My son was supposed to connect to the guardian connect yesterday.
Unfortunately the Medtronic rep had 2 broken transmitters and we could not register a new account as there was a technical problem with their website (so no alerts for parents during downtime?).
We went home without the sensor with hope to get this rescheduled soon.
I am concerned about the QA of the product and the SLA Medtronic commit to.
Has anyone encountered these issues before?
I would appreciate some feedback to overcome my concern or make a decision to change our selection of sensor.
I have used guardian, but I have not had these issues, not to say that a CGM isn’t complicated and can fail.
Plenty of people use Guardian, and Dexcom, with varying results for comfort, accuracy, cost, etc. I suppose the only real “plus” for guardian is that it integrates directly with Medtronic insulin pumps.
It might be a good idea to check out Dexcom, before you make a final decision. Please realize that for some people, CGM doesn’t work, or if it does, doesn’t work that well. For others CGM is a brilliant and life-saving technology.
As with any CGM technology, there is a sensor under the skin, a local (and very small) power supply and radio transmitter, a local receiver, and in the case where you want to watch you son’s BGL, a connection to the internet (another cellular or wifi connection and a web site). In my opinion, that is a LOT of things that can go wrong and so I would expect this system to not work perfectly all the time.
That said, the follower on the DEX as well as the Medtronic Connect systems certainly do work.
@idanblum Hi Idan, as with just about all electronic devices, especially those that require connectivity, something can go wrong. I’ve heard very high praise for CGM devices currently approved for use in the U.S, [Abbott, Dexcom, Medtronic, Senseonics] and I’ve also heard complaints; each have their favored points so I advise that you look into all choices, talk with the Company representatives and then make a choice that best fits your son’s lifestyle and your needs and fits your pocketbook.
For me, the Dexcom G5 has been the very best diabetes management tool that I have found and used during my seven decades living with diabetes. All of the glucose monitoring devices have software utilities that upload data from the device - I find the Dexcom Clarity application outstanding in that it allows me to accurately identify trends and subsequently make adjustments in my insulin dosing.
Being a tech guy for systems much less critical, I committed to 99.999% up time and critical bugs SLA of 1day.
I was just amazed that equipment and systems crucial as these reach that level of failure.
I’m glad there was no storming of replies from people experiencing the same and I get the feeling this is not common.
Thanks
It’s not entirely common but it does happen. I agree with your assessment. There are many single point of failure risks and currently CGM is not very robust. I am sure there was sacrifice for better affordability even though the systems are expensive. Good luck in your choice I hope it works for your son.