Freestyle Libre

[Senior_Squirrel]

I am new to the Freestyle Libra system and I am wondering how members are addressing the issue of delayed readings with there libra when driving. When I scan and get a reading of 4.3 should I still drive knowing that a blood test would be above 5. Some feedback and advice would be appreciated

 

[Rokaab]

If it says 4.3 on the reader you need a blood test to confirm its above 5 as you believe it is.

 

[ert]

On my DAFNE course, we learnt that you will need evidence you are above 5 mmol/l with a Libre scan or a finger prick up to 15 minutes before driving. It won't be enough to calibrate with an educated guess.

 

[EllieM]

If it says 4.3 on the reader you need a blood test to confirm its above 5 as you believe it is.

Absolutely. The libre can be very inaccurate, all the time for some people, some of the time for others, and is particularly known to be dubious at hypo levels. There's also the issue of occasional dodgy sensors and the fact that newly activated sensors tend to be inaccurate for the first 24 hours.

Maybe @Senior_Squirrel has already done this, but I would strongly recommend any new user to do a large number of blood tests to compare the libre reading with the corresponding blood glucose level to work out how reliable a system it is for him/her. It works very very well for many people, until it doesn't. I don't personally think that it can ever completely replace traditional blood tests, though I believe it can come close if you are compatible to it and you add in the software to calibrate it against your own personal blood tests (which means you'll be doing calibration tests if nothing else).

Though I'm sure it must be very frustrating if you've already taken sugar to increase your levels and you know they are going up, the consequences of going hypo while driving are so catastrophic that it's probably best to have a traditional blood testing kit in the car to supplement the libre, just so that you can be sure you are safe. (Speaking from personal experience of my one driving hypo a couple of decades ago which did not but easily could have ended in disaster.)

 

[Lesley4b]

I’ve been using the libre for a while now but recently have had problems
Today I attached a new sensor and after doing the start up scan it keeps saying it’s not attached so rescan and start again
Tbh I don’t have a clue what’s happening it’s firmly attached but this is the second sensor recently that has done this
Can anyone suggest what I could be doing incorrectly

 

[leewiliiams]

I’ve been using the libre for a while now but recently have had problems
Today I attached a new sensor and after doing the start up scan it keeps saying it’s not attached so rescan and start again
Tbh I don’t have a clue what’s happening it’s firmly attached but this is the second sensor recently that has done this
Can anyone suggest what I could be doing incorrectly

Hi, I have had 2 Libra monitors come off now I don't know why?