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FREESTYLE LIBRE 2 AND FINGER PRICKING

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This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
mum2westiesGill

mum2westiesGill

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Can you use the freestyle libre 2 and give up finger pricking completely?
 
Hi, I still finger prick when the libre says I'm low to double check
and also for a couple of days after putting on a new sensor.
For example the libre said I was 3.8 yesterday but my finger prick said I was 5.1 so sometimes the libre can be quite a bit out,
that's why I still check.
 
ClaireT said:
Hi, I still finger prick when the libre says I'm low to double check
and also for a couple of days after putting on a new sensor.
For example the libre said I was 3.8 yesterday but my finger prick said I was 5.1 so sometimes the libre can be quite a bit out,
that's why I still check.
Click to expand...

Hi @ClaireT if your libre says you are low but your finger prick says otherwise do you go with the libre or the finger prick?
Why do you finger prick for a couple of days after putting a new sensor on and which one do you then go for for bolusing?
 
I still have the original Libre 1 but I can't see how Libre 2 would make any difference in dealing with the circumstances I found myself in yesterday.....
I came out of the supermarket and checked my levels before driving home and Libre said 3.3 which would strand me in a hot car in the car park for at least an hour with my shopping. Libre invariably reads lower at low levels so I checked with my BG meter and my finger prick showed 4.3, so I ate some carbs and was able to drive.

There will always be occasions when the odd finger prick is necessary but most days I can get away without needing any. You do need to learn to understand and interpret the information the Libre gives you though.
 
If I started using my freestyle libre 2 again and for bolusing I would expect after the 60 minutes start up to start using it straight away for bolusing - would it be safe to do this?
 
rebrascora said:
I still have the original Libre 1 but I can't see how Libre 2 would make any difference in dealing with the circumstances I found myself in yesterday.....
I came out of the supermarket and checked my levels before driving home and Libre said 3.3 which would strand me in a hot car in the car park for at least an hour with my shopping. Libre invariably reads lower at low levels so I checked with my BG meter and my finger prick showed 4.3, so I ate some carbs and was able to drive.

There will always be occasions when the odd finger prick is necessary but most days I can get away without needing any. You do need to learn to understand and interpret the information the Libre gives you though.
Click to expand...

So as well as finger pricking when the libre says you are low what would be the occasions when you would do the odd finger prick?
 
mum2westiesGill said:
Hi @ClaireT if your libre says you are low but your finger prick says otherwise do you go with the libre or the finger prick?
Why do you finger prick for a couple of days after putting a new sensor on and which one do you then go for for bolusing?
Click to expand...
The finger prick is still the most accurate as it reads blood glucose whereas Libre reads interstitial fluid and then has a computer program adjustment to try to convert it. It is sometimes as much as 1-2mmols out at low and high levels which is why it is important to double check if it says you are too high or too low.
Finger pricking a few times in the first few days will give you an idea of how that sensor is comparing with actual BG readings, so you learn to mentally compensate for that when you look at the readings it gives you..... So yesterday in the car park, I know that my Libre reads about 1mmol lower than my BG at low levels, so I quickly checked my BG with a finger prick and sure enough I was still above 4 and able to eat some carbs and drive without getting stranded in the supermarket car park. If my finger prick had showed a 3.9 I would have been stuck and I would accept that. I didn't feel hypo and thankfully I wasn't.
 
rebrascora said:
The finger prick is still the most accurate as it reads blood glucose whereas Libre reads interstitial fluid and then has a computer program adjustment to try to convert it. It is sometimes as much as 1-2mmols out at low and high levels which is why it is important to double check if it says you are too high or too low.
Finger pricking a few times in the first few days will give you an idea of how that sensor is comparing with actual BG readings, so you learn to mentally compensate for that when you look at the readings it gives you..... So yesterday in the car park, I know that my Libre reads about 1mmol lower than my BG at low levels, so I quickly checked my BG with a finger prick and sure enough I was still above 4 and able to eat some carbs and drive without getting stranded in the supermarket car park. If my finger prick had showed a 3.9 I would have been stuck and I would accept that. I didn't feel hypo and thankfully I wasn't.
Click to expand...

"The finger prick is still the most accurate as it reads blood glucose" which at the moment is why I've gone back to finger pricking 🙂
 
mum2westiesGill said:
If I started using my freestyle libre 2 again and for bolusing I would expect after the 60 minutes start up to start using it straight away for bolusing - would it be safe to do this?
Click to expand...
You really need to do the training first before you start relying on it for bolusing. Personally I don't think you are fully understanding the information your BG meter is giving you, particularly when you are testing 2 hours after food, so I really think the Libre is going to cause you more confusion as you will likely see your BG regularly going up into the teens and perhaps be wanting to do corrections when they would not be appropriate.
For instance, when you are testing your BG on an evening 2 hours after food, you are not taking into consideration that there is still food in your system digesting and releasing carbs. Last night for instance, you had a curry and 2 hours later you ate 2 packets of crisps because your levels were in the 4s or 5s, but that curry was still releasing carbs into your system. An hour later you ate some more carbs before bed because your levels were not as high as the nurse suggested for you to go to bed, so you ate more carbs. Then after you go to bed, all those carbs from the curry and crisps etc release their glucose and you wake up with a reading of 13. If you hadn't eaten the crisps and whatever else it was you had at bedtime, you probably would have woken up nicely in range.
 
I would go with the finger prick,
I finger prick for a day or two after a new sensor purely for my own peace of mind, to make sure the libre and finger prick are close enough.
 
I think you are wise just to stick to the finger pricking because Libre needs you to interpret and adapt the information it gives you and I don't think that is your forte. That is not a criticism of you, it's just simply that some people are better at some things than others.... in the same way as I am very practical but not arty at all. I understand the numbers and what they mean and how to interpret them. I am sure there are lots of things that you are good at that I couldn't do, but I think the Libre is going to cause you more confusion than benefit and sticking with finger pricking is what you know and works for you and enables you to manage your diabetes as effectively as you can.
 
rebrascora said:
You really need to do the training first before you start relying on it for bolusing. Personally I don't think you are fully understanding the information your BG meter is giving you, particularly when you are testing 2 hours after food, so I really think the Libre is going to cause you more confusion as you will likely see your BG regularly going up into the teens and perhaps be wanting to do corrections when they would not be appropriate.
For instance, when you are testing your BG on an evening 2 hours after food, you are not taking into consideration that there is still food in your system digesting and releasing carbs. Last night for instance, you had a curry and 2 hours later you ate 2 packets of crisps because your levels were in the 4s or 5s, but that curry was still releasing carbs into your system. An hour later you ate some more carbs before bed because your levels were not as high as the nurse suggested for you to go to bed, so you ate more carbs. Then after you go to bed, all those carbs from the curry and crisps etc release their glucose and you wake up with a reading of 13. If you hadn't eaten the crisps and whatever else it was you had at bedtime, you probably would have woken up nicely in range.
Click to expand...

@rebrascora
Thank you for your reply. When you say about testing 2 hours after food and food is still digesting do you think I should stop doing the 2 hour tests?
If I hadn't of done the 2 hour test after my curry then there would have been no need to eat the 2 packets of crisps and my level at bedtime might have been different.
 
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rebrascora said:
I think you are wise just to stick to the finger pricking because Libre needs you to interpret and adapt the information it gives you and I don't think that is your forte. That is not a criticism of you, it's just simply that some people are better at some things than others.... in the same way as I am very practical but not arty at all. I understand the numbers and what they mean and how to interpret them. I am sure there are lots of things that you are good at that I couldn't do, but I think the Libre is going to cause you more confusion than benefit and sticking with finger pricking is what you know and works for you and enables you to manage your diabetes as effectively as you can.
Click to expand...

@rebrascora thanks for this reply
 
mum2westiesGill said:
Thank you for your reply. When you say about testing 2 hours after food and food is still digesting do you think I should stop doing the 2 hour tests?
If I hadn't of done the 2 hour test after my curry then there would have been no need to eat the 2 packets of crisps and my level at bedtime might have been different.
Click to expand...
Yes, I think the 2 hour test is confusing you and you might be best not doing it. The bedtime test is still important though and obviously if you felt wobbly at the 2 hour point then it would be important to still test, but I don't think routinely testing at 2 hours after food is helping you and may even be detrimental as it was last night. As you say, you wouldn't have eaten those 2 packets of crisps if you hadn't tested then and your levels this morning would have been a lot better.
 
rebrascora said:
Yes, I think the 2 hour test is confusing you and you might be best not doing it. The bedtime test is still important though and obviously if you felt wobbly at the 2 hour point then it would be important to still test, but I don't think routinely testing at 2 hours after food is helping you and may even be detrimental as it was last night. As you say, you wouldn't have eaten those 2 packets of crisps if you hadn't tested then and your levels this morning would have been a lot better.
Click to expand...

Thank you - for the time being I will put an end to the 2 hour after meal test and just do
- waking
- before meals
- before bed
At the moment I only know I'm hypo when I come to do a test but I don't really want to purposely start trying to run bgs higher
 
I always wait the hour and then start using the sensor. The Libre 2 is distinctly more accurate for me at lower levels, because I've checked it. I haven't noticed any great difference across the scale, either. Certainly no more than you would find between two finger prick readings. A couple of weeks ago I showed 3.2 on the Libre 2 and 3.2 on a finger prick.

A finger prick doesn't measure venous blood, which is the most accurate measure, it measures capillary blood. So it will always be lower than your venous BG.

In the bad old days before Libre, the discussions on the forum were reporting the same sort of differences between finger prick testing machines.

That delay with curries is because they tend to be high fat, which slows the digestive process, so BG readings tend to go high later than you might expect.
 
mum2westiesGill said:
Thank you - for the time being I will put an end to the 2 hour after meal test and just do
- waking
- before meals
- before bed
At the moment I only know I'm hypo when I come to do a test but I don't really want to purposely start trying to run bgs higher
Click to expand...
That's what we used to do before we had sensors, we did mealtimes and bedtime and only tested in between if she didn’t feel right. (Breakfast pretty much corresponds to waking up anyway for us.). We've never done a 2 hour test after eating, can’t see the point as you are bound to have gone up because of your food. 2 hour testing is more useful for type 2s on diet control who are trying to work out which foods they can and can’t get away with.
 
I never finger prick when using the libre2 it’s accurate enough for my needs, I have 7.5 HB and in range 85-90% of the time so I don’t tend to fret about being 2 or 3 mmol high or low. I feel the onset of a hypo at 4.0-3.9 so I have plenty of time to correct.
like I said in your last post about this relying on 2 measuring systems will only lead to confusion, I would only use the finger prick for an emergency which I don’t remember having in the last years, I listen to my body regarding diabetes and I’m sensible (more or less) with food and carb counting so I feel the libre2 is only a tool to assist me with information how I’m doing, so much nicer than 10 finger pricks a day
 
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