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Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Playing With Leftover Medtronic Enlite Sensors

So, I found another Medtronic Enlite sensor from the trial I packed up for a trip I took this summer and I have been playing with it a bit.

First, I had to insert it manually and this is much more difficult than it looked without proper instructions. But I got it and have worn it for nine days. Shhhh! Don't tell anyone. I'm actually going to restart it again this morning and see if I can sneak another three days with accuracy.

I am of course, using my old Medtronic Minimed Revel 723 pump, so it thinks the sensors end after three days, so I have to restart each time. At the end of the sixth day, I disconnected the transmitter and charged it, then reconnected it and started it like a new sensor. I got three more days, so now I'm going to try another restart and see what happens.

I'm so desperate to keep these sensors, I want to stretch them as LONG as possible. Over the trial I wore a sensor every single day and got mighty used to always knowing my blood glucose. I have grown reliant to the alarms to tell me when things are awry, so not wearing it creates a problem. I stubbornly refuse to use the harpoon sensors, but may be forced to if the FDA doesn't get its a** in gear and get this approved.

I'll let you know how it goes, but I want to be clear, I am stepping outside recommended protocols for using this sensor. I don't recommend doing this. I simply have nothing to loose as the end of my sensor life is very near and I want to see how long I can stretch it with accuracy!

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I am very interested in your outcome with this unconventional use. Please let us know the outcome and the site condition after you remove the sensor. I wish that our FDA would alow it'S citizens the opportunity to use a device that the rest of the world has used for close to two years.

Wendy Morgan said...

Well, Day 10 not looking good. One Cal Error upon first calibration. I'm trying again when my BG's are perfectly stable, and I will report back.

Wendy Morgan said...

Well, I didn't get another restart, but I am 99 percent certain that I would have had a better outcome with the inserter device. Doing this manually is a real challenge. But I got nine days, so not bad. Now, will someone at Medtronic and the FDA get on it and get this sucker out?!?

Unknown said...

I just commented on your G4 post--but this post got me thinking even more... you were able to use the old transmitter with Enlite, hmmmm This leads me to think that the answers I've gotten from Medtronic are really FDA answers...like the mySentry was approved for the Paradigm revel but not the Guardian..so maybe unofficially it would work with the Guardian (at one time the on-line mySentry manual stated that it worked for both...but that manual is down now). Sorry to keep going on...but the reason behind my questions is that my daughter would love to "pod"...but I have so much money in the mySentry and the fact that I rely on it, that I don't want to give it up to switch pumps. If the Guardian would work with the mySentry I would let her try the pod... I am happy with Medtronic pump, but she likes the ease of insertion of the pod, waterproof (more or less) quality, etc. So many factors to consider!

Wendy Morgan said...

Howdy Robin,

I tried the Enlite sensors with my revel and the old transmitter. The issue I have was that the Revel was programs to end the sensor in three days, so I had to restart it like new, without actually changing it. I am pretty clueless about the Guardian. I have never looked at it, becuase my daughter has worn the pump since she was four.

I think the rub might be that if the My Sentry is bluetooth enabled, it reads from the pump. So maybe the Guardian doesn't have the same bluetooth set up. Again, I don't know diddly about the Guardian, but that is what I speculate

Scott E said...

Thank you for this! I know this is an old post, but now that the Enlite is approved in the US (as of yesterday) I'm hoping to begin using them without having to replace my old Revel. It sounds like it will work, it's just not "approved"