Really Inaccurate Libre Readings

Libre1 or Libre 2 ?

KenJasim said:

Hello! Hope everyone is well and staying safe! Im an 21-year-old type 1 diabetic who has been a diabetic for most of his life. I was recently put on the freestyle libre (about 6 months ago) and while overall it has been a very positive experience, recently my experience has been much worse.

I have been 7/8 days into a sensor when suddenly the readings get very inaccurate. Like im talking 3.8 mmol/l when my blood sugar is 11 and more worryingly getting 7s when my blood sugar is actually in the high teens. This remains consistent until I take a sensor off and restart with a new one. The new sensor seems to repeat the same pattern.

I do not understand what may cause the issue, when I call freestyle support they just send me a new one but I still get the same issue. It works pretty well for quite a few days and then stops giving proper readings. If anyone is having the same issue or knows Where I can go to get more support, that would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

Hi @KenJasim ,

Making sure you are adequately hydrated helps with consistency wearing a sensor.

What set up are you using to scan is this with the Abbott reader or your phone?
I used an app that could be calibrated to the meter in the scanning days. (Use a Bluetooth bridge tranmitter now.)
What I did notice when the Libre after its end of life. (14 days) It would repeat the last lot of data from the final 8 hour period?
Yep, I've played about with expired sensors still attached. So, after it expired & I scanned using Glimp app, say I scanned every hour. It would repeat the graph, every two hours, the same bridging the linear time slot? & so on...(up to 8 hours caught in a loop.)

Are you suggesting your sensors only last for 7to8 days?

KenJasim said:

I've heard about getting hydrated, ill try that although id say I drink a litre of water a day through different sources such as tea and coffee etc

Im on IOS so im just using the normal LibreLink. Ill have a look and see if there are any different apps for that. Also thats really interesting about the repetition ill see if i can comandeer an android to have a look at that

Not really, they still scan but become wildly inaccurate, like sometimes 10mmol/l off. Its odd as it happens always 7/8 days after its weird

Thanks for your response

Click to expand...

If you can find an app like "Glimp" or "xDrip," which are free (& add free.) that can be calibrated to your meter. It may resolve your issues?

I normally check for calibration once a day. Although I still fingerprick checking anything that may not seem right.
On. avarage I settle for within 0.6Mmol with the meter using xDrip. However the Bluetooth bridge sends readings every 5minutes to my device. So I check with the meter reading what was sent 15/20 minutes ago. Due to a bit of lagg.?
It tends not to be far out..
Hypos with the libre are slower to respond when comming up. The meter tends to represent my true state as I'm back up in the "zone."

Hope all this stuff helps.

KenJasim said:

Im on IOS so im just using the normal LibreLink. Ill have a look and see if there are any different apps for that.

Click to expand...

You could have a look here if you are using IOS..? Looks like a tidy app. (though i've had no experience with this one..)
https://spike-app.com/#

Just jumping on to ask for any recommendations for Android apps that work with libre?
Thanks x

lmsk said:

Just jumping on to ask for any recommendations for Android apps that work with libre?
Thanks x

Click to expand...

Hi,

If you are a scanner.? Glimp can be found at the android app store for free.
If you use a Miaomiao Bluetooth CGM bridge.? I found XDrip was a more stable app to deal with that..? But you need the latest version from the "GitHub" site..

(Edit to add.) Both good apps on my old phone. But when you scan, you may get asked to chose Librelink or Glimp? If you open glimp first, this will not get this hold up happen.

Hope this helps.

Jaylee said:

Hi,

If you are a scanner.? Glimp can be found at the android app store for free.
If you use a Miaomiao Bluetooth CGM bridge.? I found XDrip was a more stable app to deal with that..? But you need the latest version from the "GitHub" site..

(Edit to add.) Both good apps on my old phone. But when you scan, you may get asked to chose Librelink or Glimp? If you open glimp first, this will not get this hold up happen.

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Thanks I will check it out! No miaomiao unfortunately as I can't really afford it at the moment tho....
X

KenJasim said:

Hello! Hope everyone is well and staying safe! Im an 21-year-old type 1 diabetic who has been a diabetic for most of his life. I was recently put on the freestyle libre (about 6 months ago) and while overall it has been a very positive experience, recently my experience has been much worse.

I have been 7/8 days into a sensor when suddenly the readings get very inaccurate. Like im talking 3.8 mmol/l when my blood sugar is 11 and more worryingly getting 7s when my blood sugar is actually in the high teens. This remains consistent until I take a sensor off and restart with a new one. The new sensor seems to repeat the same pattern.

I do not understand what may cause the issue, when I call freestyle support they just send me a new one but I still get the same issue. It works pretty well for quite a few days and then stops giving proper readings. If anyone is having the same issue or knows Where I can go to get more support, that would be much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

If it is consistent then this might point to an unusual skin chemistry.
Something interacting with the chemicals in the Libre to reduce the effective life.

I know my Libre usage has shown less accuracy towards the end of the period, but not as bad as yours.

Interested to see the suggestion that something like Glimp can be calibrated more than once during use.
I wonder how frequently this might be needed - if your sensor is wildly inaccurate after the first week it may not be consistent enough for re-calibration to give you reliability.

I've just started with the Libre system - I'm about 9 weeks in and I'm having a big accuracy problems which is now making me doubt the system.
The two sensors that came with the starter pack seemed to perform well. I never had any basis to doubt the readings as I was on a bit of a roller coaster. The daily graph looked more like the "Pepsi Max" ride at Blackpool than anything sensible.
I got a grip on my carb intake, shed a lot of weight, run 20K a week and the graphs look more acceptable. The Estimated A1C is down to 6.3% ("yipee") and I'm about 90% in range (4.0-7.0) for most days.

However, I'm now doubting the accuracy of the sensors due to repeated low readings - all reported to Abbott and I'm now on my fifth replacement sensor.

One sensor has been a failure out of the box, but the other 4 have the same failure characteristics.

I eat my evening meal, I get a corresponding rise in BG; it peaks then proceeds downwards and gets in to the 3.0 range.
I'm type 2 and I take no meds to push it that low, but down it goes.

I then do a finger prick test with the Optimum meter and it is normally a lot higher; by way of example, I crashed down to 3.1 but the Optimum was showing 5.0. If I get into the low 4's I feel it, so a) I know I'm not 3.1 and b) 5.0 sounds about right.

It then follows that I did 15 minute interval tests of the Libre compared to the Optimum allowing for the delay in Libre results. They are always at least 1.x lower on the Libre when it goes into the fault condition.

I left it over night; it seemed to recover, but when I did a comparison in the morning I was 6.5 on the Optimum and 4.7 on the Libre - again allowing for the result lag.

Phone call to Abbott; they are sending me a replacement which is good of them considering I'm self-funding.

However, my key issue is that I now doubt the accuracy of any of the readings and I'm loosing confidence in the system.

I really want it to work, as you can see from my opening paragraphs, it has been revolutionary for me.

I had a talk with the Abbott chap and again, he re-assured me there is nothing I can do with would affect the results and it was the sensor that was the issue.

He suggested speaking to the Diabetic Clinic, however I need a GP referral and that is not going to happen. He suggested I speak to the GP, but given GP's are overloaded, I expect to be turned away as the Libre is not something he has prescribed - so not his problem as such.

So, here I am reaching out to the community for their experiences or those little gems of knowledge that people discover along the way.

I usually get a Libre reading low.
My current one seems scarily accurate.

Low reading ones vary from 1 to 1.5 low but as I am tracking trends I can normally cope with this.
Just have to keep reminding myself that my numbers are not that good.