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Info on libre sensor/libreview please

M

Mariatlc

Newbie
Messages
3
Hi Everyone, I am a newbie here. My son was diagnosed 3 weeks ago with type 1 and received his freestyle libre sensor on Wednesday. Put it on him and his iphone X with IOS 14.4.2 wouldn’t scan the sensor.


Abbot are sending out a new one. But then I tried the reader and the reader scanned the sensor. We have now been using this.


I have been able to upload the info from the reader to libreview.


The hospital has been able to connect to libreview.


I have googled until I can’t read anymore about why the phone would not connect and I have tried everything that has been suggested, but it still doesn’t scan it. I hope that it is just a fault to the sensor and it will all be ok when we get a new one.


BUT I have some questions that I would really appreciate help with, if anyone has experienced these things:


1. When his phone can scan using his libre app, as long as I am connected to him, all of the info will be sent direct to my librelink up app?

2. When we can use his app, any low alarms will also come direct to my app so if he sleeps through something in the night, I will be alerted?

3. I am uploading the info from the reader to libreview, but there doesn’t seem to be a way for me to send that info to his phone app/my link up app. Am I doing something wrong or can you only upload to libreview and not download? Does the link in app only connect and talk to his app and doesn’t talk to libreview?



I have messaged support but they can take 48 hours to reply and I thought I would give you a try in case you had a nugget of advice for me.


TIA


Maria
 

Hi

I have just tried the Libre 2, thought it was excellent. I found it more accurate than the original Libre and I loved the alarms. I am not an expert but my nurse told me if the reader scans the sensor first then you will most likely have trouble using your phone. Make sure the reader is off and scan with your phone first, then scan with the reader to use both. I have not tried connecting 2 phones for the alarms but I am sure someone on here will have tried that. Good luck
 
Last edited by a moderator:

I wish my 9 yr old would wear the libre2 she’s so against it for some reason and won’t listen
 
Hi, and welcome! I realise I've written a long post - sorry if this is information overload! I hope it makes sense, feel free to let me know if it doesn't!

Which libre sensor have you got? With the Libre 1, the Link Up app only showed the readings from when I had scanned (not the trend line inbetween scans like you get on the Libre Link app), and didn't show any of the notes I'd added (I use it to log insulin taken, carbs injested and exercise. It only syncs when both the main phone and phone with the Link Up app on have a wifi/data connections. This might be a consideration when travelling for example. I haven't tried Link Up app with Libre 2 yet.

I believe the alarms on Libre 2 will only work with one device. So for example if he starts his sensor with his reader, the alarms will only sound on his reader. I don't think the Link Up app has the capacity for alarms.

Libre View can only receive data, so you can't transfer the history from the reader to the Link app. You also can't get the history on a new phone app (if you change phones or deinstall then reinstall the Link app for whatever reason). I'm pretty sure Libre Link Up then has access to the scanned results via Libre View, which is why it didn't update when I tried it out and about without my data on.

You might want to research third party apps like Diabox or xDrip to see if they would give you alarms on 'follower' mode. I don't have any experience of this but hopefully others might. Abbott doesn't like the third party apps and has threatened to limit accounts it can prove are using it, but you'll be fine if you don't tell Abbott you're using any! I use a combination of Libre Link (so my values get synced to Libre View for my clinic, which is a condition of having the sensors on prescription) and Diabox for alarms as I prefer their alarm option. I found Diabox also let me sync with the Libre 2 sensor every minute, showing my current values without any scanning (basically like a CGM). The official app doesn't allow this. Some then also have their readings showing on their smartwatch (haven't tried as I don't own one). I don't think alarms are possible on the smartwatch, but this might be a way of seeing values if you're within range of the 'master' phone.

Failing that, if alarms overnight are really important, I wonder how old your son is, and whether he would be happy to leave his phone/reader eg by his bedroom door so alarms are more likely to be heard by you? Perhaps on a hard surface so vibrations are also heard? The phone and sensor shouldn't be too far away so that the signal isn't lost.

Hope some of this helps, sorry for the very long post!
 


He has the libre 2 sensor. I was under the impression that alarms would only work on the device that scanned first, but I am sure in all my googling I found someone, somewhere that said that the link up app would mirror the alarms from the libre app.


I will have a look at those other apps you mention, thank you.


My lad is 16 and is working with me. He would be open to leaving the sensor nearer the door through the night, but I think he likes it close so he doesn’t have to move too far to scan himself if it goes off.


But last night we had his first hypo and I over corrected it. Spiked up to 16 through the night and I’ve just uploaded figures now and it looks like he scanned himself 3 times during the night. At least this means the alarm did wake him, so maybe I can stop worrying too much about needing to hear the alarm myself.


I had allowed him a dominos pizza cos he had been so good all week. I’d figured out how much insulin he would need and within 2 hours of eating he was back to what he was before eating. I smugly patted myself on the back.


Then …


An hour later we started getting readings under 5 so I told him to have a >15g snack. He did this.


2 hours after this, just before he was going to sleep he was low 4’s and very quickly went to 3.6. I don’t know why he had this 2nd dip.


He had 4 glucose tabs and a sandwich with 2 slices of brown bread and a glass of semi skimmed milk. 15 mins later he was 7.4 and I went to sleep. Looking at his graph this morn, he spiked at 16 at 0400 and even now at 0900 he is 11.2.


I assume his lantus taken at 2200 took a while to kick in? And I was a bit heavy with over correcting?
 
Hi again, hmm... There are a few reasons why that might have happened... had his levels been steady before the pizza? Could he already have been dropping from eg exercise or a previous bolus (novorapid can have an effect up to 5hrs later). So you might have had the correct ratio for the pizza but he was already dropping.

If he is recently diagnosed then he may well still produce some of his own insulin too. His body is trying to be helpful but unfortunately it doesn't help much as you can't predict when insulin might be secreted.

The pizza being quite a complex meal in nature can take a while to be metabolised many find they need to split their bolus dose so avoid hypoing before the whole pizza has been digested. This happens with foods with higher fat content in particular, as it slows down how quickly the glucose hits the bloodstream. You might also find this useful if you eat slowly.

The least useful suggestion (which I've never been able to understand) might be that he is more sensitive to larger doses. I weirdly find this, I barely eat meals with more than 50g carbs in them, but when I do go over that I find I need to amend my insulin:carb ratio and have less insulin. I don't understand it myself, but use the libre to help prevent staying hyper too long. On that note, I'll then try not to have very carby meals too late before bed, so I know my bloods have stabilised. As a rule I'll always prefer to stay a bit higher rather than risk a hypo.

Hope that helps a little.
 
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