Freestyle Libre

[slip]

They even brought the Libre device to the UK market before any public funding for it was granted by the government.

Some would say they did this as a way to leverage public funding.

Interesting comments re the Libre and learning to be a diabetic first. Technology moves on. When blood glucose kits first came out would we have thought to say. Keep putting your urine on a dipstick and learn to know your body first. Just a thought!

I know what you're saying and yes it does seem strange not to use the 'best' tool currently available straight from the start. But consider my analogy and take it a step further with L plates and a complete novice.....................theres more potential for a car crash, quite literally!

 

[Celsus]

Some would say they did this as a way to leverage public funding.

Yes agreed. Its a disgrace that state controlling authorities are withholding funding for new medical options when evidence is also provided showing that social economically its a positive ROI for the country overall to fund it versus old archaic alternatives.
Politics and old friends should not sit and play around like this with people's health.

 

[JohnEGreen]

I would buy one but as I can't I won't, not now anyhow.

 

[MStreet89]

I’ve been using a freestyle libre (funded by the nhs) for the last few months and I also self funded last year with 2 sensors.

I just wanted to share my experiences with it as I feel I’ve not had quite a good experience with the libre.

When I self funded I returned it after using two different sensors because I was getting dangerously high readings on the libre and when I tested the conventional way it was fine or ok. (Example would be libre would say 16.4 but I was actually 10.0) I’d tested this against 3 different blood testers with the same results.

I contacted Abbott and all they did was offer me a refund which I took but was surprised they didn’t want to know further.

Fast forward to a few months ago and I was offered it under the NHS and I thought I’d give it another go.

When I was at the group meeting (which was very brief) I was the only person there who had used a libre before and so I mentioned that I had issues with a previous libre system. All the consultant said was “yes there are issues which can occur but that’s why we say test as well because there is a delay”
I left it because I didn’t want to downplay the system - I know 3 other people who use the system and feel it is life changing and they have results that are near enough or bang on what their testers say.

When I had the first funded sensor put in, I had no problems for two weeks and it was, as stated by others, life changing. The data you get is incredibly helpful and I couldn’t live without it.

Unfortunately, ever since then I’ve had irregular/erratic readings with the libre on multiple sensors and multiple sites. I’m still doing as many blood tests as I was before the libre and I only use the libre now because it gives me notice that my blood sugar is high. I’ve just done a test and scan and my blood tester was 10.2 and my libre read at 17. If I’d have injected as normal using the libre I’d have had a serious problem.

On a more positive note, the system seems to match my tester when I’m below 10 and gives me a generalisation if what my blood sugar is doing hourly as in I can see that my blood sugar was high at 4am, the only issue is I need to knock off about 5 off of that number.

Sorry for the long explanation but I just wanted to explain and let others know it’s not 100% satisfaction all round.

I’ve attached an example of what it was like when I first tried it and I have evidence of how irregular they are at the moment


View attachment 26214

 

[Celsus]

By the way, I have come across now several individual case stories where the Libre sensor system appear to be much more precise and dependable if when it was initialized (the first 1 hour after application to your arm and your swipe it to activate) that it was in a period where:
- Your bg is within the range 5-9mmol/L
- Your bg is fairly stable throughout the full 1 hour period.

I am still not sure what kind of 'calibration measures' the Libre sensor and reader device may conduct within this first hour after activation and before it is willing to produce a result on your reader. As matter of fact, we that utilize e.g. the Blucon NightRider device can read bg values from that Libre sensor right away after it has been activated and we don't need to wait for one hour.

I know and respect that we in the scientific world reject such individual case stories as they can be a potential outlier on the tail of the population distribution. But it is never the less an interesting angle to this technology if able to be proven to be a consistent matter of fact.

Personally I can definitely relate to it very well!
I always have my 'cut over date/time' for a new Libre sensor to be on every second Sunday and at 12 noon.
That means that I have by that time no longer food being digested from breakfast, my bg has been adjusted to be optimal already around the wake-up/breakfast time, I have hardly ever any stress on Sunday mornings, no work, family sleeping long, everybody relaxing. I might do some sports or walking in garden, etc, but its all with a super good bg those mornings.
And my experience with the Libre system has been near perfection with regards to getting trustworthy and very dependable readings of my bg.

I would enjoy to hear from all who use or have used the Libre sensor what their bg range and stability were when initializing it and then what their results with Libre versus classic meters have been in terms of accuracy?

And if there is a connection between good and stable bg at time of Libre sensor activation, wouldn't one think that Abbott would have identified that already to be a critical condition for their system to work optimally?