Libre People miss the point

Biekmas83

Active Member
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32
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Hi All,

I thought i would quickly give my summary to what the libre allows me to do vs the negative comments it receives.

I used to do around 8 to 10 blood glucose measurements a day. I count carbs and dose to around 1- 10 insulin carb. I also take Lantus at a night. I take part in alot of cycling events, taking around 6-8 hours at a time and commute on a bike when possible.

What the libre has taught me is invaluable. It has shown me information that has already allowed me to alter ratios of insulin, exercise affect on my body, and what is happening at night!

People view the libre as inaccurate. I say it is doing a better job. Before if i felt hypo i would eat or test. So sometimes i would guess that I am having a hypo, other times i would test only to see it was around 5-6! With the libre i can see if it is dropping even if it is 5 (remembering it has a lag). Either way, now i can test every time and have an indication as to what is going on.

The biggest value i have found is that it takes the guess work out of what happens in-between usually doing only 8 sugars a day. It now shows the fatty pizza I had has longer affects than pasta and meatballs for tea. It shows what happens when i have a pint of beer. It shows what happens when i intensely exercise vs light exercise. All this information allows me to make more informed decisions around doses, what i eat, and what are my daily patterns that i usually would not know. It shows how sensitive i am to insulin at different times of the day and that my actual carb insulin ratio changes from morning to afternoon. 1.3:10 in the morning and 0.9:10 in the evening.

All in all my experience of the libre has done nothing but improve my knowledge of my own diabetes and finally shows me where and what I am doing wrong.

All this I am planning on reducing my HbA1c to the targeted 50!
 

LooperCat

Expert
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+3

I love mine. I hit the magic 50 after just a couple of months using it, down from 89. I’ve had very few bad readings from it, only when I’m well out of range. I only fingerprick if I’m driving now, or to check a rare weird number.
 
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Celsus

Well-Known Member
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483
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Hi All,

I thought i would quickly give my summary to what the libre allows me to do vs the negative comments it receives.

I used to do around 8 to 10 blood glucose measurements a day. I count carbs and dose to around 1- 10 insulin carb. I also take Lantus at a night. I take part in alot of cycling events, taking around 6-8 hours at a time and commute on a bike when possible.

What the libre has taught me is invaluable. It has shown me information that has already allowed me to alter ratios of insulin, exercise affect on my body, and what is happening at night!

People view the libre as inaccurate. I say it is doing a better job. Before if i felt hypo i would eat or test. So sometimes i would guess that I am having a hypo, other times i would test only to see it was around 5-6! With the libre i can see if it is dropping even if it is 5 (remembering it has a lag). Either way, now i can test every time and have an indication as to what is going on.

The biggest value i have found is that it takes the guess work out of what happens in-between usually doing only 8 sugars a day. It now shows the fatty pizza I had has longer affects than pasta and meatballs for tea. It shows what happens when i have a pint of beer. It shows what happens when i intensely exercise vs light exercise. All this information allows me to make more informed decisions around doses, what i eat, and what are my daily patterns that i usually would not know. It shows how sensitive i am to insulin at different times of the day and that my actual carb insulin ratio changes from morning to afternoon. 1.3:10 in the morning and 0.9:10 in the evening.

All in all my experience of the libre has done nothing but improve my knowledge of my own diabetes and finally shows me where and what I am doing wrong.

All this I am planning on reducing my HbA1c to the targeted 50!
Darn @Biekmas83, this gotta be the absolute best 1st post that I have ever seen from anybody on this forum!

Big welcome!

(ok, disclosure, I am a dedicated Libre fan myself, but still! :))
 

Scott-C

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2,474
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Agree totally, @Biekmas83 , and welcome to the forum. It's being able to actually see a moving target instead of strip guesswork that gives a powerful sense of control back.

You might have seen them already, but if not, I got a lot out of Sugar Surfing by Stephen Ponder and Beyond Fingersticks by William Lee Dubois when I first got libre. They're both long term cgm users.

I bought a small bluetooth transmitter called blucon nightrider for £96 from www.ambrosiasys.com Sits on top of libre and bluetooths 5 min readings to an android app xdrip+ and my watch, turning it into cgm with hypo alerts. Might be usefiul for your cycling just being able to glance at your watch now and then.
 
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Celsus

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Hi @Scott-C, I got the Fossil Q Explorer watch linked up with the blucon, which I think was your setting and recommendation, so big thank you for that - works like a dream!

But as with most diabetics we don't stop dreaming of an even better world. :)
Just mentioning it here in the thread also with @Biekmas83 above, as very into doing intense endurance sports etc.
And I just wondered, is it possible to find xdrip+ software compatible with the Garmin line of smart watches?

Just haven't been able to find any appropriate smart watch based on the Android OS which also have a reliable built in heart rate monitor. Also most of those Android OS based smartwatches needs recharging every 24 hours as a minimum.
And the Garmin brand has several of smart watches where you have a heart rate monitor built in and where the watch can go for days without needing a recharge and are approved for water diving etc...

E.g. the Garmin Vivoactive 3 or the Garmin Fenix 5s would be a major step forward.
 

Scott-C

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Cheers, @Celsus , I'm quite fond of my Fossil watch now - looks ok with both formal suits and casual wear, so I'm pleased to hear you got it working.

I'm pretty clueless about smartwatches - just got it wired up to the Fossil by luck more than any sort of skill - so I'm not the right person to ask about Garmin watches.

But, I'm wondering if the app at link below would do it? It's called xDrip+ Watch and lists a lot of Garmin watches in the "compatible devices" tab.

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/fc892009-996a-4907-b277-0c5bfa6fdab2#0

And garmin gets a mention on the nightscout site too, the starting point for xdrip:

http://www.nightscout.info/wiki/cgm-watchfaces

Oh, and remember blucon ain't waterproof if you're firing around in your hobycat! Maybe sticking it inside a couple of small plastic bags would sort that. In my teens and twenties and thirties, spent a lot of time in a Graduate dinghy and hanging off a 470 trapeze wire!
 
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Celsus

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483
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Cheers, @Celsus , I'm quite fond of my Fossil watch now - looks ok with both formal suits and casual wear, so I'm pleased to hear you got it working.

I'm pretty clueless about smartwatches - just got it wired up to the Fossil by luck more than any sort of skill - so I'm not the right person to ask about Garmin watches.

But, I'm wondering if the app at link below would do it? It's called xDrip+ Watch and lists a lot of Garmin watches in the "compatible devices" tab.

https://apps.garmin.com/en-US/apps/fc892009-996a-4907-b277-0c5bfa6fdab2#0

And garmin gets a mention on the nightscout site too, the starting point for xdrip:

http://www.nightscout.info/wiki/cgm-watchfaces

Oh, and remember blucon ain't waterproof if you're firing around in your hobycat! Maybe sticking it inside a couple of small plastic bags would sort that. In my teens and twenties and thirties, spent a lot of time in a Graduate dinghy and hanging off a 470 trapeze wire!
Wow @Scott-C , so you first now tell me that you are clueless about smartwatches after I followed your advice and have spent hundreds of hard-earned cash on an expensive smartwatch?! :D
Naah, just kidding, I also read with interest the many good links and references that you referred to.
And like you, really liked the multi-purpose look of the Fossil watch. I got it with the dark-smoke color and blackish rim also to match. Suits well for both pleasure and work.

And thanks again for the link to the Garmin watch software bundles.
You are just a rich source of valuable information!

Regarding bluecon, then yes. Its a bit unfortunate that it is not waterproof, as I also went for the nightwatch model, so you can replace the battery every two weeks. The waterproof disposable model is just way too expensive especially as it only runs for two weeks and battery is dead.

To make it waterproof I 'on the day' throw it inside a plastic bag made for purpose for my food vacuum machine (I cook often sous-vide). Sealing the bag 100% tight with no problem at all. And the blucon I have sitting op top of the libre disc with the help of an armband from that German company, so sits very solid and firm. Do exactly the same btw with my Abbott Libre Reader into the vacuum bag, as you can still press the button on it through the plastic coating to launch a bg read. And I can then have that with me inside my wetsuit. (and it floats too! :))

Though age is taking its toll, don't hold yourself back from getting out there and shredding some waves!
Maybe no longer in the 470 or the Laser. But still great fun in hobie cats and alike. Most of my time at sea I am alone with a surfboard or a windsurfer, so best to have the bg gear with me, as its a longer paddle/journey to go all way back in again and out again. Reason for my eternal quest to find a waterproof cgm solution where ideally I have the bg value on my wrist without having to do anything else. (worried about my new shiny Fossil watch, as they are a bit short on describing how watertight it really is?)
 

Scott-C

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To make it waterproof I 'on the day' throw it inside a plastic bag made for purpose for my food vacuum machine

I'd been thinking about that too. A trip to Lakeland kitchen supply shop might be in order.

Maybe no longer in the 470 or the Laser.

I'm only 50! I'm looking forward to a mid-life crisis kicking in so I can buy myself a foiler Moth!

 

Biekmas83

Active Member
Messages
32
Type of diabetes
Type 1
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Insulin
Thanks for the advice around Making it a Cgm. However I quite like the scan it and see. The reader is small enough to take anywhere, or you can use your phone. But the part about scanning most I like is it forces you to review the number it shows there and then, and on some occasions act in the relevant way.
 
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Antje77

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I'd been thinking about that too. A trip to Lakeland kitchen supply shop might be in order.



I'm only 50! I'm looking forward to a mid-life crisis kicking in so I can buy myself a foiler Moth!

When you do, can I come along for a sail?
 

Scott-C

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When you do, can I come along for a sail?

Not sure a Moth is designed for two, but Hydroptere sure is, so I'll see if I can get us an invite!

These foiler boats are absolutely mental - I wish I was in my twenties again, I'd definitely be having a go with them.

 

Antje77

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Not sure a Moth is designed for two
I have a history of sailing whith the wrong amount of people on a particular boat. Ever tried sailing an Optimist with two grown-ups, both weighing over 100kgs? And there was this:
18767542_1409714832404731_8011339312736275981_n.jpg
 

Antje77

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My apologies for derailing your thread, @Biekmas83 . Got carried away after the combination of the words 'Garmin' and 'Waterproof''. It's that time of year sailors get the most itchy about their thing, but it's still not very polite to run off with a good thread like this. Please let me know if you would like my off-topic reactions removed ;)
 

Celsus

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Cool stuff @Antje77 and @Scott-C , its all about getting out there and having some fun!
Regarding the moth, then I often see them locally where I go when offshore winds are present. Same time as well where I use the foil-fin for my own windsurfer, as without the big waves I otherwise find it boring. Maybe my mid-life crisis did start back then afterall? And yeah, your age criteria is pretty much correct. Hmmm?
Havent gone to do the foilfin on the Kitesurf board, but several of my close friends have. (sign of a bigger midlife crisis?)
Don't know if its lack of money or, none of us have bought a Porsche sportscar just yet.
But the ice surfing is within reach with just a minor investment. We use our windsurf/kitesurf sails. I do the skateboard with the ice blades on.
Not cold enough though the last 2 years where I have been.
And to wrap it all back to @Biekmas83 's post:
Live a life free (despite the diabetes monster) - That is what Libre is all about! (or at least helping towards...)

Being able to do a quick swipe along your upper arm and get your instant bg in matter of 3 seconds, no matter where you are, no need to take your gloves off, no need to be sitting dry and fiddling with all the strips and fingerpricker etc, (which I cant vacuum pack to be waterproof) that is part of making it such a great gadget.
 
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kev-w

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@Celsus I'm imagining screwing a gybe up with that foil and the hi speed catapult it would create!

They weren't like that in my day :p
 
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