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Libre 2 constant alarms

C

chambers0508

Member
Messages
13
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have the libre 2 fitted on the back of my right arm, I sleep on my left. Every night pretty much without fail my libre low glucose alarm goes off around 5am when I’ve just bottle fed my daughter. I treat it and it goes up quickly to within normal range, then within another 10 minutes the alarm goes off again and says I have low glucose. I’m so confused, and it’s keeping me up at night which is bad enough when you have an 8 month old haha! Any advice would be great
 
Sorry to read you are being troubled by the alarms on the Libre.
The first thing to check is whether the problem is with you or the Libre? Do you check the Libre reading with a finger prick before treating it?
It is always recommended to check Libre before treating a high or low (unless you have obvious hypo symptoms).
If the problem is the Libre misreporting, I would recommend reporting it to Abbott and getting a replacement.
However, if you are actually hypo, your basal dose is too high and needs reducing.
 
Hiya thank you for your reply! Yes I do check it so for example 3 days ago my libre said I was at a 3.1 in hypo but when I finger pricked I was a 6.4 and felt completely normal. I have my suspicions it could be faulty as a few times the results from a finger prick are completely different
 
I don't mean checking the sensor occasionally. I mean always checking lows with a finger prick. When did the sensor report the erroneous 3.1? Could it have been a compression low?
 
chambers0508 said:
I have the libre 2 fitted on the back of my right arm, I sleep on my left. Every night pretty much without fail my libre low glucose alarm goes off around 5am when I’ve just bottle fed my daughter. I treat it and it goes up quickly to within normal range, then within another 10 minutes the alarm goes off again and says I have low glucose. I’m so confused, and it’s keeping me up at night which is bad enough when you have an 8 month old haha! Any advice would be great.
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I have been using Libre for 3 year's now and would not go back to the dark ages. (Other FGM/ CGMs are available). However they are not perfect but do reveal patterns we did not know about.

It is important to remember that they all have a delay and sometimes the liver has kicked out glucose to counter the low before the sensor alarms. That might explain the difference between FGM and BGM readings.

The Libre is sensitive to positioning and compression lows. Trial and error might help eliminate some of these. The algorithm can also panic when there is an apparent rapid change and start giving alarms. Something I just live with, but would prefer not to have to manage.

Finally, I discovered, after changing the basal insulin that I consistently dropped low around 4am. Sometimes my body kicked out glucose, sometimes not and I was awakened by alarms. I counter that with a little slow carbs just before bed.

Good luck with finding your answers
 
I find even when it's not fitted to the arm you sleep on. It can still give a false low if your arm is resting on your body where the sensor is fitted.
 
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