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FREESTYLE LIBRE ON SALE!!!!

1st reading 3.7 which compares well to the 4.5 got from my AC mobile 10 minutes earlier - keep it up sensor
 
@logindetails - I get the same lecture from my consultant. He absolutely insisted I raise my bedtime BG level to about 10. Since then, my fastings have been between 10 and 15 and my control is shot to pieces. I should have ignored him, but like others I was scared about my driving license. I had a Medtronic sensor on last week, and the results have just come through and they don't make pretty reading. I'm now terrified of going back to the consultant week after next to discuss them. I'll take him copies of my Libre data from this week to show him how my control has improved since I ignored his instructions over night time levels and have gone back to managing my own way. I'm now 75% in target whereas I was only 62% in target following his advice.


I've also made a mental note to keep a BG meter specially for showing consultants and just dealing with my BG issues alone from now on. I'll see how it goes, but I think it's time for me to change consultant to someone with even a modicum of original thought.

Smidge
 
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donnellysdogs said:
Crikey!! Thats rough. I think mine nags me more with hypo's due to my driving incident. They never let me forget it.. And believe me I won't either!! It may just be me that gets treated this way...??
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You and I live miles apart......but this 6.5% target hba1c is starting to be questioned by many consultants as they know that it doesnt come without some hypos and the tighter control is the more the hypos will come. We cant get a straw and suck back the insulin we dont want working for us after 3hrs. It goes on for 4 to 5hrs. Far better to aim for 6.8% and keep the awareness at 3.5mmol and not lower especially if driving. Roll on very fast acting insulin that finishes its action within 3hrs.

Like DD, I too have been pulled up by consultant who for once wanted to look at my bg meter readings because of my hba1c being 6.5% and got a friendly but firm telling off.
 
Argh... My last visit was similar.hba1c of 35 and everyone is freaking out that it's too low... I believe I'm entitled to non-diabetic bg levels and I won't risk any more complications just to make a doctor without a proper knowledge happy...
 
I've had the freestyle libre for a little over 2 weeks today put my new sensor yesterday, didn't work just said "sensor not working, replace sensor". Abbott is sending me a new one. Put on a replacement sensor just now that work (after 1 hour it said I still had to wait 10 minutes and try again, it does work now tho).

I noticed with the first sensor it was almost always 1.0-2.0 under my old meter.
 
You are heading for trouble @logindetails... Can you not see that all you are doing is covering up hypo states that should be avoided?

I too get told to relax my control. Thats why I will never go back to a cgm... 1) it was inaccurate due to faults but 2) I was too anal.....

I cannot reiterate enough how important it is for you to aim for a target between 4-8.. Ideally 6... If you were on a pump this is easy to set up. Mine is set at 5.5 to 7.5 target which means my pump trys at all times to correct my readings to 6.50.

If you drive, you are risking losing your licence from stupidity... And achieving nothing but trouble. I speak from my own experience with this. Your consultant is right. End of. Get your life back...
 
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PaulinaB said:
Argh... My last visit was similar.hba1c of 35 and everyone is freaking out that it's too low... I believe I'm entitled to non-diabetic bg levels and I won't risk any more complications just to make a doctor without a proper knowledge happy...
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They have a lot of dealings with revoking licences. If I recall correctly to 4.5 years ago my consultant then was dealing with 10 licences a month!!!! being revoked or persons line myself being in dire straits.

They have vast experience of people having severe hypo's and not recognising them and ending up in hospital.

If I can I will find out how many licences my hospital T1 teams are having revoked each month......

You are putting yourself under normal non diabetic levels needlessly....and without a doubt will end up relying upon a hospital or paramedics or a 3rd party helping you out at some point. I hope that if you are drivers that you are not behind a steering wheel when it happens as chances are, and law of averages go that you'll maime or kill somebody else before yourself....
 
I never drive with my BG under 5, and I have full hypo awareness, so I comply with the law. I think it's completely immoral to bully and threaten people into running BG at levels that will cause complications. Diabetes consultants should be helping us to achieve low HbA1cs safely. That Is their job. If they are not capable of doing that they should find another job. It is unacceptable for them to insist we run HbA1cs at levels that will almost certainly cause serious complications just because they are too lazy or too ignorant to achieve better.

In what other job would we tolerate a 95% failure rate?

Smidge
 
Yes, am with you totally on that, same happened to me, I am so very careful about driving with sugar levels above 5.5 to meet guidelines but with an HBA1c of 38, I received the same sort of threats as you so now intend to run two meters, boring but necessary! I have hypo awareness and am meticulous as my safety, passengers and other road users are so important. Having being threatened over the years, with amputations, blindness etc; as a result of running high blood glucose, it's now all changed . It would be so nice to have an explanation for the turn around in this thinking.
 
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How about simply threats? If we are being told that we need to run low to avoid damaging ourselves, we are perfectly entitled to sue for unprofessional conduct when being told to run high...
 
that sounds lazy on your Dr's part...it's easier to send you to bed with 10, than do basal tests to get your dose right
 
donnellysdogs said:
You are putting yourself under normal non diabetic levels needlessly
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Normal non-diabetic levels as documented by Christiansen with cgms (link to his presentation is at http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/16422495.php) are between 3.3 and 5.5 mmol/l for 80 per cent of the 24-hour day, ie for 19 hours out of 24.

Of the rest, 3 hours 35m between 5.5 and 6.6; 55 mins 6.6 to 7.7; 10 mins 7.7 to 8.8; and one minute per day spent over 8.8.
 
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For years after my 6 month check I would receive a call from the practice nurse telling me off if my Hb1Ac was above 7% (and it was never much above it). Since I retired i have achieved much tighter control and I now receive the same telephone calls for being less than 5% and threatening me with dire consequences.
 
So it looks like the issue with the ordering process on the libre Web site can be tricked.

I've just managed to order more sensors (hoorah) but it requires a bit of ticking and unticking of vat relief boxes and going back and forth on the checkout pages. The Facebook group has the details.
 
What I did was, checkout without ticking the VAT relief box, but DON'T click pay before the end, now click back button until you get to the first bit of the process where you tick VAT relief box for the first time. When the top right corner price is correct with the VAT removed, then use your browser history to get back to the checkout screen but further along where you're picking type of payment, enter your card details and it will let you checkout with the correct cost being charged. Success! Order placed!
 
Hi everyone,
I've been following this thread for a while, came across it when looking info on the Libre.
the people here are like a treasure of knowledge!

let me tell you a bit about my self and the Libre experience,
I'm 30 yeas old having diabetes for 19 years now, using a pump for 10. I live in Israel, so I'm sorry for my English writing as I'm not native to it.

I've bought my Libre thru my relatives in Spain the day after it was launched there (October 10th i think), so i have a Spanish speaking reader(!) which is not that bad.. considering the fact it measures in mg/dl the- standard measurement in Israel also.

now, about the Libre-
In Israel CGM are funded by the ministry of health to children under 18 and above 18 only if you had 2 episodes of sever hypoglycemia,
so I need to fund the CGM from my pocke, the cost of Enlite, Dexcom, Freestyle Navigator are approximately the same - 850 pound for transmitter, and 300 pound for a box of sensors,
having tried the enlite (and lived to tell about that) and Dexcome i will compare the Dexcom because it's far more accurate for my experience.
Dexcom monthly cost will be 150 pound if you can where the sensor for a month - that, plus the initial 850 pound makes the Libre a bargain.
so I've bought it as soon as i could after reading this thread.
i've met with Abbott reseller C.E.O here and he said it will be available in Israel in 4-6 months.

the first sensors where great, it was so accurate that sometimes i could know that my BG meter is off, it was 10% difference between the two,
the third sensor is 30% lower than my BG meter but it's consistent as some of the people here indicated.
it's been active 3 days and still 30% lower.
i found the receiver big and with a problematic touch screen - along with a lot of UI problems but that is for another day.

i use tegaderm to secure the sensors after the first one has pulled of bumping in the door frame (i get it for free since use a pump)
the tegaderm is very good and evrey 5 days i replace it.


so that's it.
thanks again for all the info here. I'm sure a lot us diabetic will find it helpful.
 
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looked again in the BG results versus the Libre.

the third sensor is always 2 mmol (36 mg/dl) lower than my BG meter. the percent comparison doesn't reflect the differences good egnough.
 
Took a bit of back and forth but using the tips above I managed to get my order placed.

Also had issues with address length. Seems they have made that shorter again. Don't see the point in address line one and two when the sum of both must be less than 35. I was sending it to work so a little creativity needed.
 
The Christiansen study was just for 4 days, only 2 in normal 'daily life' It had fairly young subjects. Average age 27., the research from it's date and the description and pictures of the CGM used probably also used one of the earlier models.

The ADAG study had far more participants (80) with an average age of 41 and a wider variety of ethnic groups. It took place at least a couple of years later so presumably used later CGM models (might be relevant they have gradually got better)

It used CGMS for 48 hours at a time, repeating the monitoring on at least three occasions over a period of time with a median usage of 9.5 days
. During continuous monitoring all the subjects went above 6.1mmol/l. The median time above 6.1mmol/l was 395 min; 99% of the people went above 7mmol/l for a median time of 109 min.
There was though a big variation in time above each level . The range for the middle 50% of subjects (IQR) was 273-688 minutes of the day spent above 6.1mmol/l. ( ie non diabetics, in this study spent anything from 4.5 hours to 11.6 hours above this level) Most of the subjects (99%) spent longer above 7mmol/l than Christiansen's subjects spent between 6.6 and 7.7

As I'm 20 years older than the average in the ADAG study, that seems to have more relevance to me than a group of much younger subjects

Re driving , I've just noticed that the French equivalent of DUK now states you shouldn't take the wheel at less than 1g/l which is 5.5mmol/l.
 
I write any comments regarding lower hba1c results purely from my experience of almost losing my licence and from my consultant(s)a allof themnagging the hell out of me... But not only that, I do get more hypo's the lower my hba1c and I personally know that I was lucky to have some fantastic people around me when in trouble. I slso had anawful consultant that shouted at me that "i deserved to lose my licence for a year".....

Your choices totally...
 
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