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Pittsburgh, Nashville, Kentucky, AtlantaSoaking a sensor
Not being able to rely on your sensor can mess up your day. Avoid it when you can.
Why I put a new sensor in before I need it, and what to do when it fails anyway.
My diabetes care is managed in close partnership with my care team. This page shares what works for me. It isn't medical advice. Talk with your own doctor or diabetes care team before you change anything about your care.
What soaking is
I give every new sensor a head start. I put it in 12 to 24 hours before I need it, and start it in the app when the old one ends. It’s a workaround people with diabetes came up with, not something Dexcom or Abbott tells you to do. Dana Lewis, who built the open-source artificial pancreas OpenAPS, gets the credit for the name.
Why it works
Putting a sensor in is a small injury, and my body treats the filament like something that doesn’t belong. That’s called the foreign body response. While the spot calms down, the first hours are the least accurate ones. Soaking lets that happen before I’m relying on it.
- 1–12 hoursReadings can swing after insertion. The tissue gets more stable within about 12 hours.Joseph et al., 2018
- 18.5%How far off the G6 was, on average, right after insertion in a first-day study. Far worse than in its trial. Lower is better.First-day head-to-head study
- Day 1In a study of pigs wearing Libre 2 sensors, inflammation around the sensor showed up on the first day.Communications Biology, 2025
What to watch forFast rises or fast drops that don’t match how I’m feeling, or what should be happening. When I see one, I check with a fingerstick before I treat.
How I soak my G7 15 Day
I usually go as long as I can, 12 to 24 hours. My goal is to have the new one in before my old one’s grace period even starts. Then I start the new one in the app when the old one stops.
So for a while, I’m wearing two. The only thing cooler than a Dexcom is two Dexcoms.
- Wear15 days + a 12-hour graceThe original G7: 10 days + 12 hours.
- Warm-up60 minutesFor its new algorithm. The original G7: 30 minutes.
- Lasted all 15 days73.9% of sensorsIn Dexcom’s own study.
When a soaked sensor fails
Sometimes I soak a sensor for a whole day, and it fails anyway.
Stay calm and take a deep breath. Diabetes is so annoying.
Good news: for as many hours as you banked soaking the last one, your blood sugars don’t count. (Kidding. But you can pretend.)
Then I start over: a new sensor, and a new soak. Until it’s reading, I check with fingersticks.
And get the failed one replacedDexcom replaces sensors that fail. Call Dexcom tech support at 1-844-607-8398 (US, any time, day or night), or send a support request from your Dexcom account. Have the sensor’s serial number ready.Dexcom: getting a replacement
What my followers see
When I switch sensors, my readings stop during the 60-minute warm-up. My followers see my last number go stale, and then nothing new until the new sensor starts reading.
A soaked sensor means that hour is the only gap. Without a soak, day one can bring jumpy numbers, and alerts for my followers that might not be real.
- Get an alert when I go quietIn Zukka, you can turn on an alert for when my readings stop, so you know without checking.
- If my readings stopA quick text is the best check-in. I might just be changing sensors.
- If a number looks wrong on day oneAsk before you worry. I’m checking it with a fingerstick too.
Good to know
- It’s off-labelDexcom and Abbott don’t tell you to do this. It’s what people with diabetes figured out.
- It can cost wear timeA soak longer than the grace period can mean fewer days of readings from the new sensor.