Monitoring blood glucose having reversed pre-diabetes

[MickieB]

Hello everyone,
I was thinking of monitoring my BG with a Libre Freestyle 2, so no finger pricking. Has anyone else done this? I'm hoping to find out my BG reaction to certain foods by keeping a food diary. I'd like to keep this discreet. Abbot say I must have a prescription (NHS) but I don't want a free product since I'm not pre-diabetic anymore.

 

[Emile_the_rat]

Libre Freestyle 2 is terrible unaccurate, would never trust it.

It is mostly unaccurate, and often 3-4 mmol off when I used it. I often got readings of 8-9 mmol when in reality it were 13-14 mmol. And Libre could m even read 6-7 mmol when I would have really low blood sugar. Have tried to calibrate it a dosen times, but gave it up. Libre freestyle is simply a terrible cgm.

You’re better of with contour next or accu chek mobile, both way more accurate and reliable.

Unfortunally you want get a good cgm (like dexcom) without a prescription. And cgm’s like iPro2 (best in my opinion) aren’t even prescribed unless you have an insulin pump, at least where I live.

So without a diagnosis, best advice would be to get a mobile blood glucose monitor. There is no point for a non-diabetic or even pre-diabetic to have a cgm.

 

[Mr_Pot]

My experience with a free trial of a Libre 2 was the opposite of @Emile_the_rat I found it very accurate compared with finger prick tests and very useful. I am diabetic but with an HbA1c around 38 due to diet only. The 14 days trial enabled me to check some meals for possible delayed spikes that finger pricks had missed and see how my BG varied during the day. It also correctly predicted my HbA1c which was impressive. Having said that, I don't see any point in my case to use a CGM regularly, as I would be unlikely to learn anything new.
If you are in Wellingborough UK then I don't see any reason why you can't just buy a Libre from a pharmacy, they don't require a prescription as far as I know, you only need to be diabetic if you want to avoid VAT, hopefully someone else will confirm.

 

[EllieM]

I think an issue with the libre is that they work very well for some (most?) people but not all. So you'd probably need to buy one and check against a glucometer to see if it's readings are right. I had to stop using the libre 1 when my body became allergic to it and (as a consequence?) its readings became totally erratic, but the dexcom is (usually) very accurate for me (and I've managed to avoid an allergy). So buy a libre with your own money if you wish, but be prepared that it may not work for you.

 

[MickieB]

Thanks everyone, I think I may not go down this route (but I must find something).