Freestyle Libre in Greece for a week in the pool - will it last ?...

[Combatfod]

Hi. We've booked our first holiday to Greece since my little boy's type 1 diagnosis in January and are super excited! Can't help thinking through all the diabetes worries though and one is the Freestyle Libre. What are the chances that it will last a week in and out of the swimming pools? He's had 3 libres so far but only 1 stayed on for full 14 days. First one peeled off after about 5 days (it bled when fitted - apparently can happen but rare - so think the blood affected the adhesive). We find the adhesive ring around the edge needs to be wider to seal it better so we've put a tegaderm plaster on this time but that's now starting to lift. Any reassurance and advice on how to keep it on for 7 days be really great 🙂

 

[SB2015]

I would put some Tegaderm over it or at least something like mocropore tape over it or both if necessary. It will keep working as long as it is in the arm, so keep it in there. I trim the edge of my Tegaderm if it lifts to avoid any more pealing back, and if necessary put another layer of tape on top. Just keep it in there. It is worth it especially on holiday when things are all different and the Libre is so useful.

I had one at fell out for no reason as it was only I and out of a shower, and they replaced it for me.

 

[Adrasteia]

We're just back from a week in Spain where my son was never out of the pool so I'm in a good place to answer this I think. The libre will hold, but only with a fair bit of intervention.

We took several tegaderm dressings with a slim pad to cover the actual sensor so it was easy to remove and changed them every time they got too curly. They really don't like sunscreen so this is pretty frequently. One of the patches leaked and the libre adhesive unstuck a bit but we dried it and pinned it down again under a plaster and it stuck back on ok.

You'll also have to watch for sunburn - the skin under the clear plaster will burn but if you put sunscreen underneath it won't stick down very well so if that area of skin is exposed you may want to consider a cover of some kind - we got Adam to wear a UV swim top most of the time, and I cut the arm out of an old neoprene suit to cover when he was just in shorts.

We made it a week with no sunburn, an operational sensor and a happy boy (albeit with a bit of an odd untanned patch!) so I call that a win!

 

[DeusXM]

Great tips, particularly re: sunscreen, I wouldn't have even thought of that.

I'm wondering whether this gives a bit more fuel to the idea of seeing how the Libre performs when attached to bits it's not been cleared for - for instance, if you put it on the upper outer thigh, it would presumably be under trunks the whole time so you wouldn't need sunscreen in that particular area. Good thinking with the swim top though.

 

[Diabeticliberty]

It might smack a little bit of overkill but have you considered buying a dry suit top half from a diving shop? There are loads of them on the Internet and I have seen them for as little as sixty quid.

 

[Adrasteia]

@DeusXM - yep, after this week I have definitely decided to try upper thigh for the next sensor, the sunscreen thing was a pain! If anyone has had favourable results with this placement it would be good to hear, especially my concern that they may catch on clothes. If he yanks one out he'll yelp.

@Diabeticliberty - They are brilliant, and definitely something we'll look at for him if he keeps up his swimming - but maybe not until he has stopped growing so fast! At the moment I feel like I'm replacing clothes weekly...