How to Calibrate Dexcom G6 | 5 Easy Tips

My tips for successful Dexcom G6 sensor calibration. Things to do and things to avoid. The video is based on my personal experience with the Dexcom G6 CGM and does not constitute medical advice.

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0:00 If you calibrate well you will make thing better, if you calibrate incorrectly you will make things worse
0:28 Dexcom G6 alibration during the first few hours almost never works for me
1:08 I always keep in mind the standard range of error and acceptable difference of the sensor and finger prick result
1:32 When I calibrate my CGM sensor I make sure your finger stick test result is as accurate as it can be
1:56 I always calibrate Dexcom G6 when your blood glucose is stable
2:35 I never calibrate the sensor after these activities
2:53 8 more tips for Dexcom users

I regularly release videos covering diabetes topics. Let me know if you have any questions or topics you would like me to cover. I really appreciate your input!

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and my videos are not medical advice. What works for me might not work for others. Please consult your medical professional regarding your diabetes treatment. Note that the content of this video was not discussed with or approved by Dexcom. I just use and love their products and share my personal experience.

Disclosure: Links in the video description might include affiliate links (I will receive a small provision if you use these links for your purchase). I am not affiliated with Dexcom, the manufacturer of the Dexcom G6 CGM system.

#typeonetalks

[TypeOneTalks]

Another quick video with practical tips from my Dexcom G6 experience. Let me know what you think. I always want to improve so I would love to hear your feedback to see whether there is anything I can do better in my future review videos. Please let me know!

Love you all! I appreciate your support!

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[francisthompson]

I just wanted to say thank you for your impressions with Dexcom and the pump.
I have been type one for over 35 years and have always done self-injection. I am now on Dexcom 6 for the last 3days and wow what a difference it has made already. I will be on a pump in a few weeks. it will be tandom

[WELaird]

Also please keep in mind (i tend to sleep on my belly) i wear my g6 on my stomach and compressing the censor when you sleep, (like sleeping on your stomach) will cause a false low (in my case a false low) always keep your glucometer handy and be willing to calibrate at the drop of a hat. I had to a 5:30am this morning. But you can hoogle dexcom g6 possible false readings and it will tell you, compressing the censor will tell you a false low. Just heads up. Its still worth it getting on a cgm and pump, glad i have tutorials like this to cross reference.

[MVK]

I always calibrate mine on the first day, within the first few hours and it works well. Why do I do it? Because very often in the first hours it'll tell me that my blood glucose is high and rapidly increasing and it'll send messages to my diabeloop system to give me more insulin while in fact my blood glucose is on the lower side. This is dangerous. I find that calibrating it within the first hours of usage works very well and gets it in gear much much faster. I didn't used to do this, but I am glad I started doing it.

[djsnowman]

We are currently still at the hospital. My 20mo. old daughter just got diagnosed with type 1. They are discussing dexcom and thus how i found this channel. Thank you so much🙂

[MidnightButterfly]

If you calibrate a value that is more than 30mg/dL points or 1.6mmol or more from the dexcom current reading it tends to kick it into the recurring calibration loop. To avoid this you can mini dose the calibrations into the system up to 20points at a time and keep stacking them in back to back, until actual bg number needed is reached in the dexcom. It may take a bit more attention and patience but you’ll get there faster than the totally annoying ‘please wait 15minutes to calibrate again’ error messages that repeats for hours!

[janetdaniels]

He's a hoot! I loved it when he said don't look at me like that that was hilarious he's right none of us change our lances like we should

[sallyking]

Thank you for this video. I put dexcom g6 on yesterday at 2p.m. it stayed in the 200 range almost all night. This morning it read 176. My onetouch said 140. If I still get that many points difference tomorrow I will call dexcom to help me figure it out. Thank you and have a great day!

[irisbraun]

Thank you Tom i m on the G6 for 1 year now and was looking forward to this Video I was told to calibrate on the 2nd day before breakfast when my BG is stabel at 110 I thought this is never going to happen
Christmas greetings from Vienna

[dwightl]

I would agree with Tom that the sensor is more accurate after the first day but not always the case. I have had sensor's be quite accurate during the first day. One also needs to realize that the fingerstick readings aren't 100% accurate either. Hence the 20% leeway before calibrating directive. Point is when the Tandem t:slim pump is making dosing decisions reliant on the G6 readings checking it periodically during the 10 days can be beneficial. I know it's advertised as not needing calibration and once it has "settled down" I rarely mess with it. Being everyone's body chemistry is different it's amazing it can be as accurate as it is. At least it can be fine tuned.

[whatmattersmost]

First...Great Vid Tom! I have reset my G6 4 times in a row, so I am into it 33 days continuous, a few of those 10 day got odd readings. I am getting "Please wait up to 3 hrs to reconnect- do not remove" I found using an test strip pealed apart to slip in works great!

[sruhaana]

I should have checked this before. I just calibrated on my first day. Since i wore, it has been showing very off numbers. Like when glucose meter shows 177, dexcom was showing 82. It even went 60’s and alerted so many times for low glucose 😢. First time user and this is my
Second dexcom G7 sensor

[Romantico]

Any idea how to stop calibration from dexcom 6 because I forgot to use code? Thanks

[es]

What do you mean by "use a new lancet"? I'm not familiar with these words.

[cyberpunkchaoscollective]

This video helped quite a lot
I just switched from libre to dexcom and I was super confused why it was constantly 18.7mmol/l and higher when from my finger it was 6 or so
I'm gonna see if it gets closer to the actual levels during the next 3 days
Hopefully it will

[loniq]

I see that you wear your sensor on the back of your arm. Are you able to sleep on the side that you have it on without it losing the signal or giving incorrect readings?

[annan.]

Thank you for such great tips. I guess I made a mistake of calibrating within the first 24 hours and now I wonder if I can delete that calibration history on a dexcom G6? Also, how do I know whether my calibration was successful, i.e., that the readings for the remainder of the 10 days will be accurate? Many thanks for your insights on this.

[mgv]

Hi Tom,
Merry Christmas!!
I got an email from Freestyle today about travel with a CGM. Did you know this?


Traveling with Your CGM
Going Through Airport Security: Since you can’t expose your sensor to x-ray or millimeter radio-wave, you’ll have to avoid the full-body scanner at airport security. It’s safe to expose the sensor to airport metal detectors, so you may request that type of screening from TSA. Your reader* can also go through the metal detector.

I recently took a flight to and from Atlanta. I went through the millimeter wave scanner. No problem with the sensor.

[smartboy]

Why when I calibrate it showed a higher number than what I had entered? For example the G6 reading says 135 and the strip test says 95, after I enter 95 into the G6 it will show 114 not 95 !!!🤔

[eresmiadrenalina]

Does anyone know how the dexcom one can be calibrated in the mobile application? Thanks