Libre Sensor

escturtle

Member
Messages
20
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I am very relieved to read all of your posts! I've been using the Libre for almost a year. I love the convenience and I thought it was helping my sugars - until I did my first A1c after going on the Libre - it was the highest it has been in 15 years!!!!! I usually average 6.5, and after Libre it was 7.0. So I started doing blood pricks to double-check readings, and I've found it can be very very inaccurate. Sometimes lower, sometimes higher, and sometimes spot-on. But its inconsistent.

I'm really curious about the benefits of the Miaomiao???? Can anyone who is using it please share their experience? Is it comfortable to wear? (not too bulky?) Easy to use, even if you're not such a techie? Does it really improve accuracy a lot? Would you recommend?
 

Cobia

Well-Known Member
Messages
221
Type of diabetes
LADA
@escturtle yep got the miaomiao dont even know its on the libre nice flat profile.

What it does is blutooth the sensor readings to your phone. With spike (iphone) or xdrip or glimp (android) you can put corrections in to get a more reliable reading.


With glimp just turn on blutooth on phone and in glimp it will connect dead easy.
Xdrip just set it for libre and connect to it.

Spike guess its the same as xdrip.

In my eyes glimp is better for mdi. Pump id look at xdrip with one insulin profile.

Hope that helps.
 

porl69

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,647
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Stupid people
I am very relieved to read all of your posts! I've been using the Libre for almost a year. I love the convenience and I thought it was helping my sugars - until I did my first A1c after going on the Libre - it was the highest it has been in 15 years!!!!! I usually average 6.5, and after Libre it was 7.0. So I started doing blood pricks to double-check readings, and I've found it can be very very inaccurate. Sometimes lower, sometimes higher, and sometimes spot-on. But its inconsistent.

I'm really curious about the benefits of the Miaomiao???? Can anyone who is using it please share their experience? Is it comfortable to wear? (not too bulky?) Easy to use, even if you're not such a techie? Does it really improve accuracy a lot? Would you recommend?

The MM is amazing. The Libre has nearly always been spot on with me (very lucky). I use the MM with Xdrip and can calibrate it so it is closer to finger prick readings. I will happily bolus from it. Helped me out with my basal setting as well.
 

endocrinegremlin

Well-Known Member
Messages
433
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
People telling me how to control my diabetes. My health. Isms. People walking their dogs off leads in illegal areas. Meat that bleeds. Late buses.
I am utterly dismayed with the libre. It keeps showing me as HYPO over night but I knew that was not happening. My nurse used my dawn phenomenon results as a show of rebounds and refused to work with me on any other aspect of my diabetes until I changed basals I knew worked overnight. I refused. When I set alarms and got up every hour, every night, for a week and tested against the libre all the hypos were 4 or above on my meter. Not hypo to my body. And in 18 months only one sensor has made it the full time period is meant to. The arrows are useful and I used to love the graphs but given how I now know how inaccurate they are with highs and lows I don't feel like I can trust a thing.
 
D

Deleted Account

Guest
@endocrinegremlin have you tried placing your Libre somewhere different?
Many people have complained about Libre reported lows at night due to pressure on the sensor.
 

endocrinegremlin

Well-Known Member
Messages
433
Type of diabetes
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Dislikes
People telling me how to control my diabetes. My health. Isms. People walking their dogs off leads in illegal areas. Meat that bleeds. Late buses.
@endocrinegremlin have you tried placing your Libre somewhere different?
Many people have complained about Libre reported lows at night due to pressure on the sensor.

Yes, I have tried up near my shoulder, front, back, nearer the elbow joint, all but in my darn armpit. Near muscle, in flab. All of it. My body rejects canulas on my pump very early too. I think it is just like 'you....don't live here'. But. It is something I dreamed of as a little girl and I so want it to work so I keep trying.
 

Colin of Kent

Well-Known Member
Messages
369
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
@endocrinegremlin have you tried placing your Libre somewhere different?
Many people have complained about Libre reported lows at night due to pressure on the sensor.
Yeah, if I end up sleeping on the Libre arm, I get all sorts of funny data. @helensaramay , do you know which other body parts tend to work more successfully? I'm thinking about trying different spots, but also for my cousin who's T1 and doesn't want to use Libre because she doesn't want it being visible.
 
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Yes, I have tried up near my shoulder, front, back, nearer the elbow joint, all but in my darn armpit. Near muscle, in flab. All of it. My body rejects canulas on my pump very early too. I think it is just like 'you....don't live here'. But. It is something I dreamed of as a little girl and I so want it to work so I keep trying.
Some people try it on their chest. It is not "approved" to go there but I think they get good readings.
@Mel dCP I think you are one of the creative Libre placers?
 

borderter

Well-Known Member
Messages
638
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Diabetes! Celebrities and curry
Use my thigh as easier to sleep with
 

endocrinegremlin

Well-Known Member
Messages
433
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
People telling me how to control my diabetes. My health. Isms. People walking their dogs off leads in illegal areas. Meat that bleeds. Late buses.
Use my thigh as easier to sleep with

Do you find it accurate? Most things I have read said anything but arms was not on point enough
 

emmay

Well-Known Member
Messages
69
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Do you find it accurate? Most things I have read said anything but arms was not on point enough
I saw someone on holiday last year who had theirs on their low back (love handle) unfortunately didn’t get a chance to speak to them then but different locations must work??
 

LooperCat

Expert
Messages
5,223
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
Some people try it on their chest. It is not "approved" to go there but I think they get good readings.
@Mel dCP I think you are one of the creative Libre placers?
Yep, I wear mine on my chest, just at the top of the boobage. It’s just as close to blood readingsthere, incalibrate every morning with the MiaoMiao.
 

kitedoc

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,783
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Dislikes
black jelly beans
Yes, I have tried up near my shoulder, front, back, nearer the elbow joint, all but in my darn armpit. Near muscle, in flab. All of it. My body rejects canulas on my pump very early too. I think it is just like 'you....don't live here'. But. It is something I dreamed of as a little girl and I so want it to work so I keep trying.
Did you try the steel cannulas with the pump?
 
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borderter

Well-Known Member
Messages
638
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Diabetes! Celebrities and curry
Do you find it accurate? Most things I have read said anything but arms was not on point enough
Find better accuracy on thigh so dont tell abbott but will go on using this area LOL
 

emmay

Well-Known Member
Messages
69
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Find better accuracy on thigh so dont tell abbott but will go on using this area LOL
Have you tried other areas, I don’t really have a problem with the back of my arm but notice that my readings only 5mins a part can change so much. What made you try your thigh??
 

MicheleJC

Member
Messages
24
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
I'm not on a pump but I have very recently moved off finger pricking to the Libre. What a fantastic invention this is. After many years of sticking needles in me 4/5 times a day, I have not had to test once as I find the Libre very reliable. What is very useful is that it tells you if you're BS is flat, falling or rising. Although I have only had it 4 days I can't see me going back to regular finger pricking.

I find it invaluable when like you say, it shows the direction of my BS - it saves me over-eating when correcting a hypo for a start. I just wish I could afford it! I still have the reader but am not able to keep buying the sensors, Looking at the guidelines for funding it seems to prioritise pregnant women and children - both of which I agree do need support but I am 58 and losing some awareness of going low unless I test, so I end up with extremely painful fingers
 

London36_

Well-Known Member
Messages
132
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I've just posted this on another thread, but desperate for some insights. I'm a first time poster here (or I was a few minutes ago)

My son is 6 years old, diagnosed T1 in November 2018, and has been using the FS Libre for nearly 3 months now. Up to now they have generally been fine. On Thursday we changed the sensor 3 times, and the readings were 2-3 mml different to the blood prick readings. On the first one, we put it into the side of his arm and not the back. I read somewhere that if it goes into a muscle it will be inaccurate. So we changed it. The second one, there was a bleed when we applied the sensor, so we thought it was because of that. So we put a third one on, another bleed and again a difference of 2 to the blood test. We called Abbott and they suggested waiting 24-48 hours, after a bleed. So we are waiting, while in the meantime, can’t send him to school and expect teachers to do blood tests instead using a simple scanner. (Before anyone calls social services - He does have a careplan, and we and school keep to it rigidly, but we rely on the libre to make it work. DS's teachers are trained in doing blood checks but we don't want to drive him mad.)

Have any of you ever had this experience? Firstly, how common is it to bleed when applying the sensor? Secondly, does a bleed affect the accuracy of the sensor? And, if bleeding does not affect it, we had three different sensors giving wild results!!

The thing that is confusing us here, is that we've used probably 5 or 6 sensors to date, and they've all been fine. Now suddenly, we have 3 that are faulty?! For us, we don't want to finger prick a 6 year old constantly, the libre has been a lifesaver, but now we feel we are driving on a dark road without any lights, as we are giving food and don't know for certain where his levels are.

Bit late replying but just wanted to say two things

1) I’m a teacher and you shouldn’t worry about driving the teacher mad. There should be a trained TA whose responsibility this is anyway. Any government policies or bad behaviour will be driving him mad, not this
2) I’m on enlite sensors with Medtronic and very, very rarely (as an adult with normal body fat) have a cgm bleed but I use my torso.

I would hope that a six year old should receive funding for pump and cgm.
 

Marie 2

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,395
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Pump
I used to use Libre sensors, they were always off. But if they were off by more than 25 points I would call Libre (where they have to be 25-30% off or to Walgreens who never questioned it.) I also would return them if they were up one time but down the next time because then it was too hard to figure out dosing.

But I would test the first day a few times after a 2 hour wait and I would overlap sensors by about 8 hours ( I had 2 readers) this allowed me to get an idea of the difference in reading. Which usually was consistently off by the same amount. And then I would check about half way through to make sure it was behaving or obviously I would check if I thought something was wrong.

While I'll do finger sticking if I need to 10 times a day, I loved to leave most of it behind. My A1C is 6.4 and has been for a while but I am on an insulin pump and CGM.
 
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Liaquila

Newbie
Messages
2
Hi. I've used to get very low readings in Libre compared to finger blood. So it showed me beyond my low limit almost all the time. I'm in Brasil and use mg/dl. It showed 30 to 25 points of difference even when the arrow in libre was horizontal. For example my finger showed 90mg/dl (totally normal) and Libre showed 60mg/dl (hipo). I even quited using Libre for a time.
About six months ago I read somewhere in the Internet that to improve readings you must be VERY WELL hidrated. I put an app in my phone to help me control the total amount of water I take every day (I have to drink around 2,6 lt to stay hidrated).
All of the sudden my Libre is very very close to my finger measures. And it has been wonderful!!! Now I even bolus sometimes based on the Libre alone (when the arrow is horizontal).
I would recommend that you control the water intake for some days and see if Libre improves.
For me it has solved the problem, but if I have a day that I'm not drinking enough water, diet coke doesn't count :-( Libre readings get low again...
Hope it helps!
Liliana