-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
Freestyle libre
- Thread starter n.matier
- Start Date
I have been T1 for over 50 years. I'm perhaps very lucky to be stable and largely (but not entirely) without secondary health problems.In the last five years however, I encountered serious problems with overnight hypo problems and sheer desperation with the acute depression brought by half a century of medication and testing 24/7 and 365 days a year- 60,000 injections etc.
In the last eighteen months two things have changed all that and my life for the better. One is Tresiba insulin. Overnight hypos have completely disappeared. The other is Abbot Freestle Libre. The system is expensive (£100 a month) and we have made sacrifices to afford it. But the non-invasive testing as often as you like has so substantially reduced my lifelong feelings of dependency and more recently depressive misery with blood tests, that it's worth every penny. "Free" in this context is not financial but human. Maybe the NHS will catch up. Let's hope so. The tests are normally within 0.5 to 1.0 of comparative finger tests, which I still do as a check at times. This my not be good enough for some T1's. It may not be seen as non-invasive by others as there is an un-noticeable pinprick in the upper arm once a fortnight for the cartridge.. But the personal freedom and relief brought by Libre for someone like me with the decades-long injection and finger lancing necessity has simply been immense. I feel free mentally and socially in a way I cannot properly describe. A flick of the sensor across the upper arm through anything I'm wearing tells me instantly where I'm at anywhere I am (on the tennis court or in cinema darkness)and what the sequencing of blood sugar is. An expensive freedom that's not perfect but for me freedom all the same. I really hope others can benefit in similar ways.
In the last eighteen months two things have changed all that and my life for the better. One is Tresiba insulin. Overnight hypos have completely disappeared. The other is Abbot Freestle Libre. The system is expensive (£100 a month) and we have made sacrifices to afford it. But the non-invasive testing as often as you like has so substantially reduced my lifelong feelings of dependency and more recently depressive misery with blood tests, that it's worth every penny. "Free" in this context is not financial but human. Maybe the NHS will catch up. Let's hope so. The tests are normally within 0.5 to 1.0 of comparative finger tests, which I still do as a check at times. This my not be good enough for some T1's. It may not be seen as non-invasive by others as there is an un-noticeable pinprick in the upper arm once a fortnight for the cartridge.. But the personal freedom and relief brought by Libre for someone like me with the decades-long injection and finger lancing necessity has simply been immense. I feel free mentally and socially in a way I cannot properly describe. A flick of the sensor across the upper arm through anything I'm wearing tells me instantly where I'm at anywhere I am (on the tennis court or in cinema darkness)and what the sequencing of blood sugar is. An expensive freedom that's not perfect but for me freedom all the same. I really hope others can benefit in similar ways.
richyb
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 359
- Location
- worcestershire
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Pump
- Dislikes
- Cold weather
I also have a Libre and removed my first patch recently and there was a red circle which is now getting better.
but slightly red still. is this normal
but slightly red still. is this normal
June_C
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 821
- Location
- West Sussex
- Type of diabetes
- Prefer not to say
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Diabetes, know it alls
My sensors always leave a red mark which disappears over a few days. I then use my other arm for the next one in order for the red mark to go. Trouble is with a new sensor, it takes a couple of days to remember which arm I'm scanning !!!!!
Hi, I have been asking my db nurses about the freestyle libra for ages since reading about it on this website. I finally got a call from them today and a group of us are invited to meet a rep. on Wednesday who is giving us all free trial for 14 days. So worth a try.
Good Luck
Sarah Ann Hodges
Active Member
- Messages
- 26
- Type of diabetes
- Type 1
- Treatment type
- Insulin
That I would say is impossible!! Wish it was on the NHS and to be fair won't get funded by the NHS unfortunately either...all these fantastic things are awesome but at a price...I've justified the 100 quid a month by saying I probably spend that on rubbish a month at the supermarket thing is once you have it there's no turning back...if you find a way at any point I would love to know....good luck in your search. X
