Question about the Libre CGM device.

[Scott-C]

Spell checker error!!

I know, but I still love a good typo!

We'd been sending out some pro-forma forms at work for several years before noticing that there was a paragraph explaining how to make claims for "loss of earrings" instead of "loss of earnings"...

 

[Mbaker]

OK, so my readings on the Libre Freestyle this morning are 4.7 with the Libre App, 3.4 with Glimp App and 3.9 with finger prick OneTouch Select Plus.

This would concern me if I were on insulin. This is my second sensor, so I will try another batch.

 

[tim2000s]

OK, so my readings on the Libre Freestyle this morning are 4.7 with the Libre App, 3.4 with Glimp App and 3.9 with finger prick OneTouch Select Plus.

This would concern me if I were on insulin. This is my second sensor, so I will try another batch.

Hi Mbaker, just to be clear here, the Libre is not recommended for dosing insulin, so it really shouldn't concern you too much. At any rate, if the sensor is more than 15% away from bloods, Abbott can and will replace it, as long as there are a number of reading to prove this point, and that the readings were done on the Libre meter.

I'd also point out that your OneTouch Select Plus being aligned with your surgeries meter doesn't really tell you anything. The surgery meters are the same as the ones we all use at home, so while yours and theirs may be similar, I'm afraid that on that day, you just got lucky!

 

[1abRat]

OK, so my readings on the Libre Freestyle this morning are 4.7 with the Libre App, 3.4 with Glimp App and 3.9 with finger prick OneTouch Select Plus.

This would concern me if I were on insulin. This is my second sensor, so I will try another batch.

When one unit of insulin can drop me by 3-4 mmol/L and carb counting even when weighing is generally a bit of a hit and miss affair I wouldn't worry too much about the difference in insulin dose between 3.4 and 4.7 mmol/L I'd probably end up having the same dose, maybe half a unit less as I'm on MDI. It depends on how confident you are with your hypo symptoms I suppose.

At least if the Libre is reading lower than capillary blood the worst thing that could happen is you end up a smidge higher than you'd like.

 

[alexmtaylor]

As @Scott-C mentioned, it's easy to say that when insurance is paying for the equipment. It's a little more difficult when you're stuck paying several thousand dollars out of your own pocket.

Like you, I'm in the USA and lucky enough to have a Dexcom G5 CGM. Considering my insurance covers the cost at 80%, it's an obvious choice over the Libre, but keep in mind that this is a UK-based site so the majority of members are covered under the NHS

Unfortunately the NHS doesn't cover the Libre! I have to pay £60 for the reader, and then £60 for the sensor every two weeks. I hope it will become available on the NHS soon.

 

[BeccyB]

Unfortunately the NHS doesn't cover the Libre! I have to pay £60 for the reader, and then £60 for the sensor every two weeks. I hope it will become available on the NHS soon.

As a Type 1 diabetic you do not have to pay the VAT on sensors so you shouldn't be paying the full price - there must be a tick box or something on the order form, and I think I may have had to print something, sign it and send to Abbott (?) - definitely worth doing though!!

Edit:
Just checked and there is a tick-box when you 'checkout', right after you give your delivery address

 

[Scott-C]

Will definitely be keeping an eye on that! Thanks @Scott-C

Cheers @BeccyB , it was actually @Djdiabetic who noticed the blucon transmitter and posted about it a week or two ago, I'd never heard of it before that, so hat tip to Dj! Search for blucon in the post search and the threads will come up.

I was going to wait till others had tried it, but curiosity/impatience got the better of me, so I pre-ordered one the other day, and it's supposed to arrive late April, so fingers crossed.

If it turns out it doesn't have alerts, I'll go ballistic!

Abbot's a huge company, service and product is pretty good, whereas Ambrosia is a tiny little start-up which only incorporated in December, so I'll be happy if they at least deliver it, never mind whether it works! Still, worth a £107 punt on the off chance that it'll wake me up if hypo.Knowing my luck, it'll probably turn out to be non-existent vaporware which will never grace my letter box but hey ho...

I'd seen the transmiTTer and librealarm hacks to "dex" libre but the soldering/computing/engineering skills were way beyond me, so the blucon came as a bit of a surprise. It's been very low key, maybe they're just soft launching it.

Assuming it actually arrives and I've not been royally ripped off, I'll do a progress report.

 

[BeccyB]

Cheers @BeccyB , it was actually @Djdiabetic who noticed the blucon transmitter and posted about it a week or two ago, I'd never heard of it before that, so hat tip to Dj! Search for blucon in the post search and the threads will come up.

I was going to wait till others had tried it, but curiosity/impatience got the better of me, so I pre-ordered one the other day, and it's supposed to arrive late April, so fingers crossed.

If it turns out it doesn't have alerts, I'll go ballistic!

Abbot's a huge company, service and product is pretty good, whereas Ambrosia is a tiny little start-up which only incorporated in December, so I'll be happy if they at least deliver it, never mind whether it works! Still, worth a £107 punt on the off chance that it'll wake me up if hypo.Knowing my luck, it'll probably turn out to be non-existent vaporware which will never grace my letter box but hey ho...

I'd seen the transmiTTer and librealarm hacks to "dex" libre but the soldering/computing/engineering skills were way beyond me, so the blucon came as a bit of a surprise. It's been very low key, maybe they're just soft launching it.

Assuming it actually arrives and I've not been royally ripped off, I'll do a progress report.

I don't mind programming but the soldering and wiring etc put me off too, so I have pre-ordered the Blucon too! Can't wait for it to arrive and see if it lives up to the expectation......

 

[BeccyB]

@Scott-C have you heard anything further? The last I saw they were going to be shipped towards the end of April

 

[tim2000s]

I'm not sure about BluCon - I've a feeling my emphasis there is justified, but I hope not. I'm not really sure of the point of trying to turn the Libre into a Dexcom, especially given the cost of these things.

The reusable one isn't waterproof, which means you have to take it off every time you shower (which I think is incredibly impractical), and the one use one is $35 for two weeks use, so you end up effectively paying £47 for the Libre sensor then an additional £30 for the transmitter, every two weeks when you take shipping costs into account. Once you are doing that, you aren't far off a Dexcom G5 cost.

 

[Scott-C]

@Scott-C have you heard anything further? The last I saw they were going to be shipped towards the end of April

They tweeted on 30 April that:

"We will start shipping to Asia (except China and Korea) and a few Eastern Europe in 3-5 days. EU around May 12th, after CE mark."​

https://mobile.twitter.com/ambrosia_sys?lang=en

 

[Robinredbreast]

OK, so my readings on the Libre Freestyle this morning are 4.7 with the Libre App, 3.4 with Glimp App and 3.9 with finger prick OneTouch Select Plus.

This would concern me if I were on insulin. This is my second sensor, so I will try another batch.

Whoa, what a difference in the monitor's ( I do know they vary) I am at my busiest in the mornings, so it could be worrying. Unless I took an average of all three, but what a carry on, but then again, the stress of all that would probably push it up

 

[Robinredbreast]

In exceptional cases CGMs are funded by the NHS. I had funding from one CCG in 2012. I moved and lost funding.
Now due to unusual circumstances I have been awarded funding for 3 months, after this we have to reapply.

There are more patients in my CCG that have gained funding for CGMs due to exceptional circumstances.
Under the freedom if info act you can find out how many Cgms CCG's have funded. I did this prior to asking for my funding.

I asked about getting one, but because I am within the range for my Hba1c, I couldn't have one, I would have to have a high BS to get it.

 

[Scott-C]

I'm not sure about BluCon - I've a feeling my emphasis there is justified, but I hope not.

Yes, I've though that too and seen that view expressed elsewhere.

One of two things is happening: they're either rip-off merchants selling vapor-ware with no intention of delivering, or they're a well intentioned but shambolic start up which has been overwhelmed by the practicalities of delivering.

I found their "companies house" listing in Delaware and there's a few things to follow up from that, but I'm inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt for the time being at least.

Time will tell.

I'm not really sure of the point of trying to turn the Libre into a Dexcom, especially given the cost of these things.

Agree that the cost of the two week ones is too much, but the rechargeable one interested me because I'm not that bothered about day time alarms, but would like to have a bit of security at night while sleeping and having an alarm go off, and just take it on and off at night with it held in place by an armband. The one off cost is £107.

Although, having said, that, some tweets said, yes, it will alarm, then a later one said not till the second version of the software, so all a bit up in the air at the moment.

 

[Scott-C]

@Scott-C have you heard anything further? The last I saw they were going to be shipped towards the end of April

Their facebook page says they're now shipping the Nightrider version, posted 20 hours ago, so I'm assuming they've got the CE mark sorted.
https://m.facebook.com/ambrosiasys/?locale2=en_GB

Also, if you search for linkblucon in google play, the app is now available for download. Can't do much with it without the transmitter though, so here's hoping there'll be a long awaited parcel popping through the letterbox next week!

 

[BeccyB]

Their facebook page says they're now shipping the Nightrider version, posted 20 hours ago, so I'm assuming they've got the CE mark sorted.
https://m.facebook.com/ambrosiasys/?locale2=en_GB

Also, if you search for linkblucon in google play, the app is now available for download. Can't do much with it without the transmitter though, so here's hoping there'll be a long awaited parcel popping through the letterbox next week!

Thanks for the update @Scott-C Let's hope it's worth the wait!

 

[Scott-C]

Thanks for the update @Scott-C Let's hope it's worth the wait!

Yay, it's finally arrived! Getting it started up and paired with the phone took a bit of fiddling around with, but finally got it sussed and it is indeed reading. Only had it on for an hour or so (with masking tape!) so too early to draw any conclusions, but from one blood test, it runs closer to the meter than the libre reader does. Hasn't got an alarm, which is disappointing seeing as that's the only damned reason I pre-ordered it, but they say that that will be coming, but won't say when. I'm speculating that if it has alarms, it will be a medical device, not just an nfc reader with bluetooth, so there's maybe authorisation issues involved. I'll do a fuller update later on on maglill's thread linked below as she has expressed an interest in it.

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/life-with-libre.118450/page-10#post-1483632

 

[Scott-C]

I'm not sure about BluCon - I've a feeling my emphasis there is justified, but I hope not.

I thought it might be a con too, but it's finally arrived, it's on my arm (it's amazing how many uses masking tape has!) and has been pushing readings every five minutes on the dot to my phone - see screen shot below. The readings are much closer to meter than libre reader scans are. It's early days but I've been in the T1 business long enough to kinda trust it already. Whether I take that view in a few days time remains to be seen.

The waterproof business is a hassle
I quite like it at the moment, but I'm not sure how I enthusiastic I'll be in a few weeks time about constantly taking it on and off for showers. Maybe I'll just stick my arm out to one side!

It doesn't have alerts. They say later versions will do. I suspect that's more a medical authority approval issue than a software one. There's maybe a lot of scope for you #wearenotwaiting guys to do a bit of hacking!

It's definitely an interesting little toy, but I'm slightly concerned that, unlike Abbot, who are a massive company who were still caught out by demand, and the waiting lists which that caused, Ambrosia is a shambolic start up which might end up folding because of cash flow issues, even though the product, from my admittedly limited experience with it thus far, seems quite good.

Here's the history screen shot of my first few hours with it. The history tab is way more useful than the graph. The graph y axis runs up to 60 so changes never show in any meaningful way. 60 ***!

 

[tim2000s]

Doesn't work in a shower is a bit of a killer for me.

 

[BeccyB]

Doesn't work in a shower is a bit of a killer for me.

I'm planning to use opsite flexfit to hold mine in place which will also make it waterproof. Just need to find time to get to the post office to pick it up!

Really disappointed about the lack of alarms too but hopefully there will be a solution soon - official or not