Blucon Nightrider for Libre

[Carol_Bureau1]

Hi
I have a question about the Blucon and Libra. I have found that two libra sensors have failed at the 7-day mark since I started using it. I messaged Ambrosia who asked what I was holding the Blucon on with. I was using plaster and an armband. They said to use Tegaderm tape all over it which will be difficult as we only intended to use it at night, and it's not waterproof. Has anyone else had this problem? Could the Blucon somehow 'fry' the Libra?
Thank you.

 

[evilclive]

The means of attaching the blucon to the libre won't fry the libre itself. I'd ignore the recommendation for tegaderm - a bit of micropore worked for me when I used blucon at nights only (and still does now I'm using the miaomiao instead). I suspect Ambrosia don't have a clue about the problem and are just randomly hunting for answers. I don't think blucon should be able to break the libre either.

How did the sensors fail?

 

[Stroudie]

Hi
I have a question about the Blucon and Libra. I have found that two libra sensors have failed at the 7-day mark since I started using it. I messaged Ambrosia who asked what I was holding the Blucon on with. I was using plaster and an armband. They said to use Tegaderm tape all over it which will be difficult as we only intended to use it at night, and it's not waterproof. Has anyone else had this problem? Could the Blucon somehow 'fry' the Libra?
Thank you.

I have not heard the transmitter being blamed for the failure of sensors. Sometime ago it was suggested that certain phones might do this but given that all the transmitters and phones are reading the data it seems unlikely. When you ask your supplier to replace the sensors I would suggest you do not mention that you are using Blucon. Keep the sensors as they may ask for you to return them.

 

[Carol_Bureau1]

The means of attaching the blucon to the libre won't fry the libre itself. I'd ignore the recommendation for tegaderm - a bit of micropore worked for me when I used blucon at nights only (and still does now I'm using the miaomiao instead). I suspect Ambrosia don't have a clue about the problem and are just randomly hunting for answers. I don't think blucon should be able to break the libre either.

How did the sensors fail?

Thank you.
First of all they started reading low numbers (3.4) etc for several hours and then LO..The scanner then said "try in 10 minutes" and after several 10 minute attempts said "sensor ended". I have never had this with the Libra before. It was working so well prior to this and the numbers coming through on xdrip were extremely accurate

 

[Carol_Bureau1]

I have not heard the transmitter being blamed for the failure of sensors. Sometime ago it was suggested that certain phones might do this but given that all the transmitters and phones are reading the data it seems unlikely. When you ask your supplier to replace the sensors I would suggest you do not mention that you are using Blucon. Keep the sensors as they may ask for you to return them.

Thank you. I didn't mention to the supplier that we were using Blucon. I did ask for feedback as to why the sensor had failed and they said call back in a few months. They didn't seem concerned that I had requested another replacement. Perhaps it was just bad luck?

 

[Scott-C]

Hi, @Carol_Bureau1 , yeah, I think it's maybe just a touch of bad luck with two ratty sensors from a bad batch.

I've used maybe about 70 to 80 sensors now over 3 years, I've had about 3 or 4 pan out with the "sensor ended/retry in 10 mins" thing, and 2 of those were before I got blucon, and only 1 after. Haven't had any die for about a year now, using both blucon and now miaomiao.

I remember reading somewhere that when the 10 min retry message pops up, the main reason is to do with the sensor filament under the skin getting "noisy" amounts of glucose which it can't make sense of, and it's usually something to do with the filament moving about too much, getting bent, getting forced up against solid material which stops glucose getting to it, or it getting "biofouled", clagged up with ifg detritus, basically biological reasons which mess up the mechanics of it. Even "official" cgm like dexcom get that sort of stuff too.

I suppose it's possible that Ambrosia has "rewired" the more recent versions of blucon to make it more screwy, but I think it's more likely it's to do with the filament not playing nice or maybe you've just been unlucky enough to have gotten a couple of ratty sensors from a bad batch - I've read posts from dexcom users saying they've had 2 or 3 sensors in a row fail, so it might just be a manufacturing error in those two failed ones.

One thing I was worried about when I first started using blucon was, with it being higher than libre, the extra height might end "levering" the sensor out of place too much if I knocked it against a door jamb. That sort of thing could easily result in the filament being so displaced under the skin that it would start doing the 10 min retry noise thing and then die. So I ended up just being really careful about not bumping into door jambs! And taking coats, jumpers and rucksacks off...And seatbelts...And....

PS: you're so right about the accuracy! When these things are running well, properly calibrated on a good sensor, they are very tight - my current one has literally been about 0.1 to 0.4 off for the last few days - but then there's the random fliers too - swings and roundabouts!