Getting hypo alerts with libre, blucon and xDrip+

[Scott-C]

However, it works with the iPhone/LinkBluCon combo

If the blucon is still paired with linkblucon on the iphone, that might be throwing it out. Don't know anything about bluetooth but it might be that the blucon is getting puzzled about which phone to send to. Other users have reported problems where linkblucon is in the picture. I don't have linkblucon installed so don't know how to do it but might be worthwhile having a look around the menu options in linkblucon to see if it can be "unpaired".

 

[jrgv]

Dear forum members,

Thanks for the fast replies, much appreciated. As Scott-C noted the "Buggy Samsung-using workaround" message suggest basic problems with this particular phone model or with Samsung phones in general. Hard to be wise in this arena, I've settled with the A3 as our "diabetes-phone" since it can safely be used as a backup reader for the Libre, up-to-date, relatively capable and affordable. Little did I know that it's going to have issues with the Blucon transmitter. Strange thing is that the phone registers the hexadecimal BT dress of the Blucon yet it cannot read its name (= and cannot pair), while other BT-enabled devices in our flat register and connect to the phone without any problem telling me that there might be some BT peculiarity at the Blucon side too. However, it works with the iPhone/LinkBluCon combo adding more to the confusion. Anyway, I'll investigate this further and ask help of jamorham. In the meantime, can you please suggest some cheap tablets that have no issues whatsoever with the Blucon, thanks.

I wish you all and your loved ones in-range BG values for the coming years, no highs neither lows, and let's hope that 2018 will take us closer to the artificial pancreas and a permanent treatment of this disease.
Happy New Year!

Cheers,
Laciapu

Dear laciapu and all members of the forum:

I have exactly the same problem than you with my new Samsung A3 2017. I succesfully paired blucon with my old Samsung A3 2016 (still working), and then I bought a Samsung A3 2017 thinking that it could work too, but it doesn't. I can't get the two initial readings, as you know. I wrote to Ambrosia sys. without answer at the moment, and I have planned to go to the customer service of Samsung to get any idea. I would like to know if you or any other members of the forum got any solution or any answer from developer, etc. about it.

Many thanks for your attention and your help.

 

[laciapu]

We have two Samsung A3 2017 and both are unable to connect to the Blucon. They connect to each other and to tablets and laptops via BT without any problem. I think the Blucon uses LE (low energy) BT that some phones cannot handle well even though from BT v4.0 the LE protocol is part of the BT package. Perhaps a bad constellation of chipset, dunno, i am not an android expert. Anyway, i took the easy way and bought an LG K4 today, cheap plastic stuff but setting up xDrip+ and pairing with the Blucon was a breeze, since than the system has been running fine. I know it was not the smartest solution but perhaps the fastest, we have been waiting for the Blucon for quite a long time.

 

[jrgv]

We have two Samsung A3 2017 and both are unable to connect to the Blucon. They connect to each other and to tablets and laptops via BT without any problem. I think the Blucon uses LE (low energy) BT that some phones cannot handle well even though from BT v4.0 the LE protocol is part of the BT package. Perhaps a bad constellation of chipset, dunno, i am not an android expert. Anyway, i took the easy way and bought an LG K4 today, cheap plastic stuff but setting up xDrip+ and pairing with the Blucon was a breeze, since than the system has been running fine. I know it was not the smartest solution but perhaps the fastest, we have been waiting for the Blucon for quite a long time.

laciapu, many thanks for your comments. I visited the customer service of Samsung today but they say that it's a problem of Blucon. You are right, but anyway I asked to Ambrosia if there is any solution (I found another similar case reported by a different client). I understand that it's a new product, but I think they shouldn't sell it without informing about these problems. In fact, in the Ambrosia's web site they say: "We made an electronic device BluCon which reads NFC tag and it can send data to any Bluetooth enabled connected device." I suppose I'll finally buy a new phone, as you did, but if I receive any answer I'll inform you.

 

[JoeT1]

One thing I am seeing , and may not be Blucon related is this.

New sensor put on yesterday. Noticed it's scanning as LO or low numbers such as 3 or 2.5. Finder prick on the Libre itself is scanning quite low, such as 4 or 3.2 etc. Finger prick with Glucomen LX or Contour One Touch is higher, in the mid 5's to 6.
Blucon is reading closer to the Glucomen.

My query really is, is the Libre sensor and Finger Prick reading both wrong? Should the finger prick on the Libre not be reading as normal?

 

[donnac1968]

Sorry if someone has asked but does the work on Apple IPhone??

Also can you explain for a dummy how to get the actual piece of tech I need. Thanks

 

[Scott-C]

Sorry if someone has asked but does the work on Apple IPhone??

Also can you explain for a dummy how to get the actual piece of tech I need. Thanks

Hi, the blucon transmitter (the physical object which is placed on top of the sensor) can be bought online from the makers, Ambrosia Systems:

www.ambrosiasys.com

Some people are selling them on ebay and amazon too.

As to whether it works with an iPhone, well, yes and no.

The makers have an inhouse app called Linkblucon which has two versions, one for android and one for iphones. I found the android version extremely basic. I've never used the iphone version as I don't have an iphone. Their facebook page, link below, has a number of posts about problems with it:

https://m.facebook.com/ambrosiasys/?locale2=en_GB

I don't use the inhouse app at all, as it is so basic (although I see that they're saying now it has been developed to give alerts).

Instead I use it with a different app called xDrip+. It's a very reliable and stable app, much more so than Linkblucon, but it only runs on android.

However, there's a related project called iosxdripreader which is designed to run on iphones and it looks like from this page here that it's been tweaked to run with blucon (they refer to it as blukon).

https://github.com/JohanDegraeve/iosxdripreader

I know nothing about iphones so can't offer any more suggestions than that. I vaguely recall that you might need to contact the developer for some sort of permission to install iosxdripreader, unlike the android xdrip+ which is just downloaded, no questions asked.

You'll probably gather from the facebook link that a lot of customers are complaining about delays in delivery, features not working, disconnecting. I think the actual physical product itself, the blucon transmitter, is a decent piece of tech - all it is doing is reading libre every 5 minutes and then sending it to an app - but the problem is the makers seem to have not put as much effort into developing a decent app to make use of the info the transmitter is sending to it, hence the complaints about the app, linkblucon, whether it's the android or ios version.

Which is why I use xDrip+ instead on android - I've found it very reliable. Whether iosxdripreader performs as well, I simply don't know.

So, yes, you can run it on an iphone but the inhouse linkblucon is a tad flaky, and the iosxdripreader, I don't know how well that works.

 

[JoeT1]

@Scott-C How many times a day on average do you think you calibrate xDrip? Do you calibrate against the Freestyle Libre finger prick or another glucometer.

 

[agwagw]

All I want is accuracy. A lot more accuracy than I am currently paying for. Currently I am stuck between a rock and a hard place. The concept of Libre was absolutely revolutionary for me. Even with its many flaws and silly quirks I would not want to go back to pricking my fingers over 16 times per day. The thing I find though that even it's most ardent die hard advocates of which there are many, when questioned seem to have to endure some of the silly nonsense that I have to frequently go through with mine. I cling on to the hope of further developments with the next generation of flash monitor in the hope that we can all leave finger pricking behind us. For now though your own suggestion seems particularly appealing.

Gosh, I think you have been unlucky with the sensors or I have been extremely lucky. I check each new sensor readings with BG tests and they are always less then 10% out, usually a lot closer. Given a similar variability between a series of BG tests (one after the other) it is fine. The only problem I have had is once a sensor fell off overnight, leaving the adhesive patch on my arm. I wouldn't say that I am a die-hard advocate, but just have had good experiences so far (since March last year). That being said I am now touching some wood with passion!

 

[Scott-C]

@Scott-C How many times a day on average do you think you calibrate xDrip? Do you calibrate against the Freestyle Libre finger prick or another glucometer.

Evening, Joe.

I only used the inbuilt libre bg meter a few times, couldn't be bothered faffing around with the individually wrapped strips. Prefer to use my onetouch verio iq for calibrating as I've it for years now and am used to it. I found the libre bg meter tended to run a bit lower than the iq, different algos, I suppose.

I tend to calibrate about twice a day, sometimes three.

Usually in the morning when I wake, both to set it up for the day, and because (assuming my basal is set ok), I'm likely to be stable and there's a fair chance that because I've been at rest, glucose in ifg will likely be similar to glucose in blood.

Then, sometimes before evening meal, and usually before bed.

Everything I've read on it suggests it's best to calibrate when stable, because if you try to do it when sugars are moving rapidly it'll just end up confusing it. What's the point in bg testing at, say, 5.5 just after a meal, then feeding that in as a calibration, when you may well be at 8 20 mins later - the algo isn't going to know what the 5.5 refers to when getting the signal from the sensor.

I think I made the mistake of calibrating too much when I first got it, mistakenly thinking the more info I gave it the better, but that seems not to be the case. Counter-intuitively, it makes it worse. So, now I keep it down to 2 or 3 and actively avoid calibrating when on a pronounced up or down trend.

I've had a few spells where for a few days it just didn't seem to hold or learn anything from a calibration and would be well out after a few hours. I don't know why that was, maybe a dubious sensor, maybe biology, who knows. I've just learned to accept that when there's so many variables involved sometimes there'll be flyers and I just have to take the rough with the smooth.

William Lee Dubois wrote a short book, couple of quid on kindle, Beyond Fingersticks: the Art of Control with Continuous Glucose Monitoring. It's got a short but useful section on calibrating. It was written around 2009 which is like prehistory in cgm terms so some it is dated now but he still makes a lot of good points which are still valid today about what to expect, and, just as importantly, what not to expect from cgm. A useful read alongside Stephen Ponder's Sugar Surfing.

There's an amusing bit where he's looking into the future from waaaay back in 2009 and imagining the day when people will be able to see cgm on their phones!

 

[JoeT1]

Evening, Joe.

I only used the inbuilt libre bg meter a few times, couldn't be bothered faffing around with the individually wrapped strips. Prefer to use my onetouch verio iq for calibrating as I've it for years now and am used to it. I found the libre bg meter tended to run a bit lower than the iq, different algos, I suppose.

I tend to calibrate about twice a day, sometimes three.

Usually in the morning when I wake, both to set it up for the day, and because (assuming my basal is set ok), I'm likely to be stable and there's a fair chance that because I've been at rest, glucose in ifg will likely be similar to glucose in blood.

Then, sometimes before evening meal, and usually before bed.

Everything I've read on it suggests it's best to calibrate when stable, because if you try to do it when sugars are moving rapidly it'll just end up confusing it. What's the point in bg testing at, say, 5.5 just after a meal, then feeding that in as a calibration, when you may well be at 8 20 mins later - the algo isn't going to know what the 5.5 refers to when getting the signal from the sensor.

I think I made the mistake of calibrating too much when I first got it, mistakenly thinking the more info I gave it the better, but that seems not to be the case. Counter-intuitively, it makes it worse. So, now I keep it down to 2 or 3 and actively avoid calibrating when on a pronounced up or down trend.

William Lee Dubois wrote a short book, couple of quid on kindle, Beyond Fingersticks: the Art of Control with Continuous Glucose Monitoring. It's got a short but useful section on calibrating. It was written around 2009 which is like prehistory in cgm terms so some it is dated now but he still makes a lot of good points which are still valid today about what to expect, and, just as importantly, what not to expect from cgm. A useful read alongside Stephen Ponder's Sugar Surfing.

There's an amusing bit where he's looking into the future from waaaay back in 2009 and imagining the day when people will be able to see cgm on their phones!

That's sounds about right, makes sense not to be calibrating it when your levels are likely to be changing. That could very well be leading to some inaccurate readings too..

Yeah....On the Libre finger prick, I actually think it reads a little low as well. Any time I finer prick, calibrate the device, and finger prick later on it would seem it's a bit off when compared to my Glucomen LX meter. I might just continue to use that and the only reason I use the Libre is if I am on a night out, the individually wrapped strips come in handy as they can be just thrown in my pocket. I haven't found something to put the normal strips into without them becoming stained when finger pricking then.

Thanks for your help. Only through your posts have I been able to see this was possible. It helps massively with confidence of knowing where I am at and knowing there is an alarm there when needed.

 

[Scott-C]

That's sounds about right, makes sense not to be calibrating it when your levels are likely to be changing. That could very well be leading to some inaccurate readings too..

Yeah....On the Libre finger prick, I actually think it reads a little low as well. Any time I finer prick, calibrate the device, and finger prick later on it would seem it's a bit off when compared to my Glucomen LX meter. I might just continue to use that and the only reason I use the Libre is if I am on a night out, the individually wrapped strips come in handy as they can be just thrown in my pocket. I haven't found something to put the normal strips into without them becoming stained when finger pricking then.

Thanks for your help. Only through your posts have I been able to see this was possible. It helps massively with confidence of knowing where I am at and knowing there is an alarm there when needed.

Cheers, Joe, glad to have helped. Night hypo alarms are a great safety net even for old timers. I've got a night hyper alarm set too - I like to wake in range as it makes the day ahead much easier, so have it ringing me if I hit 8, take 2u or so to tweak it down again, most people will say, ooh, bolus without food in the middle of the night, dangerous. Probably true, but if I'm rising out of range, it's because there is glucose there to work on, and the hypo alert will catch me on the way down if the 2u is too much.

I vaguely recall a post by you a while back about your concerns about your first night out - good to see you're now talking about nights out, plural, and ain't sweating them much! That's progress. You're clearly getting to grips in a very methodical way with the important things in T1 life, such as going out for a few beers - this is why cgm was invented!

 

[JoeT1]

Thanks @Scott-C

Yeah, managing to get some nights out which is great. I tend to stay away from beer as such, stick with a vodka or a Jamerson, although yesterdays hangover was not something i'd like too much...! Last couple of weeks have been quite good in terms of control. The alarms help me a lot, even if at night they sometimes wake me up, only to find when I finger prick i'm mid 4's to 5's....but I'd prefer that then being woken by a hypo.

I am hoping to relax a little over the next while. I'm constantly checking numbers and almost too reactive when I see the numbers rising, before really waiting a while and seeing where I am after another while.

Tried porridge again today, not sure what happened but for my 38g worth and 4 units, I usually see a massive spike and takes ages to come back down, today it spiked 2-3mmol, then dropped like a tonne of bricks to 3.5, where I ended up taking a few jelly babies. Been a rollercoaster morning.

Trying to make sure I stop gaining weight is my next obstacle. If I could lose 4-7lbs I would probably be at my ideal weight, but am struggling with that.

 

[kks1984]

Hello,
Is it possible to use blucon (libre) + xDrip+ Honor 8+ Pebble se?

 

[Scott-C]

Hello,
Is it possible to use blucon (libre) + xDrip+ Honor 8+ Pebble se?

Hi, xDrip+ has got a screen in Settings which allows sending results to Pebble. Am not familiar with the phone you mention but it's designed to work on android phones so I imagine it will.

 

[JoeT1]

Hi, xDrip+ has got a screen in Settings which allows sending results to Pebble. Am not familiar with the phone you mention but it's designed to work on android phones so I imagine it will.

View attachment 24946

BAZINGA

 

[JoeT1]

Hey @Scott-C

Quick question. All of a sudden my Blucon has notified me that the battery is down to 3%. I will try and pick up some batteries for it today as don't want to be without it. What exact batteries are needed? Also, how long would the nighrider work when down to 3% do you know? In case it takes longer to get batteries for some reason.

 

[Scott-C]

Hey @Scott-C

Quick question. All of a sudden my Blucon has notified me that the battery is down to 3%. I will try and pick up some batteries for it today as don't want to be without it. What exact batteries are needed? Also, how long would the nighrider work when down to 3% do you know? In case it takes longer to get batteries for some reason.

The battery is a CR2032. John Lewis, Boots, Tesco, even some corner shops and newsagents do them.

I'm using an older version of xdrip from September when they were still working on the battery indicator. Mines will pop up an alert at 1% and has run for a day or so on that. I expect you might have a newer version so not sure how that'll pan out time wise but you'll likely be good till you get a replacement.

If it's the first time you've changed the battery, one thing to watch out for is that when you insert the new one, it briefly flashes red, and might assume that's it "on". But I've found sometimes that after it spends a bit of time trying to connect, it doesn't so, if that happens, I plip the on/off hole again till it flashes, then try it again. You can follow it in the Main Menu/Systems status/then slide to get Bt device screen.

PS: yeah, that "bazinga" setting was lol! I'm going to see if I can make my watch read "***!" on lows...

 

[Wannabeflatliner]

Wow!! First post here but I've been lurking for a few weeks. Amazing functionnality! I'm thinking about getting the blucon and a smartwatch to ease the management. There is one aspect of the bluecon that makes me not so sure about it tho.
It adds few centimeters to the libre sensor which is okay but how so you keep it in place?? Adding a bracelet around it? I've seen a few but they add even more buldge to the sensor!! Did you find any tricks to keep it in place and remove it quickly without adding extra centimeters to it?
Thanks for all the info!

 

[Scott-C]

Wow!! First post here but I've been lurking for a few weeks. Amazing functionnality! I'm thinking about getting the blucon and a smartwatch to ease the management. There is one aspect of the bluecon that makes me not so sure about it tho.
It adds few centimeters to the libre sensor which is okay but how so you keep it in place?? Adding a bracelet around it? I've seen a few but they add even more buldge to the sensor!! Did you find any tricks to keep it in place and remove it quickly without adding extra centimeters to it?
Thanks for all the info!

Hi, welcome to the forum!

People have come up with various ways of keeping it attached. Some do armbands, I found those to be too fiddly and didn't really secure it enough.

So, I ended up just going rough and ready by sticking it on with a Molnlycke Mepore 7 x 8 cm plaster. Don't know which part of the world you're in but in the UK, most chemists do them for about 17p. Bit of a hassle and expense changing them each time I shower, but I'm ok with that trade for the benefits of full on cgm it gives me.