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Dexcom G7 sensor passing it's expiry date in the middle of a 10 day session

S

Skater P

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
My current G7 finishes on Tuesday evening (27th) when I plan to start my next sensor but it has an expiry/use by date of the 31st printed on the packaging.

What do you think is going to happen? Would be interesting to know if anyone else has been here before.

If not, place your bets! I'll tell you the results on the 1st
The current options (runners and riders) are:
1. It just reach the 31st and stop transmitting (I assume my app have that date as the sensor end)
2. Just carry on to the normal 10 day +12 hours "grace" passing the listed expiry date
3. Turn into a (hopefully small) pumkin after midnight on the 31st

I may start it a day earlier to experiment with another app/phone setup over the weekend.
 
Why does it have such a short expiry date @Skater P ? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed such a short date. Have you been using the G7 for a while and this sensor got pushed to the bottom of your stash, or has it been recently sent to you by Dexcom? If the latter, contact them and tell them.

Finally - and first - are you sure of that expiry date? I ask because sometimes packaging contains a manufacturing date which can look like an expiry date. I’ve had to look twice a few times.
 
Inka said:
Why does it have such a short expiry date @Skater P ? I don’t think I’ve ever noticed such a short date. Have you been using the G7 for a while and this sensor got pushed to the bottom of your stash, or has it been recently sent to you by Dexcom? If the latter, contact them and tell them.

Finally - and first - are you sure of that expiry date? I ask because sometimes packaging contains a manufacturing date which can look like an expiry date. I’ve had to look twice a few times.
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All good questions Inka, I should have added some more context. 🙂 It was a short notice tide me over between me choosing between Libre and Dexcom and the sensors arriving, arranged at v'ry short notice* by the local diabetes team (and they gave me another one for after the short shelf life one)

*Because I'm disorganised and always seem to have to do things around bank holiday weekends
 
I think these expiry dates are very much like best before dates. They don't suddenly stop working or become bad in the case of food after that, but are not guaranteed after that date. It is likely based on a very conservative battery life or possibly adhesive shelf life. I would be very surprised if you have any problems with it as a result of it expiring during use, but I imagine Dexcom may not replace it if it did fail after the expiry date.
 
rebrascora said:
I think these expiry dates are very much like best before dates. They don't suddenly stop working or become bad in the case of food after that, but are not guaranteed after that date. It is likely based on a very conservative battery life or possibly adhesive shelf life. I would be very surprised if you have any problems with it as a result of it expiring during use, but I imagine Dexcom may not replace it if it did fail after the expiry date.
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In the case of G7, I suspect the expiry date could be built in to the sensor. I'm finding there is some sort of "pause" or "freeze" digitally activated default built in - perhaps in conjunction with the geolocator (which kicks in if it thinks it's operating in a country (or environment) for which it is not licensed. Even though the sensor talks to my android phone by Bluetooth it seems to need a definite connection to the Internet. When there is no Internet for a while, the app freezes and phone readings stop.

I also have a hand held Receiver, which happily carries on under these no internet circumstances. This scenario is different to when the Receiver [the equivalent of Libre's Reader] is accidentally compressed or (very infrequently) just misbehaving. Then both phone and Receiver provide mirror messages, which can lead to a declared "sensor fail and replace" process.

I'm in Newcastle upon Tyne and yesterday we travelled to the Beamish museum. During that journey my phone temporarily lost its mobile data and subsequently the G7 app froze, remaining frozen well after mobile data resumed. Same thing while around Hadrian's wall on Friday. I know this issue is inherently a weakness of my phone service provider (Three), which seems to have very patchy service coverage, with a poor signal all too often - while my wife's phone is still happily getting a signal from her service provider. I'm now out of contract with Three and can resolve this. But last week a frozen G7 app while in deepest Dorset/Devon and this week while in Northumberland - with the common denominator of lost phone signal and data. Couple that with while travelling in France and a part day excursion into Germany (unlicensed G7 countries) 2 years ago and the ferry to Jersey last year (no phone signal at sea) - the evidence is accumulating.

The tech has become too clever, for its own good. There is no logical reason for an app to freeze just because a phone temporarily got no Internet connection. My instinct is that Dexcom have overrestictive (overprotective) security protocols. They openly claim the same logic of security protection that prevents you from taking a screenshot on your own phone of any G7 app displays.

I love my G7 all round performance - until the phone and lost signal create a longlasting app freeze, which is more than a brief intrusion and needs user restraint to NOT comply with the apps solutions of reinstal the app, restart the phone, or change sensor.

I shall be interested to hear the outcome of your experiment, @Skater P. My bet is the sensor will stop. I will assume the undefined egg timer date is the day the sensor stops, rather than the last start date with a further 10 days use. Built in to the software in the sensor.
 
If the sensor was going to stop working at the expiry dates, i'd assume it would warn you on set up/not set up at all. That would make more sense than just switching off with no warning
 
Tdm said:
If the sensor was going to stop working at the expiry dates, i'd assume it would warn you on set up/not set up at all. That would make more sense than just switching off with no warning
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I want to agree with you. Every bit of me is saying of course you're right. But with Dexcom and it's ability for a G7 sensor to "drop" you for what must be inbuilt security contradictions that accidentally bubble out, I'm not sure you are correct.

A couple of telephone calls last year left me feeling the Dexcom "cop-out" is "just change your sensor (and out of politeness but not sincerity) we're sorry you've been inconvenienced (but we don't really understand how stressful unexpected sensor failure can be)".

From @Skater P's perspective, fitting the new sensor on 27 May and see what happens is a logical decision. There is an awareness that the sensor might stop early and equally an awareness that Dexcom will replace it. And the potential stress and hassle is reduced because this is now a known possibility. @Skater P will gain a few days free sensor usage if there is failure after 31st May. My G7s come from a Hospital contract, as a box of 9 x10 day sensors, several days ahead of the 90 day contract renewal period. This does give me G7 stock reserves since I had surplus stock carried in from my prior self-funding period. So early failures are still manageable for me.
 
Fingers crossed it just carries on for you @Skater P

I would hope that having started up it will be fine to continue for the entire duration of the sensor.

That was what would happen for me with G6 when the (separate) transmitter. Was coming up for expiry. It would start the sensor and give a “This is your last go, mind!” Warning, but then run absolutely fine until the sensor ended.
 
Let us know what happens!
 
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