Libre sensor reader

When I am having a hypo and use the reader to try to find out if I'm a little low or severely crashing, I really don't need an intermediary screen to come up telling me I'm low. I have blurry sight, numb finger tips and I'm blinking at the screen trying to figure out which bit to hit to get it to go away so I can see the important number. The screen tells me my blood glucose is low and this is dangerous. Well, gee, nobody else has ever told me that.

Yesterday I ended up throwing the da*n thing across the room and just eating until I felt better. One hour later, blood glucose of 24

OK tantrum over. Is there any way of switching these 'helpful' intermediary screens off?

sgm14 said:

Not sure if I understand you, but the Free Style libre is not accurate for very low figures and so it does not even try to show you figures below (or equal to) 2.2 and instead will show LO.

Similarly it does not show 27.8 or above and instead shows HI.

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If I got down to 2.2 I'd be unconscious, so that's that problem solved. It's more the arrow direction I want, so I can tell if I'm slowly drifting down and need a couple of biscuits, or if a hypo is incoming at high speed (arrow straight down) and I need to start knocking back the Lucozade.

In Response said:

I do not use the Libre Reader.
@Seacrow do you mean that you are using the Libre Reader as a finger prick tester with test strips to check low reading from the sensor?
I can understand how frustrating it can be when you just want the number but have another warning prior.
Does the user manual provide any way to turn this off?

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No, I have the sensor stuck in my arm, and use the sensor reader to see what my blood glucose is. No finger pricking involved. Although my doctor has asked (in a puzzled tone of voice) why I'm not using the libre to test my ketones instead of urine dip sticks. Uh, because no-one told me it was possible.

I have scanned through the user manual (all half inch thick of it) and found nothing obvious. If it's there I'm managing to miss it.

In Response said:

In which case, why are you not finger pricking to check highs and lows?
It has been written many many times on this forum and elsewhere that CGMs are calibrated fir normal levels. Highs and lows must ALWAYS be checked with finger pricks before treating. That includes testing for hypo recovery.

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I

Uhh.. Because I'd like to survive? Taking time out to find my kit, getting it set up, obtaining blood and applying it to the strip is five minutes minimum (longer if my hands are shaking) that can make the difference between taking glucose and being on the floor. Pressing a button and waving the reader near my arm is 30 seconds that tells me how urgent the problem is. Admittedly I probably shouldn't take that 30s either, but I think it's worth it to reduce the number of rebound highs.

I don't really care how low I am, once the alarm goes for low bg what I NEED to know is how fast I'm dropping. The actual number? If I need to know it later I can get it from data history. Similarly, if I'm up where the high values don't calibrate terribly well I have a given amount of insulin I take (this approach is for high insulin resistance coupled with highly variable sensitivity). Again, the actual number isn't as important.

I must admit, I hate finger pricking - it's difficult (poor circulation), it hurts (I run out of pain free sites), and I get infections fairly frequently. Twice now I've nearly lost a bit of finger from infections that just wouldn't quit. If I actually finger prick 8x per day my fingers get so painful I can't hold a pen to write. This is part of the reason I was prescribed the libre.

EllieM said:

Well, I hope he also gave you a prescription for blood ketone strips, because they are a lot more expensive than urine ones.

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One of my 'co-morbidities ' is recurrent vomiting syndrome, basically 6+hrs of vomiting and violent diarrhoea. This dehydrates me to where I can't pee. If my bg won't come down (pretty usually), at the moment it's a trip to a&e for bloods and a ketone test. It's cheaper to prescribe the strips than go through the whole ambulance, triage, tests, IV and 24hr watch in a hospital bed routine. Much preferred by me too.