Without checking back through my account, I couldn't quote how many sensors I have had replaced, but it's a proportion of them.
I obviously don't have Abbott data to look at, so any statements I make can only be my reasoning (which may be extremely flawed) or a plain old guess, so make if it what you will.
Firstly, I love the Libre. I was already in a decent place, diabetese-wise, before I started using the Libre, so it hasn't made a material difference to my control or HbA1c scores, but it has given me insights into situations I would never have appreciated without it. By that I'm thinking about delayed rises, impacts of lots of protein, the impacts of stress and/or being under the weather, and of course, what happens when we are at slumber.
However, on the downside, the sometimes frailty of the odd sensors is frustrating beyond measure. I have spent a fair amount of time preparing for and making calls to Abbott in order to give them decent, focused, accurate feedback.
I am pretty certain that my own blood profile, which runs pretty low and on very tight tracks, doesn't help with the Libre, in that a difference of 1.5 could be absolutely material and outside meter tolerances, so that will potentially be an issue in terms of ongoing use, not to mention my own acceptance of the variances. I like accurate data. Ahem.
I am also incredibly slight and have no padding whatsoever. My body fat percentages are very low, which I have asked about. Abbott tell me this is not an issue in terms of the device capabilities, and I can see that as it is approved for use for minors, they could also have little body fat present (due to their little limbs
).
I'm rather hoping that when some competition enters the market, and I can't see that being eons away, there will be some price point competition along with it, which may influence either a trimming in price or periodic offers. Whilst they have 100% of the market, there is no commercial incentive for Abbott to do that.