Made a mess of that

Seacrow

Well-Known Member
Messages
496
Type of diabetes
LADA
Changed the sensor on Saturday, seemed perfectly normal until my arm started feeling a tickling sensation. Quick look, and there's a trail of blood trickling down my arm. It's coming out of the central sensor hole. So I walked around for a bit holding my arm up (took me right back to my school days - miss, miss can I go to the loo please!).

I assumed I hit a near surface blood capillary, and tested via finger prick every couple of hours for the rest of the day. Everything appeared fine.

At least until my husband woke me up this morning to tell me the reading had been under 3 for at least 8 hours. A few seconds of extreme panic until it clicked - if this was true, I'd be unconscious. Yep, finger prick said 5.2.

Has this happened to anyone else? and is it probable that the bleeding at insertion damaged/shortened the sensor life?
 

Parky9

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
I’ve never had a problem after a bleed. Could you be laying with pressure on your sensor in bed? This causes the sensor to give a low reading. Has it been ok today?
 
  • Like
Reactions: EllieM

HSSS

Expert
Messages
7,473
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Changed the sensor on Saturday, seemed perfectly normal until my arm started feeling a tickling sensation. Quick look, and there's a trail of blood trickling down my arm. It's coming out of the central sensor hole. So I walked around for a bit holding my arm up (took me right back to my school days - miss, miss can I go to the loo please!).

I assumed I hit a near surface blood capillary, and tested via finger prick every couple of hours for the rest of the day. Everything appeared fine.

At least until my husband woke me up this morning to tell me the reading had been under 3 for at least 8 hours. A few seconds of extreme panic until it clicked - if this was true, I'd be unconscious. Yep, finger prick said 5.2.

Has this happened to anyone else? and is it probable that the bleeding at insertion damaged/shortened the sensor life?
I’ve only ever used one sensor and had the same bleed happen to me. It did seem to last the full 14 days but can’t say my experience was accurate to my meter
 

Seacrow

Well-Known Member
Messages
496
Type of diabetes
LADA
I’ve never had a problem after a bleed. Could you be laying with pressure on your sensor in bed? This causes the sensor to give a low reading. Has it been ok today?
No, I gave it another couple of hours and it quit altogether. Oh well.
 

Robbity

Expert
Messages
6,686
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Definitely contact Abbott if the sensor's failed.

No bleeds but when I started using the Libre I soon found that I needed an extra long (up to 48 hours) acclimatization period after insertion, otherwise I got some very low erroneous overnight levels. As a T2 I knew I don't go that low, but it give me a bit of a scare when it first happened...

sensor_immediate_activation_levels.png


I do tend to sleep on sensor arm, but it was just the initial 2 days that I saw these lows.