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Faulty Freestyle Libre??

A

Angelofthemarches

Well-Known Member
Messages
858
Location
Buckinghamshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Horrible shoes
As a type2, every so often I wear the abbott freestyle libre to stay on the straight and narrow as it were.
Last week had a bit of a nightmare week and my low carb eating collapsed - my husband was in a bad bike accident and I was with him in a&e till 5am. Later that day he had a 2 hour op.
Though it was a bad leg injury, the worst was that he had a seizure and the nurse called the crash team. His heart rate was dangerously low for a few hours.
So I got back onto my usual plan, put the new libre on and was horrified - an average of 11.4. Have been diagnosed almost 2 years and never had anything approaching this! Last hba1c was 39.
Was really really careful with food over last few days but the average didn't shift at all! Have asked Abbott for a replacement and hope to God the figures come down.
Although I have chronic fatigue syndrome, i have been careful putting the exercise in this week as much as I can.
 
Angelofthemarches said:
Although I have chronic fatigue syndrome, i have been careful putting the exercise in this week as much as I can.
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My goodness, well done! I wanted to send you a Winner badge as well as a Hug, but we're not allowed two at once. So sorry about all the horrible crisis. I'm also impressed you managed to "get back on your usual plan" so fast. Please don't worry too much. You only ate less well for a short while, it can't have done real harm. Lots of people on this Forum happily relax their low carb regimes over Christmas and nothing terrible happens to them.

Do you have an ordinary meter as well as the Libre? If so, you could cross check your current bg levels with that.

Good luck!
 
Thankyou so much, Alexandra! It's so easy to start the self blame game with t2, but I guess the reality is that I have kept my bg in normal range since diagnosis without meds - so far!!
I am going to buy a meter, i can see now how useful it would be.
The other thing is I have recently been taking adrenal hormones for the chronic fatigue syndrome and wonder if that could have affected it
 
Angelofthemarches said:
have recently been taking adrenal hormones for the chronic fatigue syndrome and wonder if that could have affected it
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Could be. It's amazing how many meds do raise bg, and none of the prescribers seem to care a jot. I'm sure you can find out by Googling "adrenal hormones side effects", or consulting the consumer info leaflet. There is also info. on meds that raise bg here:
https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/medicines-blood-sugar-spike
and here: http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2015/nov-dec/medications-that-raise-blood.html
 
If you don't already have a meter, but do have a Libre reader buy test strips for that instead. I've occasionally found them useful for a cross check. Strips are Freestyle Optium, but I think they now identify them as being suitable for the Libre reader too. Be aware if you do a spot check the sensor reading lags about 15 mins behind a finger prick test!

And I hope your husband is OK, it must have been horrifying for both of you.

Robbity

And PS Don't worry too much over your little lapse, just remember that your HBA1c is a three month average!
 

Oh dear. You have been through the mill. I hope your husband is beginning to recover now.

For situations such as this, you really do need a meter to understand what's actually going on - whethere you have a defective sensor, or if it's something else.

To be honest, in your circumstances, I would have bet the rise could have at least in a significant part, attributable to the horrible, acute strress you weree feeling. All that adrenalin and cortisol flying around your system could play havoc.

Personally, my bloods are usually very predictable, but stress will see them rise a bit.

Keep an open mind at this stage, but please do get yourself a meter. If strress really is a bit of a factor for you, aised from rerlieving the stress, which I feel certain you'd love to do, there's not a massive amount we can do there. I know forr myself if I'm very strressed indeed a bit of a walk can help just settle me a bit.

It's not easy, but hopefully the circumstances of the recent days won't be repeated.
 
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