Libre v Finger Prick

[StuartMcc]

Good evening, I got an alarm from my Libre2 to say my sugars were down to 2.9, did a finger prick test and it was 4.6, what one is the most accurate?

Thanks Stuart

 

[Antje77]

I always believe a fingerprick over my Libre, but when in doubt I wash hands and retest.
Some residual food on the fingers can easily give a false test result.

Your profile doesn't say what type of diabetes you have or what medication you are on.
Are you on medication that can cause hypos like gliclazide or insulin?

 

[StuartMcc]

Type 2
I take NovoRapid three times a day immediately before a meal
and 1000mg Metformin AM and PM

 

[Tony337]

Hi @StuartMcc
Type 1 for 50 years.
Finger pricking testing is more accurate than a CGM.
Take it a stage further and your alarm goes off in the middle of the night.
Try and recognize how you feel and what i mean is i wouldn't know if i was 4.6 but i would know if i was 2.9.
Because of my age we had no tech to help us in the 1970s and had to rely on recognizing the signs of a low blood sugar.
Heaven forbid if all tech went down i'd be fine but many wouldn't.

I do not want to go back to the dark old days and please don't think i'm being smug either but do feel i appreciate the new tech more.
I found out recently i don't qualify for a pump as my control is too good!!!
Talk about a back handed compliment.

I wish you well.

Tony

 

[gb350]

Hi @StuartMcc ,
Type 1 for 47 years now and agree with @Tony337 .
Finger prick wins for accuracy every time. I'm currently in a dialogue with Abbott regarding the hugely inaccurate readings I've had from my last 3 Libre 2 + sensors.
Similar to yourself this morning after breakfast, my Libre was showing 2.9 with the trend arrow pointing straight down.
Contour next finger prick showed 4.3.
When I woke at 6.25am today my Libre reading was 6.5. After 47 years you kind of know when something doesn't feel right so I checked it with my contour meter which showed 13.3.
Yesterday morning something woke me up at around 00.15am and I glanced at my Libre, which had me again at 2.9 with the arrow trending straight down. My contour meter said 8.0.
I've been using Libre for a few years now. Not without niggles, but nowhere near as bad as the last few days.
Abbott proudly declare that their Libre sensors operate at 99.9% within zones A + B of the Consensus error grid.
Something which I looked into yesterday. Maybe I'm the 0.01%?
I've taken screenshots of all of the previously mentioned discrepancies which I plan to discuss with my consultant next week at our annual appointment.

 

[Tony337]

I've been using Libre for a few years now. Not without niggles, but nowhere near as bad as the last few days.
Abbott proudly declare that their Libre sensors operate at 99.9% within zones A + B of the Consensus error grid.
Something which I looked into yesterday. Maybe I'm the 0.01%?

@gb350 I have had more issues this year than the prevous years put together.
My TIR shows me 16% in the red which is nonsense.
Many sensors have been 2 mmol out so rather that pop a new one on and report it i can operate with a difference of 2mmol to save me aggravation.
I've switched off my loss of signal as that alarm going off at 2 am is not great and again after 50 years of not being hospitalized i can do this.
What is really aggravating when i got my first sensor i added a miaow miaow and ran it on xdrip where you can calibrate it and the alarm would keep going until my levels rose above 3.2....this was years ago and current libre tech can't do it.

I feel your pain.

Warmest regards

Tony

 

[urbanracer]

Hi @StuartMcc ,
Type 1 for 47 years now and agree with @Tony337 .
Finger prick wins for accuracy every time. I'm currently in a dialogue with Abbott regarding the hugely inaccurate readings I've had from my last 3 Libre 2 + sensors.
Similar to yourself this morning after breakfast, my Libre was showing 2.9 with the trend arrow pointing straight down.
Contour next finger prick showed 4.3.
When I woke at 6.25am today my Libre reading was 6.5. After 47 years you kind of know when something doesn't feel right so I checked it with my contour meter which showed 13.3.
Yesterday morning something woke me up at around 00.15am and I glanced at my Libre, which had me again at 2.9 with the arrow trending straight down. My contour meter said 8.0.
I've been using Libre for a few years now. Not without niggles, but nowhere near as bad as the last few days.
Abbott proudly declare that their Libre sensors operate at 99.9% within zones A + B of the Consensus error grid.
Something which I looked into yesterday. Maybe I'm the 0.01%?
I've taken screenshots of all of the previously mentioned discrepancies which I plan to discuss with my consultant next week at our annual appointment.

I know we are all different and what works for me might not work for you etc.
And I'm not here to brag or anything, but I have recently been switched to Dexcom One+ and frankly I am amazed at how closely it aligns with finger prick tests. Occasionally it gives the same reading, frequently it is within 0.1/0.2 mmol.
The only time I get larger discrepancies is when my levels are rising or falling quickly - which I guess is to be expected.
And no early failures yet either.

 

[gb350]

Just a quick update to this thread;
Abbott failed to come back to me as they had promised, although they happily sent me 4 x replacement libre 2 + sensors.
My consultant was sympathetic to the issues I was having with them and furnished me with 2 x Dexcom one + sensors to try out. I have had the Dexcom on for a week now and am not overly impressed with it. Last night it recorded my blood glucose as being below target range from 10pm to around 8am this morning. I glanced at it at 3.19am after waking unexpectedly to see a reading of 3.2mmol/l. A subsequent finger prick showed me at 6.2mmol/l.
I got up at 6.55 am where Dexcom showed me at 3.7mmol/l. My Contour Next finger prick had me at 5.5mmol/l.
The Dexcom one + consistently shows me at around 2.0mmol/l below my finger prick readings.
Fed up with this, I did what my consultant said not to do and applied a new Libre sensor to my other arm at about 9.15am this morning.
The interface on the Libre app is massively superior to the Dexcom, but quite frankly the results are equally inaccurate in my experience. The graph lines on Dexcom appear much smoother and steadier, probably to do with the fact it takes readings less often than the Libre, which is the world's worst rollercoaster, for me at least.
My Contour Next shows I had a really decent night.
Unfortunately Dexcom disagrees.
My TIR is probably at around 90%, but Dexcom this morning had me at about 60%.
Libre had me at 20% below range within a few hours of activating the new sensor.
Both of these figures are absolute rubbish in real terms, but this is how my diabetic control is now measured in their world of data.
If they are going to impose recommended percentages to be either above , below or in range, then they need to improve the tech significantly or just forget it.
As @Tony337 made the point earlier, it's almost as if we are being de-skilled in respect of our own feelings and being taught to rely on sketchy numbers.
Or maybe it's just me ?

 

[helenb1979]

Reading this thread I think I will stay with finger pricking

 

[gb350]

Just a quick update to this thread;
Abbott failed to come back to me as they had promised, although they happily sent me 4 x replacement libre 2 + sensors.
My consultant was sympathetic to the issues I was having with them and furnished me with 2 x Dexcom one + sensors to try out. I have had the Dexcom on for a week now and am not overly impressed with it. Last night it recorded my blood glucose as being below target range from 10pm to around 8am this morning. I glanced at it at 3.19am after waking unexpectedly to see a reading of 3.2mmol/l. A subsequent finger prick showed me at 6.2mmol/l.
I got up at 6.55 am where Dexcom showed me at 3.7mmol/l. My Contour Next finger prick had me at 5.5mmol/l.
The Dexcom one + consistently shows me at around 2.0mmol/l below my finger prick readings.
Fed up with this, I did what my consultant said not to do and applied a new Libre sensor to my other arm at about 9.15am this morning.
The interface on the Libre app is massively superior to the Dexcom, but quite frankly the results are equally inaccurate in my experience. The graph lines on Dexcom appear much smoother and steadier, probably to do with the fact it takes readings less often than the Libre, which is the world's worst rollercoaster, for me at least.
My Contour Next shows I had a really decent night.
Unfortunately Dexcom disagrees.
My TIR is probably at around 90%, but Dexcom this morning had me at about 60%.
Libre had me at 20% below range within a few hours of activating the new sensor.
Both of these figures are absolute rubbish in real terms, but this is how my diabetic control is now measured in their world of data.
If they are going to impose recommended percentages to be either above , below or in range, then they need to improve the tech significantly or just forget it.
As @Tony337 made the point earlier, it's almost as if we are being de-skilled in respect of our own feelings and being taught to rely on sketchy numbers.
Or maybe it's just me ?



View attachment 75894View attachment 75895View attachment 75896View attachment 75897View attachment 75898View attachment 75899View attachment 75900View attachment 75901

I thought I'd return to this thread after received my latest Hba1c result today.
Sadly things have not improved.
I'm still in contact with Abbott regularly, and sending back sensors to them frequently due to their innacuracy.
My Hba1c results prior to Libre were usually around 47. They crept up to 49 with the original Libre 2.
Since starting on the Libre 2+ they have accelerated into the mid to high 50's.
At no point have my numbers on Libre gone over 43.
Todays Hba1c was 57, Libre currently has me at 41.
The ever present 2 point difference between the sensor and the finger prick remains, and is confirmed by the blood tests.
Libre shows an average blood sugar of 6.2 when in reality it's actually nearer to 9.
Theoretically if I ran my levels between 3 and 5 mmol/L on Libre it would equate to 5 to 7 mmol/L in real life.
I could run my sugars 100% below range on Libre and they would be perfect.
Psychologically detaching yourself from the false red graphics is not easy.
It shouldn't be like this.
Abbott have informed me that the Libre 3+ is now available on prescription in the uk.
Whether it's any better remains to be seen ?
I requested it from my GP who said I needed to speak to my hospital diabetes team.
I rang every number for Bournemouth's Diabetes and Endocrine centre this afternoon.
Not 1 single person would pick up their phone.
Sad state of affairs.

 

[blackboxes]

Good evening, I got an alarm from my Libre2 to say my sugars were down to 2.9, did a finger prick test and it was 4.6, what one is the most accurate?

Thanks Stuart

My pharmacy said to trust the finger pick test over the libre test results.

 

[Antje77]

Theoretically if I ran my levels between 3 and 5 mmol/L on Libre it would equate to 5 to 7 mmol/L in real life.
I could run my sugars 100% below range on Libre and they would be perfect.
Psychologically detaching yourself from the false red graphics is not easy.
It shouldn't be like this.

There are various 3rd party apps which allow you to calibrate so you won't see numbers in the red all the time.
I've been using one for years, takes my TIR from low 80's to upper 90's, and way fewer unnecessary alarms.