I am advised by my diabetes nurse that using the Freestyle Libre will considerably assist my blood glucose control. I am type 1 of 48 years and am finger pricking 4/5 times a day. Does anyone have experience of the Freestsyle system and do you also need to continue finger pricking as I am led to believe that the Freestyle is not as accurate.
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Freestyle Libre
- Thread starter Malcjburt
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- free style libre
OrsonKartt
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,626
- Location
- Suffolk
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
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- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- over selling.... oh so many things are enthusiastically oversold
I’m type 2 and once or twice a year treat myself. Saves an awful lot of finger stabbing. Allows as many readings per day as you like I find it takes a while to settle down so to get best value set it up but don’t activate it for 24 hrs or so. Good luck with it all.
D
Deleted member 527103
Guest
Yes, many many many many of us use the Libre. Try searching for "Libre" in the field at the top of every page and you will see all the threads.
The value of Libre should not be thought of as replacing finger pricks. It's like thinking a smart phone is nothing more than a device that receives phone calls. The value of Libre is seeing what is happening to your blood sugars between finger pricks that will tell you things like whether you pre-bolus far enough ahead of eating or predict a hypo before it happens.
There are limitations and if you expect it to replace all finger pricks you will be disappointed. From what I remember (although I encourage you to read some of the other threads),
- some of us find our body takes a day or two to familiarise with the alien object in our arm which can affect the readings the sensor gives. This is why I apply my sensor a couple of days before activating it.
- sensors are calibrated to be most accurate between 4 and 9 mmol/l. Therefore, it is advised to confirm with a finger prick reading before correcting a high or low.
- CGMs use interstitial fluid readings to calculate blood glucose. This is 10 to 15 minutes behind finger prick readings. Libre attempts to accommodate this delay by predicting the current reading by extrapolating the current trend. Most of the time, this is great unless the trend has changed in the last 15 minutes such as when treating a hypo. Therefore, it is always recommended to check hypo recovery with a finger prick.
- Libre are factory calibrated. This seems to work well for the majority of people but some of us find we are not like Factory Man so the sensor can be fair out. However, there are unofficial phone apps such as Diabox and xDrip which allow you to calibrate the readings. These are techy apps written by techies so not advisable if you are a technphobe. But, if you fancy giving them a go, they have the added advantage of become CGMs - you only have to scan your sensor to start it.
- some sensor are dodgy. Abbott is pretty good at replacing these if you contact them ... as I believe I should because NHS is cash strapped enough already without funding tech that is broken.
The value of Libre should not be thought of as replacing finger pricks. It's like thinking a smart phone is nothing more than a device that receives phone calls. The value of Libre is seeing what is happening to your blood sugars between finger pricks that will tell you things like whether you pre-bolus far enough ahead of eating or predict a hypo before it happens.
There are limitations and if you expect it to replace all finger pricks you will be disappointed. From what I remember (although I encourage you to read some of the other threads),
- some of us find our body takes a day or two to familiarise with the alien object in our arm which can affect the readings the sensor gives. This is why I apply my sensor a couple of days before activating it.
- sensors are calibrated to be most accurate between 4 and 9 mmol/l. Therefore, it is advised to confirm with a finger prick reading before correcting a high or low.
- CGMs use interstitial fluid readings to calculate blood glucose. This is 10 to 15 minutes behind finger prick readings. Libre attempts to accommodate this delay by predicting the current reading by extrapolating the current trend. Most of the time, this is great unless the trend has changed in the last 15 minutes such as when treating a hypo. Therefore, it is always recommended to check hypo recovery with a finger prick.
- Libre are factory calibrated. This seems to work well for the majority of people but some of us find we are not like Factory Man so the sensor can be fair out. However, there are unofficial phone apps such as Diabox and xDrip which allow you to calibrate the readings. These are techy apps written by techies so not advisable if you are a technphobe. But, if you fancy giving them a go, they have the added advantage of become CGMs - you only have to scan your sensor to start it.
- some sensor are dodgy. Abbott is pretty good at replacing these if you contact them ... as I believe I should because NHS is cash strapped enough already without funding tech that is broken.
Daibell
Master
Hi. Do try a Libre free trial which is what I did to get started. Go to the www.freestylelibre.co.uk website. It's a great product. At times the reading doesn't seem quite right but you have a graph so can put the reading into perspective. I only occasionally now do a finger-prick test. Some people find the adhesive doesn't work well but I have no problem with the sensor staying on or any irritation. You need to check your mobile phone is on the compatible list but be aware the list hasn't been updated recently so there are many new phones which are fine. I self-funded for a year but my consultant readily arranged for it to be added to my prescription a couple of months back
- Messages
- 18,785
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hi,
If you are being put forward with your endo through a nurse recommendation for NHS funding regarding the Libre?
Go for it..
becca59
Well-Known Member
It’s a wonderful gadget. No it’s not perfect. Is anything? Some sensors are better than others as to reliability. It’s all about the direction of the arrow and knowing your own body. I rarely use finger pricks-just looked and haven’t done one in 3 days. Haven’t had a bad hypo in weeks and have an HBA1C of 41. You just have to believe in it and remember blood glucose tests are not 100% either. In the past have had widely differing results on two different machines at the same time.
