I've been wearing the Dexcom G7 since early 2023, and one of the most frequently asked questions I get is how does it compare to the Dexcom G6. So I decided to do a direct comparison by wearing both devices at the same time. So yes, I'll be talking about some of the major differences between the two models, but I'll also be showing you real-life data from my own body on how well the Dexcom G7 works compared to the Dexcom G6. So for those of you who've been asking for this, is a video where I'll be comparing the accuracy directly between the two sensors, and it won't just be high-level chit-chat. I'll actually be showing you my Dexcom readings. This video is sponsored by US Med, so before we dive into the differences between Dexcom G6 and Dexcom G7, here's a quick recap on how US Med can support you in getting your Dexcom and other medical devices. US Med is a full-service diabetes supply.

distributor, and they'll handle everything from insurance verification to getting that prescription from your doctor, to actually sending your supplies directly to your mailbox. They can send out everything from pumps, pump supplies, to insulin, Dexcom G6, and Dexcom G7. Okay, guys, this will be a fairly detailed video, so if you're only interested in certain parts of this direct comparison, just skip ahead to that part of the video. If you need a little bit of support, you can go down in the video description. I've added time codes for the individual chapters. Dexcom G7 is different from Dexcom G6, but still, there are some things that have not changed, so you can still see your Dexcom readings either on the app or using a receiver, and you still have to carry a phone with you if you want to see your readings on a smartwatch. There's still no direct-to-smartwatch solution, even though they have promised that there will be one at one point. For Dexcom G7, it's still a 10-day sensor.

although Dexcom G7 has a 12-hour grace period, so in reality, Dexcom G7 is a 10 and 1/2 Day sensor. You still throw out your sensor once you're done wearing it, and there still isn't a recycling program. A big difference though is that whereas the Dexcom T6 had a transmitter that you had to hold on to for 3 months, that transmitter is built into the Dexcom G7 sensor. So now, after that, well, 10 and 1/2 days, you just toss the whole thing in the trash and you start a new sensor. The first thing that you'll notice when you see the Dexcom T6 side by side with the Dexcom G7 is the difference in the size. The Dexcom G7 is much smaller, and it's not just a sensor, the inserter is smaller as well, and the amount of trash is also reduced. Now let's dive into what I know most of you want the answer to, and that is how accurate is Dexcom G7.

accurate is it compared to Dexcom G6. Well, let me show you. I wore both sensors at the same time. I wore my Dexcom G6 on my stomach, and I wore my Dexcom G7 on my arm as they're FDA approved for. So I guess that's also a bit of a change. Dexcom G7 is CE marked for wear both on the arm as well as on the stomach. So there's a little bit of difference on what is approved for depending on which geography you're in. It's the same sensor. It's just different labels, but I wore it per the FDA label. I don't want any of you guys questioning my results based on where I wore it. Initially, I was only planning on wearing the sensors like two sensors for one cycle, that being 10 days, but I decided I need a little bit more data. So I applied two more sensors, and I have data for 20 days, and that's what I'll include in this video. But before I show you this, remember this is not clinical data.

is my experiment. This is based on my blood sugars. It's not a controlled environment. It's only based on 20 days of blood sugar data. Overall, I did not see a huge difference between the Dexcom G6 and Dexcom G7 data, but they weren't giving me the same readings either. Look at this. This is Clarity, the Dexcom reporting software. It pulled in both readings, so both from G6 and G7. So, you can see the overlay here and look how close they were on a daily basis. So, that's pretty cool. But I mean, sometimes one sensor would claim a high blood sugar, while the other one would say, Hey, you're in range. And sometimes the other one would be, Now you're low, and the other one would say, You're in range. And I must say, that didn't build up a whole lot of trust in either sensor. I did finger sticks as well throughout these 20 days, and on average, I found that my G7 was giving me slightly higher readings than my Dexcom G6. Not a lot though.

average difference was only 8 mg per dailer, so hardly anything compared to my finger sticks. My Dexcom G7 overshot my blood sugars with 6 milligrams per diesl lit on average, and my Dexcom G6 undershot with 2 Mig per diler, again on average. I should add that comparing a CGM result to a finger stick only really makes sense when blood sugars are stable, because the GM measures in the fluid underneath the skin, whereas finger stick measures in the blood, right? And the fluid under the skin is about 10 minutes behind the actual bloodstream. So, I tried to do most of those finger sticks fasting or when my blood sugars were stable. I did also do a few finger sticks in some of the outer positions when my blood was low, for example, just to get a gauge on how well they performed in high and low situations. So far, I only talked about 20-day averages, that's very high level. So, I found that when I started to look at well, the first few days of the sensor, the middle of the

sensor as well as the last few days of the sensor. Things looked a little bit different. Both the two Dexcom G6 sensors I inserted were incredibly accurate right off the bat. So I inserted them. They were like on point. Whereas one of the Dexcom G7 sensors started out a little wacky and it was 24 milligrams per deciliter off. However, I did not calibrate it and it caught up and became accurate within the first two hours of me wearing it. That Dexcom G7 sensor did give me a lot of fake lows the first night though. So you can see it here. I inserted it in the morning and look at the nighttime after that. Was not a lot of sleep. I actually ended up silencing the alarms. Um, so I'd say that that sensor was a little more bonkers, maybe a lot more bonkers than the Dexcom G6. Those first 24 hours after those first 24 hours, that first Dexcom G6 sensor went completely off the rail, started giving me readings 20 to 53.

Mig per diler higher than finger sticks. Dexcom G7 did well. It was never more than 15 migs per desit from my finger stick. I ended up calibrating that Dexcom G6 sensor, you know, after those first 24 hours, um, and it went back to being accurate again. So just as accurate as the Des 27. I should also just mention that what I consider accurate is within a 20 Mig per desil fluctuation. So they both were accurate for the rest of the duration, except for those last 24 hours where they kind of went a little bit bunkers, both of them. The same thing happened with the second descom G6 sensor. That one I also had to calibrate on day two when it started to show readings 30 to 40 Mig per diesel liter higher than my finger sticks. I never calibrated any of the XC Comp G7 sensors. I did consider it though. On this second G7 sensor on day four, it started showing readings 40 Mig per diesil liter

higher than both finger sticks and higher than the Dexcom G6, but I waited it out. I generally didn't want to do calibrations just because there was one or two readings that were off. The interesting thing was that the G7 caught up and it became accurate again. It almost seemed like the Dexcom G6 just took a little longer for it to catch up, especially when blood sugars were changing rapidly. To summarize, both Dexcom G6s needed a calibration on day two, whereas I did not at any point calibrate any of the two Dexcom G7 sensors. And then we have the last 24 hours of the sensor lifetime, and unfortunately, this is where my data becomes really inconsistent. Or maybe that also tells us something, actually, but anyway, it became very inconsistent in the sense that the last two sensors I wore actually performed fairly well those last 24 hours, whereas the first two sensors, the first Dexcom G6, first Dexcom G7 I wore, became absolute

bunkers giving me racky readings those last 24 hours. That first XCOM G6 sensor was giving me readings of 66 migs per days liter lower than my finger stick, and that first deom t7 during those last 24 hours was giving me readings between 23 Mig per dis L lower than my finger sticks, and then up to 43 Mig per dis lit higher again. I was not calibrating here, and they're acting up. Well, the G7 was acting up right up until it accidentally got ripped off, so there was nothing conclusive about those last 24 hours, at least not based on the sensors that I wore for these 20 days. So to conclude on my little 20-day experiment, I would say that the dexom D6 and the dexom D7 are fairly similar, so their accuracy is probably about the same, at least for me. It was also very close to my finger sticks; however, I did have to calibrate the Dexcom G6 sensor, both of them, in order for them to be accurate enough.

then there is that last 24 hours of the sensor lifetime. The results I got were so inconclusive, which kind of indicates that the sensors might not be as accurate during those last 24 hours, at least not all of them. That was a lot about accuracy, but let's also talk about some of the other things that are different between the Dexcom G6 and the Dexcom G7. And one of the major things, one of the things that I'm actually really excited about, is a warm-up period. So, the warm-up period is when the sensor is adjusting to the body, and you're not getting any Dexcom readings. It's just on the body warming up. So, Dexcom G6 has a 2-hour warm-up period. Dexcom G7 has as little as 30 minutes. It can actually be as little as nothing once the Dexcom G7 sensor is inserted, not started in the app, just insert it, the warm-up starts. That means that if you insert your sensor 30 minutes or more before, let's say, the

grace period is up. Once the grace period is over and you start that sensor in the app, you'll get readings right away. This is really cool. I know that some people would see this as an issue because a lot of people used to insert the Dexcom G6 up to 24 hours before actually starting it in order to improve the accuracy so that the sensor can be on the body, not start it, but be on the body and get used to the body and become more accurate, I guess. You can still insert the Dexcom G7 24 hours before you actually want to start it. However, as I mentioned before, once inserted, the lifetime of the sensor starts. So if you insert it 24 hours before you actually want to start it in the app, in reality, you'll have a sensor that'll only last you nine and a half days instead of 10 and a half days. I'm also super impressed with the updates to the alarms in the Dexcom G7 app. They have greatly upgraded the user experience. So they now

allow us to adjust the alarm so that they work just for what we each need. What I found most useful is that you can actually silence all of the alarms, including the Urgent lower alarm, for up to 6 hours. I find this very convenient for situations where I'm maybe keeping an eye on my blood sugar on my watch anyway, and I don't need the audible alarms, or if the sensor is completely bonkers and I don't really trust the readings anyway, or in situations like this where I'm doing a side-by-side comparison and I don't want dual alarms. I also really like the delay alerts. It allows you to delay alerts with up to 4 hours. Let's say that you're in a situation where you know your blood sugar is going to go high temporarily, but it'll come down. For example, if you couldn't pre-bowl this, if you're fairly certain that you took enough insulin, there's not really any need to be alerted, is there? But what I really like is that you can adjust the alerts.

for your needs, and hopefully that can also help with alarm fatigue, and overall diabetes burnout. And then there's integration with other diabetes devices. So today, Dexcom G6 works with the Omnipod, it works with the Tandem, and works with the IET. Unfortunately, as of today, November 2023, Dexcom G7 does not integrate with any of these insulin pumps. I know they're working on it, and I've kind of heard that, you know, at least for Tandem, the integration is coming real soon. But exactly when is real soon, I can't tell you that. So if you use a hybrid Closed Loop pump like Tandem, Omnipod, Ilet, you probably want to stick with Dexcom G6 until that integration has been announced. If you decide that you want a Dexcom G7, you should know that here in the US, all CGMs are considered a prescription device, so you do need a prescription from your doctor. If you cannot get in contact with your doctor, there are other options, one being us met.

they can help you get that prescription from your doctor, clear everything with your insurance, and actually send your Dexcom G7 directly to your house. You just have to reach out to them. And that concludes my side-by-side comparison of the Dexcom G6 and the Dexcom G7. So have you tried the Dexcom G7 yet? What do you think of the major differences between the Dexcom G6 sensor and the Dexcom G7 sensor? Let me know your experience. I know I and the other viewers would love to know. You can leave a comment down below this video, down in the comment section. If you like this video, please give it a like. And remember to subscribe to my channel and turn on notifications. That is that little bell. It'll show up once you hit that subscribe button. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you next time.

Dexcom G7 - How Accurate Is It Compared to G6? – a side-by-side comparison

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My name is Christel Oerum and I’ve been living with type 1 diabetes since 1997.

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Dexcom G7 - How Accurate Is It Compared to G6? – a side-by-side comparison

Dexcom G7 - How Accurate Is It Compared to G6? – a side-by-side comparison

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