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FREESTYLE LIBRE ON SALE!!!!

To be honest, I'm tempted to look at how I can self fund a dexcom off the back of this.

I think we are providing a lot of data to Abbott that they should have already had. I think the test period they undertook was a joke without enough people involved to truly reflect a significant proportion of the users and that we are bearing the brunt of it now. They put something out onto the market that is just good enough, bit not really production ready.

In many ways this is very like what we see from Google or Microsoft. If this was a Beta version officially, I think we'd agree with some of the issues we're seeing. It's supposed to be production ready, which is much more of an issue.

I've come around to the point of view that we are really beta testing and that it will therefore work 80% of the time, and my definition of 80% is that one in five sensors will fail.
 
tim2000s said:
To be honest, I'm tempted to look at how I can self fund a dexcom off the back of this.

I think we are providing a lot of data to Abbott that they should have already had. I think the test period they undertook was a joke without enough people involved to truly reflect a significant proportion of the users and that we are bearing the brunt of it now. They put something out onto the market that is just good enough, bit not really production ready.

In many ways this is very like what we see from Google or Microsoft. If this was a Beta version officially, I think we'd agree with some of the issues we're seeing. It's supposed to be production ready, which is much more of an issue.

I've come around to the point of view that we are really beta testing and that it will therefore work 80% of the time, and my definition of 80% is that one in five sensors will fail.
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I quite agree. I've had abbott "abbott web crawlers" (or something like that, abbott spies, sorry I'm not technical), look at my blog too. It's like we are paying a lot of money to test their product. They'll be reading this thread too no doubt.
I'm starting to think that once I look back at my results of this sensor it might put me of funding it. It's missing high and low blood sugars, and I would think by using it I'm consistently in range, but every now and then a blood test has showed 2 higher or 2 lower with no rapidly changing results
 
In fact my current summary is that it is invaluable for trend data for a short period of time, to see what's happening over night etc and making adjustments. However, as a long term investment for daily tracking once you are stable it's not useful as it's not accurate enough to be worth the money.
It missed lows frequently which is the core reason to test, so you have to test anyway, so why pay £100 per month on top
 
Hi @Emmotha

would you think it good value to assist in basal testing ? that is what i was thinking of it for.
i am hoping to go on a pump this year and it seems the extra data would be a big asset
 
I've been using it for basal testing @himtoo. It's extremely helpful to see the trajectory of your glucose levels and for me the trend data is the most useful thing about it. It allows you to treat a hypo before it occurs. The amount of gym time I do, this is invaluable as I am no longer guessing what might be happening from blood tests, and it is worth the money eye for this. I'm less bothered about the high and low numbers.

I just think that Abbott have been a little disingenuous in the level of readiness for prime time, and I think potential users need to be aware of the shortcomings.
 
thanks @tim2000s -- i was not quick enough to get one when they launched recently -- but hopefully this spring!!
 
himtoo said:
Hi @Emmotha

would you think it good value to assist in basal testing ? that is what i was thinking of it for.
i am hoping to go on a pump this year and it seems the extra data would be a big asset
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Yeah definitely! It's totally changed my management and the first I'd say 6 weeks of data were incredibly useful and I'm so much better controlled.

It's also helping me learn to low carb, but once I know my patterns for me it's not worth the continued cost I don't think. As @tim2000s says about catching hypos, for me that does not work because most of the time it doesn't recognise my low blood sugar. Last week I realised I had become a little reliant on it, it showed a flat 4.4 and actually I was below 3.0, so it could have been dangerous. That's why I think it's not useful day to day.
(Unless you've got enough spare cash then you might as well :-) )
 
Check this one out. This is so far a good sensor. It's tracking me nicely along low 5s but actually I've been 6.9 for 2 hours.
I'd think I was doing really well but I'm not
 

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It also depends on what you mean by really well. 6.4 is not really an issue as far as blood sugars go, but if you are targeting lower, I can understand the frustration.
 
tim2000s said:
It also depends on what you mean by really well. 6.4 is not really an issue as far as blood sugars go, but if you are targeting lower, I can understand the frustration.
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I think it's too high. I like to be around 5.4
 
I agree. First six weeks made a big difference. Now I haven't used it for a little while due to the reaction I am managing ok. I have 4 sensors so thinking of just using one from time to time to double check I am still on track and my basal is OK.
 
darrenh04 said:
I agree. First six weeks made a big difference. Now I haven't used it for a little while due to the reaction I am managing ok. I have 4 sensors so thinking of just using one from time to time to double check I am still on track and my basal is OK.
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I think that's what I'll do too.
 
Emmotha said:
Ohh they're what my next 2 are
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T, E, all,

1) just had two sensors with the 10/2015 expiry date. One was a dream, the other useless - at least 2 mmol out, giving false lows all the time and all the way overnight, erratic differences from real BG (and screwing up my data ). And my other accurate sensor was from my original order, exp date 4/2015, whereas the other three were erratic.

So lot is no guarantee.

2) I'm wondering about gym. I put the current useless one on 18 hrs before activating it. Then I activated it, and did 50 mins strenuous anaerobic training. And it was out from the beginning. Not evidence of course, but I'm wondering if elevated heart rates throw its algorithms out.
 
Hey guys! I'm kind of heartened and kind of despondent to hear what you're saying. Your comments mimic my views on this. My current sensor is pretty erratic but I can't be bothered to report yet another one. It has been OK some of the time. Last night I had two hypos within a couple of hours of each other - it registered 4.1 when reality was 2.9 and then 3.9 when reality was 2.1. Had enough. It's great technology and I'm going to miss it, but what with the skin irritation I've decided not to put another on when this expires on Tuesday and see how I go. I love Libre and I hate Libre. For £100 a month I need to love Libre. I have 4 unused sensors all dating Oct 2015. I'm intending to contact Abbott and ask for refund on 2 of them. I'll use the others occasionally before October and order more as and when.

If anyone wants to send the whole lot back for a full refund, UK consumer law says things have to be fit for purpose - in my view, this isn't. Law also says in first 6 months retailer has to prove faults are not a manufacturing fault. After that consumer has to prove it is a manufacturing fault.So, I think currently anyone who wants to can return it as not fit for purpose without proving anything - as long as your purpose was to accurately monitor BG. It is not accurate and does not monitor consistently within tolerance - you don't have to put up with it.

I've actually realised with this sensor that I'm putting up with 1.2 out as though that's OK. It's not OK for £100 per month. It's not OK.

Smidge
 
@smidge Be careful when liaising with Abbot not to describe it as blood glucose monitoring. They are very careful not to for good reason.
 
Is anyone having delays in Abbott issuing a replacement sensor? I had one come off after 3 days and they wanted the old one back before they'd send the replacement. It's now been a month and they still won't send me the replacement as they haven't yet tested the broken one :(


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I'd moan like crazy if I was you, and don't get off the phone till you either have a refund or a new sensor. Sale of goods act and all that.
 
daniT1D said:
Is anyone having delays in Abbott issuing a replacement sensor? I had one come off after 3 days and they wanted the old one back before they'd send the replacement. It's now been a month and they still won't send me the replacement as they haven't yet tested the broken one :(


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
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They sent mine to the wrong address. Might be worth checking if and where they sent it
 
I have called so many times :( Last lady was very honest and said they never expected so many issues and some people just constantly claim replacements and haven't purchased any so now they're testing faulty sensors before sending the replacement.... I thought if there was that much of a problem/backlog then it would be affecting others here too


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