Abbots freestyle Libre

Hi,

You might to read this thread.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/freestyle-libre-on-sale.65900/

Nis1967 said:

Has anyone tried the new glucose monitoring system that requires a sensor and no finger pricking required. And is it available on free prescription yet?

Click to expand...

Hi my BM was 3.7 using the sensor but 6.7 manually, so now I'm a bit disheartened because I was just about to take some lucozade

They say to manually check blood on a meter if readings are low....

I had low eroneous readings using their cgm, that being reason I would not entertain the libre. My own experiences only. Others have got on well with the libre.. Some have good experiences, some not..

Thanks, even when my BM was4.5 the manual was 7.5 so looks like I should just increase the sensor reading by 3 but this is useless really

I got the Libre from the hospital, for free, with one sensor only that lasts 14 days, if i want to continue to use the Libre after the 14 days i would have to purchase the sensors at £48.00 a fortnight. I was given the Libre as my levels are high and i think the hospital do not believe my meter readings as before the Libre they gave me a new meter told me to use it for 7 days eat 3 meals a day and if levels are the same i would be on insulin i done as i was told levels maybe a bit higher, so i got myself psyched up for me to be on insulin, however they moved the goal post again and fitted me with the Libre, to which i believe my levels are even higher, i was told to finger prick at least twice a day but not to expect the reading to be the same as the Libre as there is a time lag of 10 minutes behind on the libre, and the finger prick tests the blood where the Libre sensor is reading the fluid just under the skin.

My husband has been on the Libre since Feb this year. He has dementia which has made him very difficult with needles and therefore will not do finger testing. His diabetes was so out of control the hospital suggested the sensor. He has managed to get his HABC1 down from 129 to 78 since Feb as he can now see what's happening day to day. The consultant has said that it may be out but not to worry as long as we continue to scan and get the right trend.

Yes it's expensive but for us it's been a godsend really.

I am newly diagnosed and this was recommended to me by a cousin who was pre-diabetic and managed to reverse his trend.
I hate needles and my doctor agreed this would be a good alternative and also because I have to travel almost every month throughout the year, and this seems to be a far more portable solution.

At the moment ANY indication of my BG level is better than nothing - which I have now!

The Libre is a bit like marmite it seems. People love it and hate it - and even as a user of it I sometimes love it and sometime hate it!

The readings when you first apply it are low. It takes around 48 hours for my body to accept it. For that reason I apply the sensor as early as two days ahead of when I am going to activate it and that reduces the silly low readings. I also find the night time readings, particularly if I am laying on the side of the sensor it drops down.

During the day and once accepted by my body - the readings are good. I regularly self calibrate by finger test. The current sensor I am using is around .1 - .3mmol from my finger test. Now I am not sure what is right. I have posted many times on finger test and I recently did five finger tests in a row with the same meter random fingers and first and second drop of blood and got ranges between 5.9 and 6.8 all within the 15% medium. My Libre said I was 6.2. So no more or less accurate then in my opinion.

Then there is the rise and fall. I have been amazed at what the libre has told me that I would not have found with out doing a finger test every sixty seconds. For example, a few weeks ago went to a BBQ - something I had there was not right. Three hours later, long after I would get my normal spike my BG went up and stayed up and I was able to walk it off in a hurry. I would of missed that assuming that at two hours when it had dropped from my 1 hour reading it was on its way down. I didn't believe the Libre at first and the finger test proved it.

It isn't perfect, it is overly expensive I think for what must be a relatively cheap mass production item. In return you seem to get endless returns of faulty sensors which fall off (rarely), or are dead on arrival.

I am not sure if I were a type 1 having to watch carefully for lows I could rely on it - but as a t2 it works well for and along with many other things has given me better control.

the software that comes with it that shows things like your peek from eating are brilliant.

I have mixed feelings about the libre. I used it for about a month and felt that I got something out of it but then had a break. I am back trying again and I think this time I have learnt more about HOW to use it. I have been a lot more aware of the time delay and how the arrows become a bit variable when blood sugar is not stable. I think that the data is great to look back on - either over night or during a period of long exercise. When I scan I have to interpret the reading in terms of... that was 15 mins ago
Incidentally I am type 1 and wouldn't use the libre for to choose correction insulin doses and if I was "going low" I would blood test. I dare even say that libre is possibly more useful for type 2 who want to see the effects of food.
Sent from my SM-G900F using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app

Nis1967 said:

Has anyone tried the new glucose monitoring system that requires a sensor and no finger pricking required. And is it available on free prescription yet?

Click to expand...

Yes I have been using mine for a week now and find it very helpful

I was always trying to lose weight but never succeeded till this keto lean diet and have dropped from 100.1 kilos to 92.9 in two weeks just by cutting out carbs to 20g or less per day and pleased as I have a medical procedure tomorrow

My BG readings were all around 9 but on this way of eating I dropped to 4

The sensor gives a reading of 3.5 but a prick test at the same time shows 4.5 but the sensor is really for type 1 as we know

Wanted to see the effects of some foods on me so bought two sensors to give me 20 days coverage but for me they are fare to expensive at $A92 each

Have a great day and stay safe

Regards

Peter