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Anyone have much experience with Freestyle Libre

Stephen Bond

Stephen Bond

Well-Known Member
Messages
234
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Non-insulin injectable medication (incretin mimetics)
Dislikes
Bureaucracy. Poor quality. Boredom
Anyone have much experience with Freestyle Libre? I am new to monitoring my glucose levels. I started out with tst strips and have just bought a Freestyle Libre 3. Whilst it is more comfortable and gives instant readouts, the analytical reporting is abysmal, at least what i have found so far.

You can only accurately look at what your glucose level is live. There is a graph you can see for the week or month, but it is so badly calibrated that it is almost useless except for seeing when you are in a danger zone.

Personally, i wanted this device to see how my body reacts to certain foods and eating in certain patterns. The very poor graph is hopeless for that. I find it hard to believe that they can come up with a very complex sensor which records data every 5 minutes, but do not provide the ability to view or analyse that precise data.

Am I missing something? Are there other apps they provide for interrogating your data? Another fail is that trying to get information other than pretty pics and sales blurb from abbot (the makers) is like squeezing blood out of a rock. They make it so difficult to get a straight answer even. There is an app on the phone which does allow you to see your data in detail, but it only works for the last 12 hour window!!! It is called Librelinkup.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated. :happy: ...Are there better constant glucose monitors than the Freestyle Libre 3, or are they all as bad?
 
I think CGM has become the most convenient way for me to test and record blood sugar.
Libre's charts are really not excellent... But the more annoying thing for me is that it is inconvenient for me to wear it and wear clothes for bathing！！！:arghh:
 
I had no problem with it in the shower........So far......Is yours a Libre 1 or 2 or 3? ... also the Libre 3 is very small and does not interfere with clothing.
What is MUCH worse is the latest from it!!! ... last night i could see that there was a pint where the indicator went red....no alarm.. i checked and default is to switch alarm sound off... Switched it on!.. THEN.. this evening I felt really tired so went for a nap, and 15 mins later the alarm went off and BS was in the red.... Looked at phone screen... it was not red on the phone screen and was not logged as an alarm point. I will of course not be able to look at these events later because the detailed chart on "Librelinkup" it only shows the last 12 hours. By the way the Libre3 showed 76 (4.22mmol), my test strip showed 4.5, but that was a 10 mins later after 1/2 a chocolate biscuit ( eaten to raise BS quickly).
 
I am not very tech savy but I always have a Libre 2 in the cupboard for extraordinary times like holidays and when I had Covid to keep an eye on things. It never agrees with my meter but I use it to see trends. i don’t think I could personally rely on it for accurate BG readings.
 
I haven't used a Libre3, but I would suspect most of my experience with the Libre1 and Libre2 would still apply.

If you are not happy with either the App or the LibreView website, then even without leaving the Libre3 hardware there are still options. In fact the number of options is sometimes bewildering.

Firstly you can download a csv file from your account on their website (www.libreview.com). I don't know about the Libre3, but with the libre 1 or 2 this gives your readings every 15 minutes along with all manual scans and details of food/insulin and notes that you have recorded in the app.

If you know your way around excel or another spreadsheet, you may be able to perform your own analysis on that. Alternatively there are other websites that may produce better analysis than libreview. For example Diabetes:N have a website , https://analytics.diabetes-m.com , that can import that csv and you might find their charts/analysis better. And there are others websites which do the same, eg Tidepool (and probably others I am not aware of)

Admittedly it is tedious to do the whole export/import procedure so you might prefer one of the alternative apps that may take the readings directly from the Libre3, eg Glimp, XDrip or Diabox (which I have heard some people mention positively on this forum). There is even a hacked version of the android LibreView app which uploads to both a nightscout website and to LibreView.com.

I have not tried too may of these alternative apps as one that I did try (which was supposed to work alongside the LibereView App) resulted in the LibreView app saying my sensor had stopped! And as my sensors are free courtesy of the NHS and at the discretion of my consultant (who has access to my readings in LibreView) I don't want to do anything to jeopardise that.
 
I thought Librelinkup was for sharing your info with friends and family, (ie. more use for parents of young T1 children or for those keeping an eye on elderly relatives), and LibreLink and LibreView are for personal use and sharing with your diabetes team, and hold 90 days worth of data, and all reports can be personalised.

The 3 may be different, in which case seems odd to have regressed in reporting.

I find the Libre 2's vary, you can read bit higher or lower than random finger prick tests for the whole fortnight, so I wouldn't put money on the readings being precise, but the curves, spikes or dips are all relative.

If you don't have a separate computer, you can still see LibreView on your phone browser although it's a bit small and not ideal.

Hope you get sorted and can see what you need soon.
 
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