I am sorry, this is a long one.
age 17, type 1, diagnosed November 2020. using novarapid and levimir. last HbA1c 41 (Oct 2021, no appointment since althought I do keep calling)
Just started using freestyle libre 2. Need to change sensor.
We have asked advice from the diabeties team (no response) and contacted Abbot customer care (they didnt understand what we were asking).
We completed the online training with a lady from Abott in Jan 2021 but decided not to use the libre at that point.
March 2022 we decided the time was right and completed online video training.
We are very confused with several points that we think we were told during the origional training but cant quite remember what was said. I did make notes but they wernt very detailed. These points were not repeated or clarified fully in the online training and we cant get an answer from our diabeties team or Abbott -
1) During the origional training we were told that a new sensor will be inaccurate for the first 24 hours so insert the new sensor on day 13, then use the origional sensor until the new one has 'settled'. once settled in 24 hours, scan the new sensor and remove the old sensor - is this correct?? If this is correct, do we scan on day 13 or day 14?
2) When inserting a new sensor, we were told it will not send readings for the first hour, so do we scan as soon as it is inserted then continue to use the old one after the hour? when do we scan the new sensor? when do we remove the old sensor?
3) During the origional training we were told to set the minimam glucose alarm at 4.4mmols. This is really distressing my son and waking him several times during the night to treat a hypo that isnt a hypo. When can we change it to 3.9mmols? Also, some nights and maybe twice during the day his reading has gone below 4.4, even as low as 3.2 and yet the sensor did not send a low glucose alarm?! is this normal?
4) With the 2 sensors we have tried already, the arrows on the readings do not move when using the reader or a phone, it is always steady to the side apart from a few times when it has changed higher or lower. However, looking at the graph, his readings have sometimes dropped rapidly or raised rapidly more than 1.5mmols in 15 mins and the arrow did not reflect this, it stayed steady to the side. this happened with two seperate sensors.
5) During the origional training we were told to continue fingerpricks alongside readings until the diabeties team told us to stop the fingerpricks. They havent contacted us to stop but surely we have to as that is the whole purpose of having the libre in the first place?
6) My son uses the My Life app with his blood glucose meter/fingerpricks which tells him how much to inject at mealtimes. Does he have to manually enter the readings into My Life at meal times? Will this be accurate? Or does he still fingerprick before meals?
7) We paired the sensor to the reader the first time. The second sensor we paired to my son's phone. He did not receive high/low glucose alarms. We have since realised his phone is not in the list of compatible devices so does this mean we can only use the reader all the time instead?
Thank you if you have read that far.
age 17, type 1, diagnosed November 2020. using novarapid and levimir. last HbA1c 41 (Oct 2021, no appointment since althought I do keep calling)
Just started using freestyle libre 2. Need to change sensor.
We have asked advice from the diabeties team (no response) and contacted Abbot customer care (they didnt understand what we were asking).
We completed the online training with a lady from Abott in Jan 2021 but decided not to use the libre at that point.
March 2022 we decided the time was right and completed online video training.
We are very confused with several points that we think we were told during the origional training but cant quite remember what was said. I did make notes but they wernt very detailed. These points were not repeated or clarified fully in the online training and we cant get an answer from our diabeties team or Abbott -
1) During the origional training we were told that a new sensor will be inaccurate for the first 24 hours so insert the new sensor on day 13, then use the origional sensor until the new one has 'settled'. once settled in 24 hours, scan the new sensor and remove the old sensor - is this correct?? If this is correct, do we scan on day 13 or day 14?
2) When inserting a new sensor, we were told it will not send readings for the first hour, so do we scan as soon as it is inserted then continue to use the old one after the hour? when do we scan the new sensor? when do we remove the old sensor?
3) During the origional training we were told to set the minimam glucose alarm at 4.4mmols. This is really distressing my son and waking him several times during the night to treat a hypo that isnt a hypo. When can we change it to 3.9mmols? Also, some nights and maybe twice during the day his reading has gone below 4.4, even as low as 3.2 and yet the sensor did not send a low glucose alarm?! is this normal?
4) With the 2 sensors we have tried already, the arrows on the readings do not move when using the reader or a phone, it is always steady to the side apart from a few times when it has changed higher or lower. However, looking at the graph, his readings have sometimes dropped rapidly or raised rapidly more than 1.5mmols in 15 mins and the arrow did not reflect this, it stayed steady to the side. this happened with two seperate sensors.
5) During the origional training we were told to continue fingerpricks alongside readings until the diabeties team told us to stop the fingerpricks. They havent contacted us to stop but surely we have to as that is the whole purpose of having the libre in the first place?
6) My son uses the My Life app with his blood glucose meter/fingerpricks which tells him how much to inject at mealtimes. Does he have to manually enter the readings into My Life at meal times? Will this be accurate? Or does he still fingerprick before meals?
7) We paired the sensor to the reader the first time. The second sensor we paired to my son's phone. He did not receive high/low glucose alarms. We have since realised his phone is not in the list of compatible devices so does this mean we can only use the reader all the time instead?
Thank you if you have read that far.
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