually was. :-( I've got the Dexcom on at the moment (trial by by diabetes centre) and am now on my second week with it performing really well. Not had any problems with the Dexcom at all and the sensors apparently will last a long time unlike the enlites.

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Stupid question .... Is the Dexcom linked to the 640g then ...... or just standalone?
Darren

rowleyd3 said:

Stupid question .... Is the Dexcom linked to the 640g then ...... or just standalone?
Darren

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The Dexcom is a separate cgm that isn't compatible with the 640g. You can use the Animas Vibe with it as the transmitter otherwise you need to but a departed transmitter for the CGM.

Glad I was able to refind this topic. I'm now restarting my first sensor. The recharge and connect worked nicely. Let's see how we get on with the sensor!

The Enlite's become inaccurate when calibrated with rapidly changing blood sugars and stop working if the blood sugars more than about 25% out of sync and ask for a new sensor. so it may help to delay calibrating if you have a arrow showing rapid change in BG. Other than that I've had no problems with mine and they've been reasonably accurate

An extra 16 hours out of the sensor before it became unable to calibrate and told me to replace it. Not quite what I was hoping for...

Medtronic told me to switch off the sensor for a couple of hours, if there is a great difference between blood glucose result and the Enlite reading. I've had to do this a few times but most of the time the readings are good. I have had some problems in the past but now I insert the new sensor at night but don't attach the transmitter till morning. Touch wood, I haven't had any rejected calibrations since.

I have very sensitive skin and had to stop using the overtape and change to Microporous tape. This doesn't look very nice but is much easier to pull off, to remove the transmitter. Because my skin is so sensitive, I have only tried extending the life of the sensor a couple of times. The longest I got was 12 days which I was pleased with.

Found a new restart mechanism on the sensors today. My sensor expired, and I'd forgotten to bring my charger to work. So I went into the sensor settings, and turned the sensor off on the pump. I then simply disconnected and reconnected the transmitter, and turned the sensor back on on the pump.

It happily went into warm-up and calibrated and meant I didn't have to do too much. The transmitter only has 47% battery, but that's not an issue.

Good to know, tim2000s, thanks for that.

if the sensor readings show (a arrows for rapid change as this may allow it to get 25% out of sync) or more than +/-25% it will ask for a new sensor as that triggers sensor failure in the pump according to the support staff and they say do not calibrate till the isig reading is stable or around 25 that shows in the sensor menu from the top bar. if you ask they will tell you how to get a sensor if it gets more than 25% out of sync but last time it happened was ages ago and have forgotten but they will replace the sensor if they only last 1-2 days

I'm new to this sensor lark as I no longer have much hypo awareness. My first one lasted 6 days so am assuming that's the Lifespan! Loving cgms though.

You can remove the transmitter, making sure you don't move the sensor, and recharge it. Then reconnect the transmitter and start the sensor as a new one.

I have only gone as far as 12 days in total (I have sensitive skin) but others have gone beyond that.

Bit of a resurrection of old thread but wanted people's opinion who were using the medtronic Enlite.

Are you still using or have you moved to another?
What time spans are you getting now, have you found a method to consistently get longer than the 6 days?
Does positioning/taping help with this? Do certain places give longer life or more consistent blood sugar results?

I am currently using libre but want the alarms and complete recording without having to worry if I miss a 8 hour window. Am torn between Enlite and dexcom, as u have the 640g Enlite is good if accurate as can suspend and works with pump so no extras to carry. But dexcom seems to be more consistent according to life and accuracy in most tests and can be displayed via watch without these nightscout set ups, so thought I would find people who had used Enlite as I think most go straight for dexcom.

The question is what do you want? CGM or the Predictive low glucose suspend? If it is the latter the only place you will get this is with 640G and Enlite. Bear in mind the Guardian 2 transmitter also stores 10 hours of data if disconnected from the pump.

Most of the comparisons you'll hear about on line use the older mini link transmitter which isn't anywhere near as good.

Have a read of this: http://www.diabettech.com/cgm/whats...n-easy-question-with-a-more-difficult-answer/