- Messages
- 37
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Diet only
I know there are a lot of Libre threads already. I have a few bits to condense into a single post in the hope that it will help someone considering their options for the first time.
I'd looked at the FreeStyle Libre write-ups about how you can use the Libre with your phone and monitor your blood glucose practically in real-time. Just what I need, I thought. I can eat a known-weight test dose of various foods with different carbohydrate loads and see which ones stay under, say, 10 mmol/L and come down to a baseline within two hours or maybe a bit longer.
Edited to add a warning - the following paragraphs are mistaken. The Libre App will in fact start a new sensor, as subsequent posts make clear. This text is retracted:
So I uninstalled the FreeStyle LibreLink Diabetes app and installed Glimp instead, which has a free app to send the Start signal and then offers a perfectly good monitoring interface. Well done Glimp, I'd have binned the sensor otherwise.
I made a Dropbox account and linked Glimp to it, and I can now see on my PC the spreadsheet of the blood glucose readings it's registered. They're stored in raw mg/dl which convert to mmol/l when divided by 18.0182.
Each sensor consistently reads higher and lower as blood glucose goes higher and lower. Using four or so blood-stick readings provides a conversion to bring the Glimp display into line with what the blood-sticks say. That, in my opinion, just puts your blood-stick meter's bias straight into your Glimp readings, but hey-ho people want consistency and that's how to get it. Me, I want to see the line float up and down, that's all.
I'm quite content to buy just the one sensor. Within two weeks I'll have trialed 50g doses of anything which has carbohydrate in it, from cane sugar to rice (white), rice (grim), spaghetti, potatoes, carrots and bread (various), one dose at noon and another at dusk. The shape of the resulting curves will dictate my diet for the next decade, all for £50 quid.
I'd looked at the FreeStyle Libre write-ups about how you can use the Libre with your phone and monitor your blood glucose practically in real-time. Just what I need, I thought. I can eat a known-weight test dose of various foods with different carbohydrate loads and see which ones stay under, say, 10 mmol/L and come down to a baseline within two hours or maybe a bit longer.
Edited to add a warning - the following paragraphs are mistaken. The Libre App will in fact start a new sensor, as subsequent posts make clear. This text is retracted:
So I bought a sensor, downloaded the Freestyle LibreLink Diabetes app, applied the sensor to my freshly scrubbed arm and airily waved my smartphone near it. Sod all happened and there's a reason for that. The tedious profit-oriented gits at FreeStyle programmed the app so that yes, it can read the sensor til the cows come home (or at least for two weeks), but it won't send the Start signal. To send the Start signal you have to wave The Reader, a device sold by Freestyle which has no other essential function than to start the sensor so you can subsequently use your smartphone with it.
You have no idea how annoyed that made me.
No, Freestyle, I will not buy your blasted £50 reader. I want to travel, I need to be able to start your sensors from my phone, my suitcase has no room for your blasted pointless box. It doesn't even make you any profit, your profit comes from selling a $5 sensor every two weeks for £50, that's where your profit comes from. Your software restriction is an insult.
You have no idea how annoyed that made me.
No, Freestyle, I will not buy your blasted £50 reader. I want to travel, I need to be able to start your sensors from my phone, my suitcase has no room for your blasted pointless box. It doesn't even make you any profit, your profit comes from selling a $5 sensor every two weeks for £50, that's where your profit comes from. Your software restriction is an insult.
So I uninstalled the FreeStyle LibreLink Diabetes app and installed Glimp instead, which has a free app to send the Start signal and then offers a perfectly good monitoring interface. Well done Glimp, I'd have binned the sensor otherwise.
I made a Dropbox account and linked Glimp to it, and I can now see on my PC the spreadsheet of the blood glucose readings it's registered. They're stored in raw mg/dl which convert to mmol/l when divided by 18.0182.
Each sensor consistently reads higher and lower as blood glucose goes higher and lower. Using four or so blood-stick readings provides a conversion to bring the Glimp display into line with what the blood-sticks say. That, in my opinion, just puts your blood-stick meter's bias straight into your Glimp readings, but hey-ho people want consistency and that's how to get it. Me, I want to see the line float up and down, that's all.
I'm quite content to buy just the one sensor. Within two weeks I'll have trialed 50g doses of anything which has carbohydrate in it, from cane sugar to rice (white), rice (grim), spaghetti, potatoes, carrots and bread (various), one dose at noon and another at dusk. The shape of the resulting curves will dictate my diet for the next decade, all for £50 quid.
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