Freestyle Libre woes

[Keith_Kilvington]

Hi again
So the saga of this system continues, after the failure of 2 previous sensors/applicators we received replacements from Freestyle so thank you to them for that.
We followed the instructions to the letter and applied one of the replacement sensors last night before my daughter went to bed, this resulted in a bleed which we cleaned up with some damp cotton wool and then carefully dried.
We left it for an hour and then activated it with the reader which said it would be ready in 60 minutes.
When we went back to check it was reading that we needed to check the sensor, this we did and started it again.
This has been going on for the last 24 hrs and it still gives the same message, so we keep restarting it etc but still no joy.
Has anyone else experienced this? Could it be the reader?
We had high hope with this system after the trial but are extremely disappointed with our current experiences
Please can you give us an idea of what we could be doing wrong??
Many thanks

 

[Ethanw57]

I've been using the libre for about 5 months now and I had a similar occurrence (minus the bleeding) about 3 sensors ago. I let it go overnight and it started reading the next afternoon, but was constantly showing 'LO' (under 2) while my blood readings were fine. About 3 days after the application the sensor came good and was operating normally. I find the first few days with some sensors tend to read lower than what it really is (not necessarily a bad thing for someone as prone to hypos as myself) but then eventually starts working as expected.

Always call Abbott if in doubt. The few times I have had to call them they have been very helpful and have offered a free replacement if I wasn't satisfied with the sensor I had

 

[himtoo]

I agree about contacting abbott regarding issues

I always insert a new sensor and then wait 24 hours to activate it -- this has consistently produced good results and accuracy for me.

 

[JohnEGreen]

I have been considering getting a libre but am starting to have concerns over reports like this. As having been on steroids so long I have issues with skin, that is skin weakened and thinner with bruising and am starting to wonder if this could cause problems such as the one being spoken of here.

 

[Brad.potter47]

I just received my Freestyle Libre this week, so I'm not sure I can be of help to the OP original question. However, I have had some issues with my first attempt at using this Abbott product.

When I inserted the first sensor and attempted to start it, the reader came back with the message: Sensor ended. Also, the Freestyle reader itself will not hold a charge and must be plugged in before it will turn on.

This product is new to Canada (available in October, although, I see it's been in use in other regions much longer) - so I assume Abbott is still having some technical difficulties getting the Freestyle reader and sensors to work correctly.

What bothers me the most though is the poor customer support that Abbott provided. In order to troubleshoot the problem, I phoned the number on the Abbott web site, waited on hold for a significant time, and was told by the agent that the 1-888 number on the Web site was for registration and sales only. Technical or warranty issues had to be placed with a different number which wasn't listed on the Web site. So they gave me the correct number and my wait to speak to Technical Support began.

On the first call, I waited 4 hours on hold and finally had to hang up. I tried again that afternoon and waited another 3 hours on hold before an Abbott agent finally answered the phone. We scrolled through the error log on the Freestyle reader and determined that the Abbott reader and Sensor were indeed failing and needed replacement. They'll be sending me the new items by the end of next week.

So, my initial Freestyle experience has been a 100% failure of the product along with somewhat non-responsive technical support. On the plus side, there was no argument that reader and sensor were both defective and they would pay for replacement.

Having said all that, the promise of a easier method of testing is still compelling. I use a Medtronic pump, so the Freestyle won't provide the same CGMS that the Medtronic system would, however, given it lasts a full two weeks it definitely has benefits over the finger poking method - I do about about 6 tests a day which can be difficult at work etc. (I'm using the Bayer Contour for this).

So, I'm looking forward to getting a new reader and sensor from Abbott and giving this another try.