Life with Libre

[Scott-C]

I'm getting interested in the blucon... I guess the novelty of Libre is over.

Hi, Gavin, I've used the blucon a bit more now, on the last four days of my current sensor. It's been fairly close to bg test, often more so than the reader. The blucon people came up with their own algorithm, so the different readings are down to that.

I think I've used it now for ten days or so across 2 sensors and apart from a couple of real glitchy days it's been ok.

To be honest, although the libre is great, that whole business of having to take the reader out and actually scan it is seeming a bit passe now! It's maybe just the novelty value, but it's kinda groovy just looking at my phone once in a while. It also shows the last result in the notification window. The graph ain't that great as it expands and contracts to have lower and upper limits set to your lowest and highest readings over the time period, so if you've been between say 4 and 6.5 over three hours it's still going to look really stabby even though 2.5 is not a big shift.

However, the history tab is surprisingly useful, just a list of readings taken every five minutes. Let's face it, even keen scanners don't scan every five minutes, whereas this does and then lists them. I'm finding that just looking at a list of numbers is giving me a better picture of how I'm moving than the scanner graph does.

All in all, if you like new toys to play with, it's worth a punt, although I've certainly not got to the stage yet where I'd bolus from it as I was doing with the reader.

 

[maglil55]

What a nightmare morning. Sensor still had 5 days to run so would have been attaching new sensor in a couple of days. Working fine last night. Scanned at 4.3 pre bed (stab had me at 4.5). Went to scan this morning and it seemed to have committed suicide! Message that it had run out and attach a new sensor. Fixed a new sensor and started the activation countdown. Removed the early suicide sensor and noticed there was blood on the back again. New sensor started up and delivered 3 scans before it just dropped off. My arm was bleeding from where the filament had been and the backing was not very sticky. Not a lot I could do other than apply yet another sensor my 3rd for the morning!
Having applied yet another sensor , I scanned it to start up, it asked if I wanted to start another sensor, pressed Yes and it took me to the help page 'how to scan a sensor'. I paged through it, backed out of help and scanned the sensor and again it asked do you want to start a new sensor and again it took me to the help page. 5 mins later I was still going around in circles and I'd tried loads of things, turning mobile off and on, restart, NFC off and on......to cut a long story short it still thought No 2 sensor was active. I eventually discovered that when it took me to the help page 'how to scan a sensor' I had to scan the new sensor while I was on the help page. That then cancelled sensor 2 and started sensor 3 on the 1 hr warm up. It's working fine and is well taped down with Tegaderm.
Both of the other errant sensors have been reported to Abbott and replacements requested.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Oh dear, definitely a nightmare morning. Was this with the reader or your phone?

 

[maglil55]

Oh dear, definitely a nightmare morning. Was this with the reader or your phone?

Mobile Android App although I am actually thinking about getting the Reader. No 3 sensor is also measuring ridiculously low. It reckons I'm at 3.1 whereas finger stab has me at 5.7. I'll give it a couple of days as normally I apply 2 days before activation to give it a chance to settle. So I reckon I'll be stabbing for a couple of days at least. A bit disconcerting seeing these red low blood sugar warnings when I know I am fine.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Mobile Android App although I am actually thinking about getting the Reader. No 3 sensor is also measuring ridiculously low. It reckons I'm at 3.1 whereas finger stab has me at 5.7. I'll give it a couple of days as normally I apply 2 days before activation to give it a chance to settle. So I reckon I'll be stabbing for a couple of days at least. A bit disconcerting seeing these red low blood sugar warnings when I know I am fine.

Could it be an error with the phone/app rather than the sensor - the one that committed suicide?

 

[maglil55]

Could it be an error with the phone/app rather than the sensor - the one that committed suicide?

No the App is fine. Just been unlucky with the sensor. The latest one has settled too. After yesterday's crazy figures it is now within 0.5 of the finger stabs so a few more checks and I guess I can reduce the stabs again. My body just seems to like giving the sensor a chance to settle.

 

[gavin86]

On my 3rd sensor now, pretty much accurate like the first. I'm happy .

I will keep thinking about blucon... not sure.

Bled a bit with this third on insertion... no big deal, but I was surprised how much blood can come from such a tiny hole.

 

[cott97]

How often do you charge your reader. I am in Germany at the moment and it has gone from full to switch off empty in 24 hours. Changing the charger in case that is the issue. And linked to charge how often do you scan?

 

[Bluetit1802]

I rarely charge mine with the charger, but the reader is plugged into my PC via USB once a day when I am looking at my graphs etc. I scan many, many times a day. The only time I do charge it is before I put it away for a period (I am a part time user). I've never had a problem.

 

[cott97]

Thanks I think I will try to charge daily, it was a nasty shock when it didn't turn on.

 

[Brunneria]

I tend to only download the data when the battery is showing low - which is about every 10 days or so.

Presumably the battery life is going to vary with number of scans, number of prick tests (using Libre), and number of times you look at the other screens and data, but I wouldn't expect it to die in less than a week.

So you may have a duff battery, or the charger, as you suggested.

 

[cott97]

Going to keep an eye on it as in the USA in 3 weeks so will get a new reader of this looks dodgy

 

[Bluetit1802]

Going to keep an eye on it as in the USA in 3 weeks so will get a new reader of this looks dodgy

Contact Abbott. They may replace it for free.

 

[cott97]

Bought BNIB from eBay so I doubt it but may ask. So far it seems to be behaving today....

 

[seanmorris3466]

Hi, Gavin, I've used the blucon a bit more now, on the last four days of my current sensor. It's been fairly close to bg test, often more so than the reader. The blucon people came up with their own algorithm, so the different readings are down to that.

I think I've used it now for ten days or so across 2 sensors and apart from a couple of real glitchy days it's been ok.

To be honest, although the libre is great, that whole business of having to take the reader out and actually scan it is seeming a bit passe now! It's maybe just the novelty value, but it's kinda groovy just looking at my phone once in a while. It also shows the last result in the notification window. The graph ain't that great as it expands and contracts to have lower and upper limits set to your lowest and highest readings over the time period, so if you've been between say 4 and 6.5 over three hours it's still going to look really stabby even though 2.5 is not a big shift.

However, the history tab is surprisingly useful, just a list of readings taken every five minutes. Let's face it, even keen scanners don't scan every five minutes, whereas this does and then lists them. I'm finding that just looking at a list of numbers is giving me a better picture of how I'm moving than the scanner graph does.

All in all, if you like new toys to play with, it's worth a punt, although I've certainly not got to the stage yet where I'd bolus from it as I was doing with the reader.

I've heard that the libre is great but is it really worth the money as the NHS won't pay this cost??

 

[gardener612]

Hi, Gavin, I've used the blucon a bit more now, on the last four days of my current sensor. It's been fairly close to bg test, often more so than the reader. The blucon people came up with their own algorithm, so the different readings are down to that.

I think I've used it now for ten days or so across 2 sensors and apart from a couple of real glitchy days it's been ok.

To be honest, although the libre is great, that whole business of having to take the reader out and actually scan it is seeming a bit passe now! It's maybe just the novelty value, but it's kinda groovy just looking at my phone once in a while. It also shows the last result in the notification window. The graph ain't that great as it expands and contracts to have lower and upper limits set to your lowest and highest readings over the time period, so if you've been between say 4 and 6.5 over three hours it's still going to look really stabby even though 2.5 is not a big shift.

However, the history tab is surprisingly useful, just a list of readings taken every five minutes. Let's face it, even keen scanners don't scan every five minutes, whereas this does and then lists them. I'm finding that just looking at a list of numbers is giving me a better picture of how I'm moving than the scanner graph does.

All in all, if you like new toys to play with, it's worth a punt, although I've certainly not got to the stage yet where I'd bolus from it as I was doing with the reader.

Hi, Gavin, I've used the blucon a bit more now, on the last four days of my current sensor. It's been fairly close to bg test, often more so than the reader. The blucon people came up with their own algorithm, so the different readings are down to that.

I think I've used it now for ten days or so across 2 sensors and apart from a couple of real glitchy days it's been ok.

To be honest, although the libre is great, that whole business of having to take the reader out and actually scan it is seeming a bit passe now! It's maybe just the novelty value, but it's kinda groovy just looking at my phone once in a while. It also shows the last result in the notification window. The graph ain't that great as it expands and contracts to have lower and upper limits set to your lowest and highest readings over the time period, so if you've been between say 4 and 6.5 over three hours it's still going to look really stabby even though 2.5 is not a big shift.

However, the history tab is surprisingly useful, just a list of readings taken every five minutes. Let's face it, even keen scanners don't scan every five minutes, whereas this does and then lists them. I'm finding that just looking at a list of numbers is giving me a better picture of how I'm moving than the scanner graph does.

All in all, if you like new toys to play with, it's worth a punt, although I've certainly not got to the stage yet where I'd bolus from it as I was doing with the reader.

I've come into this conversation a little late, it seems. What is the blue con and where can I get it? Can you provide a web link, please?

 

[zbluebirdz]

@gardener612 "BluCon for FreeStyle Libre" >> https://www.ambrosiasys.com/

 

[maglil55]

I've heard that the libre is great but is it really worth the money as the NHS won't pay this cost??

It depends on your own view whether you think it is worth it. I started this thread to share my experiences with Libre. I was a bit sceptical and I honestly thought I would use it for a while then give it a rest. I haven't stopped using it. I like that I can see what is going on overnight and that it makes the effects of different foods so visible. I Didn't get it at first what was the point of something that gave different answers to the finger prick but then I found out I got closer results when I inserted the sensor 2 days before I activated it. I also Didn't get at first how it was more the direction of travel that was important than the actual figures as it measures different things to the finger prick but I do now. Sometimes you get a rogue reading but for the most part I don't finger stab anywhere near as often and to me they are worth every penny. It helps you can exempt yourself from VAT as a diabetic and my fingers appreciate the rest.
If you can be bothered read this thread from the start and you'll see all my trials and tribulations with the sensors.

 

[Scott-C]

I've come into this conversation a little late, it seems. What is the blue con and where can I get it? Can you provide a web link, please?

It's a small transmitter which sits on top of the libre sensor, reads it every 5 minutes and blutooths the reading to a phone running an app called Linkblucon.

If you scroll back through this thread, starting from page 11 onwards there's some posts between me and beccyb, who has also got one, comparing notes.

There's a few pics at posts #202, 252 and 257 to give an idea of size and what the app looks like.

You'll gather from the posts that results have been kind of mixed! Very accurate sometimes, then a couple of dubious days, but in fairness, it's such a small start up company that I think they kind of rushed it to market after a lot of delays to keep the pre-orderers happy before ironing out some teething problems, and all the readings I've had since they did a bugfix update to the app have been pretty good, but I've only worn it for a total of 10 days split across a couple of sensors.

It's only been on the market for a few weeks, the company which makes it Ambrosia Systems is a tiny little start up (although the founder used to work for Abbott who make the libre), and, as with all start ups there is no guarantee they'll stay in business.

The main reason I'm interested in it is that they say that they'll be updating the app so that does hypo/hyper alerts. But they won't be drawn on when that might be.

All in all, it's an experiment more than anything else, but if they can get the alerts sussed ( and don't go out of business!) the one off cost of £110 plus £25 import tax is worth looking at, but just remember it's early days with it.

 

[Scott-C]

I've heard that the libre is great but is it really worth the money as the NHS won't pay this cost??

There are numerous reasons why I like libre and think it is worth the money, but the main one, without a doubt, is that I can see when my blood sugar is dropping and do something about it long before it gets anywhere near being hypo, instead of being caught off guard and having to sort the hypo after it has happened. Being able to predict the future and change it in that way is priceless.

Overall, it makes it way easier than strips to steer and keep sugars in range, proactively, rather than reacting after they've already gone out of range.

The price works out daily at about the same price of a return tram ticket to work or a newspaper and coffee, and I'm willing to pay that to have a full motion picture of what's happening in more or less real time instead of snapshots from strips.

Of course, I would prefer if it was on the NHS. If you think back over the history of monitoring, colour changing strips were seen as cutting edge and costly when they were first introduced (thirty years ago, I was told to cut mine in half they were so expensive to make them last twice as long!), then they seemed old fashioned compared to cutting edge and costly electronic meters, and so it goes: meters are now taken for granted and for a while cgm/libre will be regarded as the new cutting edge and costly thing in the same way that colour changing strips and then meters were in their day when they were the new kid on the block, and before we know it, cgm/libre will become as commonplace as meters and no-one will remember why there was so much discussion about whether they should be on the NHS. I think it is inevitable that they will be one day. It's just the way these things work. When that will be, though, I really don't know.

PS: for any youngsters here scratching their heads about what colour changing strips are, and might want to go a bit retro old-school T, google Glucoflex-R ! I went on a bit of a nostalgia trip a while back and got a couple of packets, 8 quid a shot. Brought bsck so many memories hoping to see a nice light tan/light sky blue develop after a minute for a decent 6! Surprisingly close to meter too.