FreeStyle Libre - My Life with the Machine

Peter_Sylvester said:

@Bluetit1802
Do you use an online food diary / app..?

I have been looking at "My Fitness Pal" - but it seems a little complicated (for an old bloke like me, anyway)

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I did use Myfitnesspal but not for long. The amounts of nutrients are entered by members, some of whom are overseas so have different amounts, some deduct the fibre, others don't. etc. and some are just plain wrong. Some international brands have different amounts of nutrients for each country they are sold in. It is also calorie based rather than carb based. It was easier to do my own calculations.

I used the book Carbs & Cals, available from Amazon. It is a brilliant book with thousands of foods photographed in different serving sizes, and details of carbs, calories, fat, fibre, and protein. Just ordinary everyday foods. Initially I weighed or measured all my carbs until I learnt how to judge my portion sizes. I haven't weighed anything for 3 years, but I do still refer to Carbs & Cals from time to time..

I still keep a food diary and still record all my readings, but my food diary is now very basic.

I didn't start at 30g. I started at about 120g and worked my way down from there until I arrived at an amount that I could sustain and that made my glucose levels low and stable. 30g did it for me. Others can manage a lot more.

Looks like the Librelink app for using with the Libre sensor is currently only available for Android phones and not for Apple? Is this correct and, if so, anyone have any info whether Abbott on working on producing an IOS version. Otherwise I am going to have to steal my wife’s phone!

jwillyf said:

Looks like the Librelink app for using with the Libre sensor is currently only available for Android phones and not for Apple? Is this correct and, if so, anyone have any info whether Abbott on working on producing an IOS version. Otherwise I am going to have to steal my wife’s phone!

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You would be as well buying the reader. You only need to buy it once. They give slightly more information than the phone app, and can also be used as a finger prick meter with the Freestyle strips.

Just been online to order a Libre starter pack. I entered the free delivery voucher code quoted in this thread which was accepted. The advertised starter pack price was £159:95 inc VAT. I entered the application for VAT exemption on the grounds that I have diabetes. My calculation of 20% off for VAT not being applied comes to £127:96. However Abbott is charging me £133:29. Anyone know why the discrepancy of £5:33

Too true, Peter. Taking 20% off doesn’t work to the same result ‘in reverse’. Embarrassing!

Peter_Sylvester said:

I am an iPhone chap myself

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Aargh, Peter, you iPhone guys, what are you like! Free yourself from the Apple behemoth and embrace Android - there's way more of interest going on in that sphere.

Can you Apple people do this yet:



Yep, that's libre with a blucon transmitter on top sending 5 min readings to a 99 quid android phone and then to my late 50th birthday present, a Fossil Q Explorist watch, all stitched together by the guy who develops xDrip+ tweaking it a bit so that it'll take data from blucon. He did that in a few weeks because he cares. Apple would have taken years.

PS: the bounce up from 5 to 7.7 shows what a pint of lager does!

Woooh, yet another stat to look at whilst I am cycling!

hankjam said:

The sugar content to us T2 is more or less meaningless, what was the carb content on the back?
Reading your blog with interest and wondering about a local collective for the device in NE Fife....
Good luck

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Hi Peter, I too use the libre and have found that my body cannot tolerate rice. But I have recently come across two rice alternatives - slim rice, and even better bare naked rice (sold in Asda, Morrison’s, Holland and Barrett).they have no or very minimal impact on my blood sugar. I make my own chicken curry from scratch and use this. They also come in noodle forms as a spaghetti alternative - a change from courgette and cauliflower rice. Half a pack is plenty for 1 meal. Elaine

Hi Peter and Bluetit,

Very interesting.

39 years ago when I was first diagnosed I went through the Type 2 meds, Chlorpropomide, Glibenclamide and finally Metformin. Spellings may be wrong as spellchecker says so but this is how I remember them. I was determined to make the best of it as I had wife and 2 young children depending on me. I responded well to each of these meds in turn but after a few weeks they worked less and less well. Fortunately for me the first finger tests had just become available - the original BM sticks - so I was able to track the weakening effect of each of these drugs. The point of this intro is that each time I reacted by cutting back on my carbs to between 20 and 30 grams per day. My memory pf those times is of snacks consisting of cheese and carrots, meals I guess were plenty of meat and green veg. I seemed quite healthy regularly running 30 miles a week and competing in local half marathons.

When I was moved on to insulin it seemed the best thing that had happened to me since becoming diabetic because I could now eat what I liked again just making sure I injected enough before eating. If one of you guys is down to 30 carbs I suggest you ask your consultant if you should be re-classified as type 2 requiring insulin which is what happened to me. It was really a life changer. I had resisted the idea for some time because I feared the action of the insulin and the hypos. in those days there were only one or two books aimed at newly diagnosed diabetics not like today when Dr Google leads you to sites like this with lots of people willing to help and share experiences.

With regard to the length of action of Metformin I had not realized it was over days. With insulin there are a range with different time periods form 4 to 36 hours. I am currently using one which has a theoretical time span of 4/5 hours but the evidence of my dexcom is that it goes more like 6/8 - one of the revelations that the device has brought to me.

Obviously managing Dawn Phenomenon is a lot more tricky for someone on metformin than someone on insulin, I imagine dose and meals timing are crucial but, given the time span that the drug works over, to have good control of it will need much experimentation. The trouble is that based on my experience few days are exactly the same as the one before even if the routine of meals and injections are the same. If your next HbA1c is good then perhaps best not to get to anxious about it. I have always had good results even though on most days I have gone above 12 mmol/l generally briefly.

My view of Formula Libre and dexcom is that FL is the ultimate logical development of fingerstick testing - but it is still a reactive system, you have to ask it the question, not practical when you are fast asleep. Dexcom is the biggest step forward in diabetic self management since the BM stick. It is proactive - it does not wait to be asked.

If as a type 2 you are unlikely to go hypo then the FL is probably a cost effective solution - particularly if you are self funding - but as I am definitely subject to hypos means dexcom is pretty well worth bankrupting myself for (still got the wife but kids are now independent and probably better off than me!)

Cheers,

Stroudie

Just discussing the combination of Libre and a food diary with my wife. I presume one cannot annotate the Libre data with a record of relevant important ‘eats’ on that day, to help give a record of what to avoid. Best of all would be if the Libre software incorporated a food diary....

Just watched a video that shows notes can be added!

I basically map my meals by taking some photos and paste them over the Glimp graphs on Powerpoint/Google Slides...
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/14-days-with-freestyle-libre.1529/

Y

jwillyf said:

Looks like the Librelink app for using with the Libre sensor is currently only available for Android phones and not for Apple? Is this correct and, if so, anyone have any info whether Abbott on working on producing an IOS version. Otherwise I am going to have to steal my wife’s phone!

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It's because the phone reads the sensor by NFC. Apple use that for Apple pay so won't unlock it for this. Apparently Abbot are working on a solution...

And I have discovered my wife’s phone is not NFC enabled I am going to have to stick with the meter. Starter pack now ordered...