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FREESTYLE LIBRE ON SALE!!!!

Ordered new sensor yesterday afternoon, was surprised that it arrived with the post at 11am this morning .( I am in France)
Put on the second sensor from the first batch. It's not starting from the same accuracy as the first one. It 's been in 2hours, first reading was 67mg/dl went down to 57 but now at 63 and rising so hope it's beginning to settle (meter at 139mg/dl as it's only 3/4 hour since lunch)
 
So I've had my sensor in stomach for about 9 days. First few were fine, but since then it's been awful. Unpredictable and generally useless.

I've resisted phoning abbott as I don't think they'll care since its in my stomach. I believe it is probably just a faulty sensor rather than the site, but I'll be Iain arm again in future!!
 
My sensor has run out and I don't have any spares... They haven't been delivered I am already feeling a vague sense of panic and cold turkey. Can I wait 24-48 hours for the next pack to arrive?
 
Eek! It's tough with the costs but I will always aim to order after the 14 days to keep at least a 4 week safety stock
 

Smidge,

Can you point us towards more on this? I've googled, but can't find owt.
Doctors obviously do think A1c is an average, with a low number indicating hypos. Want ammunition for this argument. Came up against this today in useless hospital visit to doctor who didn't notice I'm LADA and not insulin-dependent and airily assured me that trying to lower an A1c of 44 would be pointless.

Lucy
 
Think of your Hba1c as a weighted average.

What the Hba1C is measuring is effectively the number of cells with glucose attached versus the total number of cells, which is the percentage value. For the sake of argument, for each minute that your blood sugar is above 0mmol/l, glucose is attached to red cells. A normal, non-diabetic will have a range within which the percentage falls, which equates to ~3.8-6.6mmol/l. With every mmol/l you are above that number, proportionally more glucose is attached and every minute below, proportionally less.

Diabetic medical practitioners believe that diabetics are unable to manage a blood glucose level without severe spikes, and the inference from this is that in order to have a low hba1c, you must spend a lot of time below the "normal" level in order to even out your readings. Those with CGM like technology will know this isn't necessarily true...
 
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Just put in sensor number 4, seriously don't know where the time has gone! Can't believe I've been using this for 6 weeks. Although saying that the amount of control I have gained in 6 weeks is phenomenal!

I've lowered my basal 30% to stop the night time hypos I didn't even know I was having. I now wake up feeling refreshed rather than still tired. I also hypo about 5 times less because I could do basal testing (fasting and monitoring blood) and got my basal right finally!

I know how long to inject before different types of foods so that I don't have post-meal spikes.

I don't have to stop and test on the go, I just do a quick scan. I do still try to test a couple of times a day to check calibration, or if I need help calculating my insulin needs, but often I go days without testing.

It's shown me the massive advantages of low carbing.

I feel healthier than I ever have in my life. I do get variances of up to 1mmol (except when changing rapidly it takes time to catch up), and I take this into account.

I love it, I'm in the 60 mins between sensors and missing it already! I love it so much. I don't worry about my blood sugars anymore, I almost feel like a normal person again (apart from all the injecting)
 

That's it, isn't it. If spikes, then hypos. But with CGMs, why spikes?

I wonder if they'll take notice of that. Tho in the meantime, the Libre falsely indicating hypos (when it does, yes I know, but it often does,unfortunately) is a bit of a problem ..
 
Yup, indeed it is. It will reinforce long held views...
 

Sorry to hear that. ....I was hoping that an alternative to the arm could be used
 
Unfortunately for next time's HbA1c which I am so desperately trying to lower, I just ate two fiskefrikadeller / fish cakes for lunch - I saw the fish van and they are fresh and warm and delicious - and now down again from 11.2 on the Libre, which is considerably more in boring old blood terms ...
 
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@LucySW
Glucose is present in the circulation. If it happens to bump into a haemoglobin molecule the two will bind so the haemoglobin will be glycated. The chemical reaction is actually initially reversible but this is only short term.(has a relevance possible for very short term peaks though. Once bound it becomes permanent . If you have high glucose levels then the concentration of glucose molecules will be higher and so they are more likely to bump into each other and bind to each other. If you are low there are less glucose molecules around so fewer haemoglobin molecules will be glycated ( what happens to red blood cells is what happens to other cells so HbA1c is a proxy for what may be happening to them)
nice simple video
Here's a written explanation. It is hard to find one that isn't full of chemical technicalities but does explain the process.
http://www.diabetesinfo.org.nz/hba1c.html


At the moment I'm not happy. My sensor has been in place since this morning. It's at the moment reading 'lo' it hasn't been above 63mg/dl so I'm not confident it's going to start working . I'm dreading phoning Abbott tomorrow because I hate speaking French on the telephone
 
On to number 4 now. Have a spare in the cupboard and order for next two placed. Don't think I want to manage xmas without a sensor.

I have now accepted I can't expect a direct correlation between the Libre and bg (even though after the first, mine have been quite close when I test before driving) but the improvement to my control is unquestionable.
 
Thanks for the youtube explanation of hbA1c @phoenix. That explains it much better than I ever could. I think that would make a useful sticky actually.

@LucySW - in the 5 years I've had diabetes, I've only met one consultant that actually understands what an HbA1c is and acknowledges that it is not an average. If you take your Libre readings and simply average them, the average will be brought down by hypos and low BGs, but an HbA1c is not brought down as such by hypos and low BGs - it just doesn't get any higher. As we all glycate (is that a word?) at different rates, we simply don't know at what BG levels we start getting higher than normal amounts of glucose stuck to our red blood cells - for me it might be 5mmol, for you it might 7mmol and for someone else it might be 3mmol - so to assume we are hypo'ing because we have a low HbA1c is bonkers. All it means is that our BG was low enough over a an unknown period of time (but somewhere around 1 - 2 months) that our red blood cells didn't attract too much glucose - but 'low enough' for you and I might be wholly different.

Sorry about your hospital experience BTW - it seems to be a common issue!

Smidge
 
jack412 said:
are you putting it on your 'chicken wing' part of the arm ?
Click to expand...

I don't think so Jack - I'm putting it exactly where the instructions show you shoukd put it - but my arms are only little so to put the sensor in the right place, maybe the needle does go further to that part of my arm than for bigger people.

Smidge
 
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