Libre Sensor 2 issue

[diabetic-peach]

I've just received my last two sensors from my chemist and believe they have been acting up.
However, this has also happened with previous sensors before, a handful of times.

This has happened with both sensors I have recently received and put on:
I get an alarm to say my blood glucose is 3.1 with an arrow pointing directly down.
I go to check it 5 minutes later, without having taking anything to correct my sugars, and it says it is now 6.1 and the 3.1 reading is nowhere to be seen on my app.

I then get another alarm 30mins later doing the exact same thing. It's a recurring thing.

This happened twice now with two different sensors(and sensors in the past too)The first sensor, after only wearing it for 3 days, ended up telling me to replace it as it is not working.
I didn't knock it or cause it to stop working in any way.

Do I have a faulty batch?

Edit: I've also noticed my libre sensors have a habit of constantly only saying low readings of "3.9 and 2.9". It never shows me any other low readings.

 

[becca59]

What do you have your low sensor alarm set to? It will ring once as it hits the number. It will the only ring again if your levels drift up a little then go back down. If it rings when lower it’s because your levels are dropping too quickly for it to react. It does also adjust and will not necessarily stay low. That’s why it doesn’t how up. Also why we shouldn’t react to quickly when alarms ring.

 

[MuttNJeff]

In my opinion, the alarms for below level are unreliable. I've had the level set to 4.5 while I was sleeping, got woken by levels of 3.7 or below. On other nights, with the same sensor, it worked correctly at a reported 4.4. And, of course, a reading below 4 is often an under-estimate.

But having woken up, I want to try to fix the issue quickly and get back to sleep - often, fat chance of that waiting for the predicted level to rise and watching it fall for maybe ten minutes after eating dextrose.

 

[barrym]

In Abbot's defence (and I'm struggling with that concept already) I think the real time numbers are probably similar to what your blood is doing. And to make sense of it the program smooths the curves. I have had highs and lows that 30 mins later don't show on the graph. It's an imperfect science but for the moment it's as good as it gets. The lesson is not to be to impetuous, but to use the alarm, or casual glance, as the start of the decision process and wait to see how it pans out.

Just my 2p worth. YMMV.

 

[LittleGreyCat]

As always, cross check with a finger prick.
My latest sensor is reading three whole units low!
3.7 Libre, 6.7 finger prick.

 

[MuttNJeff]

Thanks to barrym and LittleGreyCat for those responses. It is indeed "early days" for this sort of technology, I guess I just feel misled by the frequent TV adverts on channels I watch saying how easy (and by implication, reliable) it is and I do start to wonder about the reliability of the trials.

But 'full disclosure', I'm inclined to mistrust Abbot as a company - had an Abbott meter and test strips some years ago, worked ok for a while, then with most of a new batch of test strips I could only get a reading on about 1 in 3 of them. Changed to a British meter I was able to purchase in a local pharmacy, Couldn't be doing with fluctuating quality control, got my prescription changed.