Freestyle Libre - what's involved & is it worth it..?

[steve_p6]

Hi everyone,

I'm Phil and my daughter's name is Matilda. She has had Type 1 since she was 3.
She's now 5.
She wears a Medtronic MiniMed Paradigm pump and tests her blood sugar 6-8 times a day.
Her HBa1C is 6.3.
So far so good.

Because she's so young we were hoping to get her to use the Libre (if only to save her fingers!), but our health insurance company (we live in Germany) will not pay for it. Until now they have paid for everything - her pump, a replacement pump, insulin, test strips, catheters etc really anything we need.

The insurance company's main reason for not forking out is that the Libre does not replace finger pricks, and also does not cost them any less. Do you think this is a valid, defensible argument? They claim to have the support of several physicians on this.

The important thing about Libre is it tells you what is happening betwern tests and it tells you how quickly your BG is changing. Different to a BG but just as accurate unless BG changing quickly. With practice, a la sugar surfing, you can smooth and learn to control the spikes in the BG. The best thing of all is that for lesx than £150 you can try for a month. At the end of the month either its not for you, something you will use occassionally or will think it is worth continuing with.

 

[steve_p6]

I was a little and the tracking is not to good but just had an e-mail from DPD saying it will be here tomorrow

Gaz contain your excitement! Tracking is a pain but you can get the chronopost tracking ref off of the Abbott invoice and then the DPD reference off of the chronopost tracker.

 

[Gaz-M]

ahh its here

 

[paulpapa]

Just started using the Libre last night. Painless to insert the sensor. It works so quickly and it's addictive. I seem to be checking every 10 mins or so at the moment.

It's been so useful already. I think it's about 1.5 - 2mmol off my finger testing, but its showing me when I dip low in the night and that red line on a graph is making me re-think how much basal I'm taking. I knew it wouldnt be as accurate as finger testing. I'll wait a few days to see what the trends are.

Does anyone know how many days readings you need to get the AGM data showing? I'm really interested in the trends. I'm trying to inject a bit before I eat so I don't spike as much. Can't wait to see what the graphs show.

 

[Hirstygirl]

ahh its here

So you have given in and ordered one then? Still making my mind up let us know how you find it please gaz

 

[Natalie1974]

ahh its here

Are you like a big kid at Christmas? I know I was...haven't been so excited since I got a bike for my 10th birthday

 

[Gaz-M]

So you have given in and ordered one then? Still making my mind up let us know how you find it please gaz

I will do @Hirstygirl, I'm a little worried about putting it on at the moment though.

My hand is still very sore after the carpel release operation last week and my left hand is good for nothing hahaha

 

[Gaz-M]

Are you like a big kid at Christmas? I know I was...haven't been so excited since I got a bike for my 10th birthday

very much like a big kid

love new toys

 

[noblehead]

I will do @Hirstygirl, I'm a little worried about putting it on at the moment though.

My hand is still very sore after the carpel release operation last week and my left hand is good for nothing hahaha

Get your good lady (or someone else) to apply the sensor, it's pretty straight @Gaz-M

 

[johncon]

Just started using the Libre last night. Painless to insert the sensor. It works so quickly and it's addictive. I seem to be checking every 10 mins or so at the moment.

It's been so useful already. I think it's about 1.5 - 2mmol off my finger testing, but its showing me when I dip low in the night and that red line on a graph is making me re-think how much basal I'm taking. I knew it wouldnt be as accurate as finger testing. I'll wait a few days to see what the trends are.

Does anyone know how many days readings you need to get the AGM data showing? I'm really interested in the trends. I'm trying to inject a bit before I eat so I don't spike as much. Can't wait to see what the graphs show.

To be honest I now insert a sensor the day before I intend to use it (which means for 1 day/fortnight I've got one on each arm), the general opinion is that it can take anywhere between 24-48 hours for them to 'settle'. I cant remember for definite but think it was a week before I could get any sort of usable data (could have been 10 days not really sure).

 

[Dan87]

Seriously considering getting one of these, the starter pack in order to trial it for a month. Probably not something I can afford to do every month, but although it's expensive I'm sure it's well worth it and would provide a very useful insight to when spikes/lows are happening, timings insulin needs to be taken with certain meals/types of food.

 

[arniemouse]

Hi
This may seem like a very stupid question but I presume that the £150 ish for the starter pack is all you pay if you send the sensor back after the month? If you decide to keep it is it just the sensors that you then have to fund at about £100 a month?
I don't have type1 diabetes but have very problematic hypos and was considering buying a Libre. Thanks

 

[robert72]

Hi
This may seem like a very stupid question but I presume that the £150 ish for the starter pack is all you pay if you send the sensor back after the month? If you decide to keep it is it just the sensors that you then have to fund at about £100 a month?
I don't have type1 diabetes but have very problematic hypos and was considering buying a Libre. Thanks

The £150ish is what you pay for a scanner and 2 sensors. You don't need to send anything back. You only need to buy more sensors as and when you want them, or not if you don't.

 

[arniemouse]

The £150ish is what you pay for a scanner and 2 sensors. You don't need to send anything back. You only need to buy more sensors as and when you want them, or not if you don't.

Hi
Thanks was not really clear on website and I thought that the sensor was more expensive than that to buy.

 

[robert72]

Hi
Thanks was not really clear on website and I thought that the sensor was more expensive than that to buy.

The sensors are about £50 each and last for 14 days (they are disposable). The reader is the only investment I suppose.

 

[steve_p6]

Just started using the Libre last night. Painless to insert the sensor. It works so quickly and it's addictive. I seem to be checking every 10 mins or so at the moment.

It's been so useful already. I think it's about 1.5 - 2mmol off my finger testing, but its showing me when I dip low in the night and that red line on a graph is making me re-think how much basal I'm taking. I knew it wouldnt be as accurate as finger testing. I'll wait a few days to see what the trends are.

Does anyone know how many days readings you need to get the AGM data showing? I'm really interested in the trends. I'm trying to inject a bit before I eat so I don't spike as much. Can't wait to see what the graphs show.

Cant remember for the actual AGM graphs but will give you the HBA1C estimate on your PC after 6-8 days.

 

[Gaz-M]

what software does it use? Ive looked and downloaded auto-assist and coPilot, still havent fitted a sensor but there is no rush

 

[paulpapa]

http://www.freestylelibre.co.uk/help-center.html

@Gaz-M Click downloads and select Mac or PC.

 

[steve_p6]

what software does it use? Ive looked and downloaded auto-assist and coPilot, still havent fitted a sensor but there is no rush

If you go onto the freestyle site you can download there to fo the reports/graphs/save data. Can also register for diasend but best not to try both as freestyle software blocks diasend. Both do the AGP graphs.

 

[Gaz-M]

Ive got Diasend already so thankyou @steve_p6