Guardian 3 sensor spikes at night

DTay9999

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Hi, I would be very grateful for any advice on this problem. Can I say first, that my BG is NOT rising during the night, however the Guardian sensor goes ballistic - rises rapidly (12+), sets off the alarm and then slowly drops back down. I've tested my BG during these events and it is normal e.g. 7ish. This has happened a lot recently and it often occurs 15/30 min after I wake in the night, so waking me up again!
 

Jaylee

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Hi, I would be very grateful for any advice on this problem. Can I say first, that my BG is NOT rising during the night, however the Guardian sensor goes ballistic - rises rapidly (12+), sets off the alarm and then slowly drops back down. I've tested my BG during these events and it is normal e.g. 7ish. This has happened a lot recently and it often occurs 15/30 min after I wake in the night, so waking me up again!

Hi,

I don't use the same sensor as you. I use the Libre. (Assuming they are both running on the same principle?)

My sensor can go a little skatty on the graph (xdrip, linear dot read out every 5mins.) with one shot from normal to around 9 or 12mmol & another in hypo territory? Like a WAV file interpretation on a music program..

This tends to happen in correlation when the sensor is on the arm using a hand saw..
I've checked against the meter too.

Could you be having a restless night?
 

DTay9999

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Interesting, I always found the Libre really stable overnight, but it did tend to do a false rise after a shower, temperature thing I guess. And yes to restless night!
 

Jaylee

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Interesting, I always found the Libre really stable overnight, but it did tend to do a false rise after a shower, temperature thing I guess. And yes to restless night!

The Libre 2 is to my mind more accurate than it's predecessor..

I just wonder if your restlessness during the night is having a similar effect on the readings that I occasionally get cutting wood?
Especially if the sensor may be placed in or near muscle tissue..? It sounds similar with the wild & varied shifts in BG over a V short period of time with no other intervention?
 

In Response

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Interesting, I always found the Libre really stable overnight, but it did tend to do a false rise after a shower, temperature thing I guess. And yes to restless night!
I too found the Libre spike (a proper spike going up and down again rather than going up and staying there which is not a spike in my mathematical mind but some people still call it a spike) when in the shower. It goes up 2 or 3 mol/l and then returns to about the same when I get out of the hot water.
 

DTay9999

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I too found the Libre spike (a proper spike going up and down again rather than going up and staying there which is not a spike in my mathematical mind but some people still call it a spike) when in the shower. It goes up 2 or 3 mol/l and then returns to about the same when I get out of the hot water.
That I can understand, but why my Guardian sensor should go mad during the night I do not get.
 

Jaylee

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That I can understand, but why my Guardian sensor should go mad during the night I do not get.
All i know is sometimes when i'm cutting wood or putting effort into using a power tool, the graph can look like the constellation of Orion..

Is it possible you could be flailing about in your restless sleep?
 

Maco

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I’m using the guardian 3 & the problem your having I haven’t encountered as of yet. To be honest the accuracy I get is usually extremely good! Where abouts are you fitting it? There’s certain areas of body that are a massive no good with the guardian that would work absolutely fine with Libre.
 

DTay9999

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All i know is sometimes when i'm cutting wood or putting effort into using a power tool, the graph can look like the constellation of Orion..

Is it possible you could be flailing about in your restless sleep?
Very pretty then! I think you could be right about the flailing about. I've injured my back, so if I wake up I find it difficult to get back to sleep.
 

DTay9999

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I’m using the guardian 3 & the problem your having I haven’t encountered as of yet. To be honest the accuracy I get is usually extremely good! Where abouts are you fitting it? There’s certain areas of body that are a massive no good with the guardian that would work absolutely fine with Libre.
Accuracy is quite reasonable, but reliability is not so good. I've had problems with the transmitter, and the usual 'updating' issue. I'm a bit of a skinny T1D so there aren't a lot of options. I mostly use the back of the upper arm, and I am wondering if the sensor is connecting with muscle when I thrash around at night.
 
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Maco

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Accuracy is quite reasonable, but reliability is not so good. I've had problems with the transmitter, and the usual 'updating' issue. I'm a bit of a skinny T1D so there aren't a lot of options. I mostly use the back of the upper arm, and I am wondering if the sensor is connecting with muscle when I thrash around at night.

The back of the arm is the one place that I can’t use at all, I had 7 sensors fail in one day all on the back of the arm. Each sensor failed before the warm up period had ended, I use the lower back love handle area now & touch wood it’s been fine up to now. My arms are quite toned which made the Medtronic trainers believe I could be hitting muscle tissue.
 

DTay9999

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The back of the arm is the one place that I can’t use at all, I had 7 sensors fail in one day all on the back of the arm. Each sensor failed before the warm up period had ended, I use the lower back love handle area now & touch wood it’s been fine up to now. My arms are quite toned which made the Medtronic trainers believe I could be hitting muscle tissue.
Interesting, I'm not quite so toned, but I think it might be finding a bit of muscle! But how do manage to put them on the lower back area? I guess you need a helper?
 

Maco

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Interesting, I'm not quite so toned, but I think it might be finding a bit of muscle! But how do manage to put them on the lower back area? I guess you need a helper?


It depends how far round your back you go, if you just go slightly to your side you can manage to do it yourself. What I do is normally just put 1 piece of oval tape over the sensor & instead of using a second oval tape for the transmitter I just use the IV3000 tape which makes it a lot easier if doing it on your own.
 

Jaylee

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Very pretty then! I think you could be right about the flailing about. I've injured my back, so if I wake up I find it difficult to get back to sleep.

I find long sleeve clothing. Maybe a tighter fit thermal base layer in winter? Can be part of the issue with arm activity.
I also use a Bluetooth bridge on an armband strapped over the top of the sensor.
If you have long sleeve bed wear? This may get twisted/skewed & tightened too, during the restlessness..?
 

DTay9999

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It depends how far round your back you go, if you just go slightly to your side you can manage to do it yourself. What I do is normally just put 1 piece of oval tape over the sensor & instead of using a second oval tape for the transmitter I just use the IV3000 tape which makes it a lot easier if doing it on your own.
Thanks, I'll try it, and with the tape as well. What I really need to do is put on a bit more fat perhaps!
 

DTay9999

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I find long sleeve clothing. Maybe a tighter fit thermal base layer in winter? Can be part of the issue with arm activity.
I also use a Bluetooth bridge on an armband strapped over the top of the sensor.
If you have long sleeve bed wear? This may get twisted/skewed & tightened too, during the restlessness..?
Yes you could be right about the PJs, I do get in a bit of a twist sometimes!
 

DTay9999

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Ok, so now I think I have sorted it. Probably everybody else knows this except me, but it appears my spikes may be due taking paracetamol during the night for back pain. This created a rather disturbed night of, waking up with back pain, taking paracetamol, and then being woken 1/2 - 1 hour later with pump alarms sounding. Now sleep with pump in Alert Silence -All Sensor Alerts. I have never been made aware of this issue, but found a useful scientific paper at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4717519/#!po=1.92308

Apparently it is an issue with other types of sensors, but not the Freestyle Libre.

See pic of my spike below. If anybody else is having this problem, I hope this helps.
 

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Peter03

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Good to know I take quite a lot of anti inflammatory tablets I do not know if they will affect the Medtronic sensors I am starting on Wensday, I do also take paracetamol, so I will look out for this problem,
 

searley

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Ok, so now I think I have sorted it. Probably everybody else knows this except me, but it appears my spikes may be due taking paracetamol during the night for back pain. This created a rather disturbed night of, waking up with back pain, taking paracetamol, and then being woken 1/2 - 1 hour later with pump alarms sounding. Now sleep with pump in Alert Silence -All Sensor Alerts. I have never been made aware of this issue, but found a useful scientific paper at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4717519/#!po=1.92308

Apparently it is an issue with other types of sensors, but not the Freestyle Libre.

See pic of my spike below. If anybody else is having this problem, I hope this helps.

It’s not a massive spike or for terribly long by the looks of it.. I have read before that paracetamol can do this to some cgm think Dexcom does the same but I use ibuprofen instead of paracetamol

Could you not just raise the alert level slightly for high readings?
 

DTay9999

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Type 1
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Good to know I take quite a lot of anti inflammatory tablets I do not know if they will affect the Medtronic sensors I am starting on Wensday, I do also take paracetamol, so I will look out for this problem,
I think things like Ibuprofen are ok. It's particularly Paracetamol that causes the spike. I tried it during the day and didn't get a spike, maybe because my arm was moving all the time, whereas at night the arm should be hopefully still (if you're not tossing and turning).