Hi I bought the enlite sensor in the summer. I found that wasn’t very accurate. Right after I got the sensor it alarmed me that my blood sugar was high so I continued mowing the lawn, then I started seeing white dots I knew my sugar was low. I’m glad that I didn’t correct the high sugar. I’ve had some other issues with it to be honest I’m not big fan of Medtronic product to begin with. I wouldn’t waste your money.
Meghan
Okay, for those of you using the Enlite I am on my 4th week and 2 of those weeks I have had bad readings from my Enlite sensors. One only lasted 4 days and when i called in I was told it was “pinging” meaning the insertion site was probably not taped down enough and the cannula was coming out and not reading correctly. The other time I injected in and held against my skin for 10 seconds, but when I released it the entire set got caught in the delivery device and I could not use it. I touch the tape and it was NOT sticky.
You have to calibrate 3-4 times a day – more then the other sensor. Only within normal range.
So far, I give it a 3 out of 5. Maybe I need a little more fine tuning.
They did send me 3 replacement Enlites.
Minimed doesn’t tell you this (for whatever reason), but it takes time for the sensor to “learn to read you”. The more data you feed into the algorithms, the better it gets. Hence my 6 weeks of being miserable with my new pump/sensor setup. I’ve read similar accounts from others in the DOC, so it’s not just me that’s finding this out. I think it’s the same for Dexcom too but don’t know personally.
@ScottT how is yours coming along. Any better?
I believe that is true too! I used to put my sensor in the night before and turn it on in the morning, I never had a problem with numbers being off that way but, I am not sure how the enlite works because I haven’t tried it yet.
I used the Dexcom sensors in the past, which I really loved! Now I use the Enlite sensors with my 530g pump and I’m pretty happy (I didn’t think it would even come close to my g4 sensors). The Enlite is painless to insert, comfortable to wear, and I’ve had 0 issues so far. I am 5’9 and 125lbs- very little body fat so I was worried as well but it’s been great.
The Enlite sensors work awesome, in my opinion. Not quite as accurate as Dexcom was throughout the day, but I would say it’s been pretty close for me, no matter how I sleep on it. It has accurately identified when I was predicted to go low a few times (checked blood sugar 15-20 min after each alert and was around 70 each time). I also had 1 emergency where I was dropping very fast and ended up very low during the night. It had given me a “predicted low alarm” and then right after I cleared it, it gave a “fast fall” alarm. I checked glucose and it was 74 (sensor had me at 87). I got out of bed and grabbed some juice. I had worked out that evening without adjusting my basal/Bolus settings, and my blood sugar literally plummeted hours later as a result. My glucose dropped lower and lower- lightening FAST and my pump was alarming all over the place! It ended up suspending delivery when I dropped to 55 and hadn’t touched it yet (I had already disconnected it from my body after the fast fall alarm) and was also busy shaking, chugging juice, and finger stick checking my glucose. I am really grateful that I had a warning! I went as low as 47. Clearly, not. fun.
Update — I love the Elite … but you really only get the 6 days. I’ve tried restarting and I have maaybe gotten 7 days one time.
I’m hating the new enlite sensors I got. First, they’ve been wildly inaccurate. I’m not talking the usual 10 to 20 point lag behind the actual finger stick measurements, I’m talking over a hundred points off. It will claim I’m low and I find I’m up around 200. And vis versa. It seems to start off bad when you first put it in. After a few days, it gets much more accurate but then as it gets older (like a week) it gets weirder and weirder and finally starts issueing cal errors when it is so far off the blood stick measurement you just put in that it won’t believe it (arrogant little thing, what does it think I’m lieing to it about my blood sugar!) and then finally gives up with bad sensor.
Second, the insertion routine is not easy to remember/follow. I just ruined my third sensor. If I get it in the insertion device wrong or pull up at the wrong time or push instead of hold on the green button, it fails and can’t be corrected. You have to throw the whole thing away. I was so mad this time I tore the stupid needle container apart and got the needle and tried to insert the new sensor by hand. I don’t want to have to look up the instructions on how to use the insertion device each time. It should be more intuitive and more forgiving. In frustration I went back to my old soft sensor and used it.
On the positive side, I do like the strait in insertion and the fold-over tape tab.
Update — I love the Elite .. but you really only get the 6 days. I’ve tried restarting and I have maaybe gotten 7 days one time.For me, the battery in the MiniLink transmitter dies somewhere between the 6'th & 7'th day. In order to use an Enlite longer than this you need to gently, ever so gently, remove (cut away if necessary) the overtape holding the MiniLink transmitter so that you can remove it and recharge it. However, you must be very careful to not disturb the inserted Enlite sensor when you recharge the transmitter.
Here is a link to the Enlite insertion vid I’ve liked the most of the ones I have viewed.
Enlite insertion vid from UCLH dated Aug 16, 2013
Note how the presenter demonstrates twice how to overtape the Enlite sensor. I currently believe that taping the sensor so that it is held snug against your skin is necessary for it to function properly. You want to ensure that the sensor probe will not “piston”, that is move up and down in the insertion site, or it will not function properly.
-iJohn
Now after over a year with Enlite I can usually get 7-8 days with good accuracy. Here is my method:
- CGM ends
- I turn OFF the sensor feature for about 2-4 hours
- Turn it on and link to NEW sensor
- Within 20 minutes It’s asking for a meter reading
The longest I got was 8 days. I also find that the location also influences it a bit, but I only use my stomach and other locations for infusion sites - mainly thighs.
ST
Why would you turn the sensor off for 2-4 hours before restarting? All you have to do is another Start Sensor New after you receive the Sensor End alert (or before then, actually, it the timing works better for you that way.) The last time I did this the MeterBG Now alert came back in under 5 minutes.
This is the procedure anyone with an older pump (like me) has to follow. My Minimed Paradigm 723 has the sensor age hard coded (apparently) to 3 days. So to get six (or more) days with an Enlite (or Harpoon if that works for you), you need to issue another Start New.
FYI, here is a link to the (old) instructions Medtronic put out to get six days out of the Harpoons (aka Sof-sensor).
NEW: Extended Glucose Sensor Use (for pre-530G pumps)
The same procedure should work with a 530G & Enlite. The only change is that the 530G is hard coded to a sensor age of 6 days, not 3 like my 723 pump.
I am surprised you are able to get 7-8 days of battery life out of the MiniLink transmitter. I had to recharge it to get further than the 7’th day. Oh, well.
-iJohn
I have had an Enlite sensor for a year. The first 6 months were okay but now, it stops working correctly at night and constantly alarms. Last night it said I was below 40 and when I tested was 98. If your blood sugar is that far off, it freaks out the sensor, essentially causing a malfunction requiring you to put a new one in. I’m not doing that at 2am. I ended waking up with a BS of 48. This has happened for the last 6 weeks or so. Medtronic said first it was because I was sleeping on my side so I switched to my back. Then today they said it was because I was sleeping on my back. They take no responsibility. I absolutely hate the Enlite sensor. My A1c was 6.1 before I got it and now it’s 6.7.
I hate my Enlite! it’s often wrong especially at night. Medtronic gives me the same answers - must be in their playbook!!!
I read in one of the comments that you can only get 7days charge for the Enlite transmitter, but the manual says 14. Can any1 confirm or deny this? I’m only on my 4th sensor, so it’s too soon to say if I hate or love this thing. The very 1st sensor was off by at least 50 points 100% of the time and kept waking me up 3nights in a row with false lows. but I think that was more to do with human error. the second sensor was pretty spot on and lasted for about 9days. The third sensor was half way between the first two, sometimes off and sometimes pretty close. But I noticed the tape was coming off. Starting forth sensor in a couple of hours. Hopefully it works ok.
I have been on the 530 with Enlite for about a year. During this time, I have had most of the problems that others have noted in this thread. I was on the phone with MiniMed for countless hours.
In regard to getting alerts during the night, most of my problems were “Lost Sensor Alert” or “Weak Signal Alert”. Twice the reps on the other end of the phone told me that I was sleeping wrong. Since then, when I go to bed I turn off all alerts for 7 hours. At least I am able to get a peaceful night’s sleep.