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Am I obsessed or just experimenting?

Debandez

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,031
Location
Lancashire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I have a new addition to my body. A libre sensor. And I'm loving it. I absolutely love the fact I can scan whenever I like. I'm currently scanning every 15 mins following my cabbage Bolognese, glass of red and a few mixed nuts, just to see how my body deals. Back to 5.3 without much of a rise! It's just amazing. I just keep beeping like I'm at the Tesco checkout ....but no purchase necessary I have the reader. But I've just downloaded app to my phone, freestyle librelink, just to see how good it is to let everyone know. Scan result with phone app = 5.3. So exactly the same as my reader. That means you don't need to waste your money on a reader!

But I've gone one step further. I've brought my codefree in on the act. Im now star fishing on my bed whilst my hubby and son watch man Utd downstairs. From what I can hear they are doing well!!! Not so for my codefree!!! Codefree 5.5. Both my phone and my reader 4.8. I have had my suspicions for a while my codefree readings are showing higher than they actually are. Especially when my home hba1c test was 31. I was expecting it to be much higher going off the amount of 6s I've had. It could be the scrap yard for my codefree. But I'm going to continue my research for a few more days.

So yes I'm loving my libre. It even scans through my clothes!!! Its waterproof too. Quite discreet. Sooooo easy to put on. ABSOLUTELY PAIN FREE. Less pain than a finger prick.

Not cheap. A libre reader from Abbott is £57.95. Not an essential piece of equipment as the librelink phone app is free and seems just as accurate. And sensors are the same price. They only last 14 days!

I've ordered another sensor from Asda for £35, because I'm worth it . So much cheaper than the Abbott website. Doesn't make sense does it?

Free in some areas for type 1s I do believe.

It gives lots of stats. You can set alarms, check your average glucose, look at daily graphs and logbook.

Im hopping on eBay now to get me some freestyle libre accessories and stickers. I will give another update in a couple of weeks time.
 
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Do note that your meter should be more accurate than the sensor, meters are required to be within 15% accuracy, the libre does not have that requirement - also the libre isn't actually using your blood for the tests so its more of an approximation, I know sometimes (normally on the last day or so) my libre and meter can be as much as about 4 mmol/L out, the meter is much more likely to be correct.

I wanna know where your Asda is , mine has never sold them that cheap, used to be £44, now £46.30ish (which is close to Abbotts price when you get Abbott to knock the VAT off)
 
Its on order from Asda. I may have misheard the lady. I will know when they phone me to pick up. Its almost a 2nd mortgage for these things!!!! Thanks for the info. I have a tee2 so will get that out tomorrow.4 lots of tests for my FBS!!!! Almost a factory set up!!!
 
I generally find that the Codefree meter tests a little higher than most!
 
Lol, @Debandez , I love it that you're loving libre, but, honestly, daahling, scanning is just sooo passe now!

A lot of T1s, and some T2s too, have forked out a one-off cost of about 160 quid or so for a rechargeable, reusable transmitter called miaomiao, pop it on top of libre, it pings a reading every 5 mins to a phone app, xDrip+ for android, Spike for iPhone, and you can get it running on a smart watch too.

The graphs are way more detailed, and you can feed bg readings into it to calibrate the accuracy of the sensor (as you're new to libre, you've probably not learned yet that some of the sensors can be skew-whiff - the calibration helps with that).

Here's the miaomiao link, and an xDrip+ graph to show the sort of detail you can get.

https://miaomiao.cool

 

I love the sound of this! Not the cost though! But a one off. I'm going to look into it. Thank you so much.
 
Remember that your libre readings will lag 15 minutes behind your blood test ones. I would expect the phone app to read the same as the libre, given it's working off its figures...
As for the libre - very accurate for some, hopelessly inaccurate for others. I'm afraid I'd always believe a blood testing meter over the libre.
 
@Debandez - As others have likely mentioned the readings your blood glucose meter and Libre return are different in two regards. Firstly, you finger prick test tests blood, and the Libre interstitial fluid, and secondly, there is a delay of c15-20 minutes (varies by individual, like most things diabetes related) as it takes a smidge longer for the glucose to show in the interstitial fluids than in the blood.

For some folks the Libre is very accurate, but for me less so. I return lots and lots of very low readings, and I mean very low, like "Lo" (lower than 2.2). Now whilst I do tend to run quite low these days, I'd question that - especially for long periods, so it is important to acceot that whilst all blood glucose meters have an allowable variance in results, so do the sensors. You may even see it if you acquire some test strips for the Libre reader, and compare with the sensor readings.

I love the Libre. It allows me to understand the trends and how my body copes with certain sorts of foods, over an extended period, but for me, I have had a very significant number of sensors replaced, albeith free of charge, by Abbott, due to their enormous variance with their own blood test results.

At one stage, I thought it might be my low levels of body fat (not suggesting anyone else carries lots of fat, but I am generally pretty slight), but if that were the case, it would do the same for lots of children, which seems not to be so.

I now use a sensor once in a while, and I sort of wish I had brough one or two away with me whilst I'm eating a significantly different diet and living my life generally differently, but I didn't. I have brought an A1cNow test with me though for a quick look under the bonnet at the half way point of my trip, in a couple of weeks time.

Oh, and after a while, you might want to shut the noise off the reader. I didn't feel it was fair on my poor OH having the beeps go off during his slumering hours.

Enjoy your experiences.
 
Hi @Debandez

Definitely not obsessed! I’m one of those who finds a meter more reliable - found the Libre gave me wildly different results swinging from very low to very high, which were not borne out by regular testing patterns. I can see the benefits for looking at trends, particularly if in a new environment. Given that I’m about as low carb as it gets for me it’s not a regular necessity.

Glad you’re enjoying it.
 
One [wo]man’s obsession is another’s hobby/interest. Personally I’d rather have “obsessed” tattooed on my forehead than “died young” engraved on my headstone. But that’s just my outlook, and others see things from a different perspective. I’m an engineer so stuff like this is in my nature. Therefore I say all power to you!

You keep doing whatever makes you happy and allows you to live a long and fulfilling life
 

I know I'm being a bit thick here but do I still need to buy libre sensors every 14 days!?
 

Really helpful thank you. I thought my ppst was helpful but now realise I'm way behind the crowds haha. You live and learn. Im wearing one so I can give a demo in my talk on 27th. Now I can include info on the miaowmiaow too . brilliant.
 
Debandez said:
I know I'm being a bit thick here but do I still need to buy libre sensors every 14 days!?
Click to expand...
Yes, the sensor still lasts only 14 days so has to be replaced every 14 days, the MiaoMiao you just need to buy once as it just sits on top of a sensor, but you do still need a working sensor for it
 
@Debandez I also think the Codefree measures higher BUT that for me is a bit of a safety net while trying to be as low as I can. So I still try to eat to my Codefree. I did think about getting a Tee2 but gather its bigger in size which would put me off. The Libra is much too expensive for me but I can see how it is really useful. Btw good luck on the 27th you will be amazing.
 
The TEE2is indeed slightly larger than the Codefree (See attached pic) but not much. I find it needs less blood and is significantly more accurate with fewer "rogue readings" than the Codefree. I wasn't that happy to have to switch but sometimes the Codefree inaccuracy was becoming quite counter productive.
 
@bulkbiker thanks for that...I think I will decide whether to change tonTee2 after my next HBA1c in June.
 
PS. To above if the Codefree was under measuring the Tee2 for me would be a done deal.
 
I'm another part time user of the Libre. I have had 12 or 13 of them up to now over the last 2 or 3 years. I love them, but mine always read lower than my Accu Chek Mobile meter. On average I would estimate about 0.5 to 1 mmol/l over the 2 week period. I do wait around 15 minutes between testing and scanning. I find looking at the trends is excellent, particularly seeing what is happening overnight. When you export the text file that lists all the 15 minute readings plus all the scans you do, it is illuminating. I find them very useful when on holiday.
 
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