Freestyle libre

I bought the Libre before Christmas. Once you get your head around the delay, it's good for looking at patterns.
In terms of reliability, it's probably the worst piece of equipment I've ever bought. I've already had to have two sensors and the reader replaced.
On the advice of my DSN, I only use the sensor for two weeks of every month, and MOST importantly, I don't scan the sensor until 24 hours after I've attached it, as the first 24 hours tend not to be accurate. This way you get the full 14 days of use as the sensor is not activated until it's scanned.

I hope that helps.

Lisa.

Oh - and both my deliveries so far (the starter pack, then the four sensors) have arrived on the 3rd working day after ordering)

My latest sensor arrived a few days ago. The box expiry date is 31st. May 2017

Ive just finished my 1st 2 weeks of libre. Its handy. But i would only use it as a now and then thing. I only really used it to find out the precise time of night my liver was kicking my sugars up. I recommend it for new diabetics or if something needs fine tuning.

Soo2 said:

Wow thank you all for the lots of information!!! To me watching the application video I think it looks painful ? I don't like that sound of a big click

Can the sensor be covered ? With anything??

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Really, it doesn't hurt. The click is just a click when the applicator pushes the sensor on your arm. It is over with in a nano second. I find it easier if my hubby applies mine. It can be awkward applying it yourself as you only have one hand to do it with.

I have used it for 6 months since diagnosis and it helped me get my hba1c down from 63 to 39. Invaluable.

Soo2 said:

Does it hurt when you put the needle part in??

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No, it doesn't hurt. You press the applicator firmly against your skin and then keep pressing until a spring kicks in to send the needle quickly in to insert the sensor filament, then the needle comes out leaving the filament in place. The click is quite loud but it lets you know it's applied it. Leave it for a few seconds to let the glue fix, then gently lift it off.

Compared to the medtronic applicator which looks like something you'd geld cattle with and you have to control the needle insertion yourself, the spring makes it a lot easier.

It's less painful than an injection or finger test,and they're not really painful at all.

By the way, don't expect it to read the same as your meter. Meter reads blood directly, whereas libre reads interstitial fluid,the fluid between cells, which gluocse seeps into from the bloodstream. For biological reasons, there's always going to be a bit of a difference between the two, even though the libre programming is supposed to adjust for it. In practice, it doesn't, but when you do a few blood tests, you'll get an idea of the difference and it's normally fairly consistent so it's easy enough to say,ok, it says 5 but's it's more likely 6.

That said, some of them can be plain off, which is not surprising given the complexities of what it's trying to do, but Abbott are normally pretty good at replacing dud ones. Only happened twice in fourteen sensors.

Scott-C said:

Leave it for a few seconds to let the glue fix, then gently lift it off.

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I find this waiting a few seconds really helps, as it seems to help the applicator disengage properly.

I have never applied one myself (although I ought to one of these days, in case my husband isn't available when I need it doing). So far, no worries.

Also I would say the libre is far more than a tool for 'fine tuning'. Its not until you've had 24/7 monitoring for a few months that you start to get a good feel for how your body reacts to all the many factors affecting BG - stress, food, exercise, illness etc... For example I have tinkered around with lchf eg using intermittent fasting, upping and lowering the carbs or protein. Without the libre or cgm I would not have known how it affected me.

Angelofthemarches said:

Also I would say the libre is far more than a tool for 'fine tuning'. Its not until you've had 24/7 monitoring for a few months that you start to get a good feel for how your body reacts to all the many factors affecting BG - stress, food, exercise, illness etc...

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YES to all of that! I agree wholeheartedly!

Since I've had mine (a whole 10 days) I've learned about -

- the timing and size of my dawn phenomenon
- that a very low carb meal barely raises my BG at all, and it comes down pretty quickly afterwards
- that if I get too low between meals, my liver will dump and I shoot up by about 1 point
- that being in situations when I need to be on my game raises my BG - even if it's something I'm used to
- that a very high fat meal keeps my BG elevated for a loooong time
- that despite my very best efforts when eating out, carbs sneak in where not expected
- that I have not yet found the magic key which controls my dawn phenomenon - but I'm going to keep on trying

Hi, I was asked to go on a 2 week trial with this device last year. Like others on this thread I didn't find it that reliable especially when I was actually very low. On the plus side I found the arrow indicators very useful to give me an idea of what was going on with my blood sugar's, and was very convenient when out and about just scanning and not having to worry about finger pricking. I was asked to do the 2 week trial as I was being woken at night with hypos, I really had them during the day. On a very big plus side I discovered that I actually had two hypos during the night where I didn't even wake up! I'd been woken before when my blood sugar's had dropped low, but it really shook me knowing now that I had slept through one at a level where I really should have woken to correct it. Having the ability to review what happens to you when you were asleep was very eye opening and proved to be quite life changing for me.
My insulin regime has since been adjusted and changed and I rarely wake during the night to correct my blood sugar. I feel far better in the mornings and my bg is usually between 4-5.
I think it's a great device but for the moment doesn't replace finger testing if you want a confident read of what's really happening.