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FREESTYLE LIBRE ON SALE!!!!


I had exactly the same with my first sensor. It meant I had to keep blood testing as I couldn't trust the scan. This one seems a little better but still off compared to the Mobile sometimes. The trouble I had was that I didn't have any Optimum strips so I couldn't know for sure if the sensor, Mobile or both were out. Abbotts offered to replace the sensor and also sent 10 test strips so that I could check the meter at the same time as the scanner - the meter was almost always within a couple of points of the Mobile while the scanner was frequently wildly out. It was obviously not just the time lag as I was once 2.9 on the meter and high 5s something on the scanner with a horizontal arrow.

I had a very long call with them about the horizontal arrow. It means your BG is moving at less than 0.1 mmol per minute - it doesn't mean your BG isn't changing. They went through my data in detail as I was concerned that my BG had drifted one evening from around 6 to around 10 and it never showed anything other than a horizontal arrow. The Abbotts rep said they hadn't had any other calls regarding that and he thought my BG was moving too slowly to register the direction as it only compares to the last minute. He recommended scanning more frequently as this might catch the slight changes. I still see very few of anything other than horizontal arrows even when my BG is rising or falling, but looking at my data, my BG really does seem to drift rather than move quickly. Anyway, you should report it to Abbotts so that they start getting a log of this type of issue. Everyone is reporting the inaccurate sensors, but we need to report other issues as well.

Smidge
 
I've complained twice about two sensors, nearly two weeks now and no sign of replacement. Yesterday my second sensor stopped working after eight days. Abbott again going to send replacement but how long is it going to take? Abbott need to get their act together.
 
I've been following this thread since the start and not a Libre user yet. I must say I'm discouraged by many of the posts regarding the lack of robustness for this system. It seems to be hit and miss whether the sensor will operate correctly, or fail after a short time. I had high hopes when Abbott sent me the first email about it, but certainly doubt that I will buy one even though I love gadgets. The principal concern to me is the fact the readings will not be suitable to comply with the DVLA regulations, as I thought this would be an ideal device to maintain safety when driving.
 

Libre scanner values are historic data, it'll probably never comply with DVLA requirements. Use the incorporated finger stick meter for that, you can get strips on the NHS.

For insurance and legal purposes I would never drive without finger pricking.
 
Rubold, as it goes, the device is great and gives you far more insight into how your blood glucose levels vary with all sorts of circumstances.

I think too many people on the forum set too much store in the absolute value of all blood glucose tests. Yes, this is important, but it is equally, if not more important to know how your body reacts to what you do to it. Outside of a cgm, you won't get a better way than this. If you bear in mind that the variance across different bgm devices can be as much as 12.5% even in the midrange of good blood sugars, the variance in sensor readings is only startling because most people don't test simultaneously across meters.

Even with it, knowing just how fast your insulin takes effect, or that just before you get in the car to drive, your blood sugar test is reading fine, but your blood sugar is dropping at a medium or fast rate, is invaluable. You can't get that from a bgm, and you start to interpret your sensor readings in a far more useful way.

It can't replace bg tests because it will never be as up to the minute as a bg test is, but to discard it due to the noise on the forum is also a mistake. Abbott will have released thousands of these. Those who are happy generally don't make any noise, those who aren't, do.

As a note, I'm extremely happy with mine. I've learned far more about how my bg changes in three days with it than in a lifetime of finger pricking. No, it's not as "accurate" as my bgm, but with a bgm I can't see a likely hypo coming at 5 mmol/l and do something about it, or see a rapid increase going on at 8mmol, both of which are normal readings. Due to this, I think it significantly out performs my bg testing and in three days use I am able to manage my balance better with it than without.
 

Agree about the Libre. I am extremely happy with mine. I have been able to really get on top of my insulin regime with the data it provides - especially basal.

When it comes to driving though you are dealing with legal not medical requirements and. the DVLA requirement is a blood test. Nothing more nothing less. If you want to go fight the EU the DVLA over the Libre fine, too much hassle for me. More importantly, if insurance companies want to weasel out of claims because you have not complied (and therefore should not be driving) you really do not have a leg to stand on.

If, BTW, you want to fudge a little on driving requirements <cough> use a Bayer USB Contour Next instead of a Libre or Neo. Mine consistently give a value around 1mmol higher than the Abbott meters.
 
Even the very expensive cgms are not DVLA compliant as the are not 'blood test'

Cgms is excellent for treatment and spotting trends, so the libre is good for the purpose which it is designed however blood tests are still required for legal requirements
 

Agree I went thru airports and flew lots of times with the Freestyle Navigator with no problem, dod not set off detector or anything
 

I would reiterate what Tim said above- I am extremely happy with my libre, both my first and second sensors have been accurate compared to blood testing, and like said above the patterns and overnight data are invaluable.
I am currently on MDI but switching to a pump soon and I wouldn't even consider the switch over without the help of my libre to make things a little easier!
 
here are the first readings from my first sensor. I found this sensor to almost always read 0.5 to 1.3 mmol above my Aviva Accuchek so I mentally subtract around 0.8. As the amount of offset is random this does not always work but as others have said the overall trend is the most use rather than expecting perfect matches every scan. (When you do get a few very close matches tho you can't help but feel reassured / pleased! ).
 
Out of curiosity, of these people signing a petition requesting that the NHS spends £100 a month on saving their poor little sore fingers, how many of them understand that they still have to finger prick?

Not the best justification for what could add up to a billion pound a year spend commitment that I've seen. Yea, I know sour grapes from a type 2 on insulin excluded from the benefits of the petition..
 




Blood testing strips cost about £20 per pot so cost roughly the same cost, also going from 10 blood tests a day to about 3-4 is a big difference and being able to see if sugars are going up or down and it not being guess work is great also helps keep better control hopefully eliminating future complications = saving money future, ive only had mine 24 hours and iam finding it amazing and incredibly helpful, you can see blood sugars result without the finger prick and see where its going x
 
The NHS cost of test strips is a bit less than £20 per 50. The longer established brands like Accu-Chek and Abbott are around £15.50 average and the myriad of cheaper brands are all under £10. So my 6 tests per day average, would be a lost less than £100/month. Looks as though I would need to increase testing to justify the cost of Libre sensors and still some test strips.
 
I doubt the NHS would be paying £50 per sensor if they were available on prescription. In the same way that we can't buy test strips at the reduced prices NHS pays for them.
 

.Where does it say that in the petition?
 
The valuable information this system gives people to help control their levels so much better than just testing 5 times a day would save the NHS money in the long term in my opinion. The NHS funding seems to be quite short sighted, which results in larger amounts of money being spent in the long term with hospital stays, operations etc. Perfect example of this is reducing the amount of strips they'll give to patients. Refusing to let some people test at all, or saying they should only be testing once per day, it's just madness to me. They should be encouraging people to manage their diabetes better and give people the tools and the knowledge to look after themselves.
If only they had the guts to spend more money now, to save even more money in the future, but I won't hold my breath with that happening.
 
BTW, I guessed I'd wind people up but that petition is really badly worded and it, as is common in diabetes treatment, ignores us type 2s

Yes I would like to see the sensor on prescription. But it is a very expensive new treatment supplementing not replacing test strips. And, oh boy, are they trying to cut back on tests strips let alone adding to the cost. Maybe problems I'm getting is type 2 prejudice - the NHS resents us living long enough to need insulin..
 
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