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Freestyle Libre 2 Problems

D

DiabeticDean

Member
Messages
18
Location
British Columbia Canada
Type of diabetes
Type 3c
Treatment type
Insulin
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My health
Is anyone else having problems with freestlye libre 2?
I have had them since they came out with no issue. But now they have a mind of their own. I dont know if its the app or the sensor but it keeps alarming signal lost. I can turn off "signal lost function" and it will still alarm. 5 sensors in a row now have been faulty. I have to turn it off at night or be woken up at random times. So it makes the system useless.
Any help or thoughts
I have uninstalled the app several times and cleared the cache
Tech support is of no value in this matter i believe there is a problem with the sensor or app
 
This is a very common problem that you see reported on the Facebook group. I recently had two sensors replaced by Abbott on two consecutive days. Couldn’t get my iPhone to scan and get a result consistently. Sometimes if I scanned a number of times I’d get a result but the alarms were not working at all.
It’s definitely a problem with the App but there is a workaround that I’ve been using and since then, around 4 weeks ago I’m not having problems get it to scan and the alarms are working. There is a similar workaround for android phones as well but I don‘t have any experience on this.
Here‘s the way to get it up and running.
On the iPhone Home Screen select Settings > General > iPhone Storage.
it takes a bit of time to allocate the categories. When it’s finished you get a list of all your Apps. Scroll down the list until you find the LibreLink icon and click on it.
You get two options, Offload the App and Delete the App. Select the Offload option. This deletes the App but retains all your Data. When complete it asks if you wish to reinstall the App, select this.
When finished, power off your iPhone and then restart it. Open the App and you will see all your data is there, now scan your sensor, sometimes it take two or three goes at scanning before you get a result. After which you’ll find it scans ok and your alarms work.
 
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Hi Dean,

I expect thousands are having the same issues as you & me with the Freestyle Libre 2. I have been using them since day 1 and there were a few minor problems (that’s expected) at the beginning. I’ve been using them years now & you would expect the serious problems had been fixed?

The truth is rather than get better in time they have got unbearably worse! In only a few months I have had 40 sensors that are faulty and need replacing! The issue the sensor gives is : “The sensor has ended” despite it having sometimes 14 days left (average is about 9)

I am using the same iPhone 11 I did at the beginning so the problem is not my phone.
A lot of the time despite scanning and getting a beep no reading is actually displayed so I have to waste about 60 seconds to get the reading on my screen.

The worst part now is that the alarm fails to go off despite there not being any signal loss and recently I have had serious hypos as a result of relying on this alarm. I hit my head on a sharp concrete post the last time I collapsed and potentially could have easily died.

I am based in the Uk, Abbotts customer care are appalling and do nothing. Their calls are forwarded to another part of the world where the phone line is terrible and they do nothing to help you. I wrote to the email address they gave me to register my serious complaint and that has simply been ignored. I also messaged Neil Harris on Linkeden (The Uk manager) and predictably that was also ignored.

As I last resort I have emailed the CEO of Abbotts in the USA and am waiting for a reply. Due to the appalling customer service and Abbotts failure to address their product failures I have given the CEO an ultimatum. He either contacts me personally from the USA to help him address these extremely serious problems or I will be contacting my friend who thankfully is a Uk journalist to do an undercover investigation into these failures and have this story go worldwide.
 
Yet I have had relatively few problems over the years and found Abbott customer care to be very good. In fact haven’t had one malfunction needing removal since this time last year. Sometimes it scans but doesn’t show a reading. But the next scan is fine. Certainly taking less than a couple of seconds. Much quicker than doing a blood test. Of which I do very few these days.
 
The fact alone that you were injured has to have some bearing on the case and it might be lawyer time, I am so disappointed in the quality of these now I am thinking of going over to dexcom but I want to talk to them and do some research first to make sure they dont have the same problem. Freestyle did give an update for their android app I will say it still doesn't work! It works better but it is intermittant. (works when it wants to) I agree, calling tech is absolutely worthless, the accent alone is hard enough to understand but to add a muffled bad connection makes it impossible to get any help. Any way see if there is an update for Iphone. Best of luck. Also the update won't cancel your current sensor I was worried when I did mine but all good.
 
I'm in the US and I have been having the same issues as described above. Abbott has had to replace about 15 sensors in the past 3 months. I have been using the Libre 2 for 3 years and about 9 months ago I started having the issues and they have been getting worse since. About 7 to 10 days into the sensor it will start sending readings thar are 50 to 60 points lower than they actually are causing the low glucose alarm to constantly sound. I have to replace it at that time. That's if the sensor works in the first place. A lot of times I will apply the sensor and after the hour warm up I get a message saying the sensor isn't working and to replace it.
 
I’m having the same problems as above. I get “loss of signal” messages. The alarms don’t work when this happens. Abbott offered a solution of empty the app cache, I’ve done this several times since because the problem is still there.
My worry of no hypo alarms, it happened 2 days ago at about 3am. I awoke in a confused state with BG of 2.9 but managed to sort myself out and 10 mins later the BG was rising.

The lack of alarms and my activities of canoeing, walking and camping make it potentially dangerous to me and those I travel with.

Before Libre my friends had to deal with night time hypos, fortunately it didn’t happen frequently.

One daytime incident was while sea kayaking around the Outer Hebrides, I had a sudden hypo and although I was aware of the hypo I was unaware of what to do on that occasion and capsized and unable to roll back up and needed rescue from my friend. He assisted me back into my kayak and we landed on a nearby beach to recover properly. During that night I had another hypo that my friend heard and he came to my tent and assisted me again to eat and recover. The following year I decided to stop sea kayaking, an activity I loved and sadly miss.
 
Hi Dean
One tip the helpful person at Abbott told me is to turn off Bluetooth, leave for a short time then reset it. It does work, not all the time but if the alarms can't find the Libre it seems to work.
 
Hi Dean
One tip the helpful person at Abbott told me is to turn off Bluetooth, leave for a short time then reset it. It does work, not all the time but if the alarms can't find the Libre it seems to work.
 
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