My Libre has arrived!

[PhoebeC]

It sounds like you are doing well with it actually. I have had mine since March, and still only feel like I am getting the hang of it. Also this is by no means our normal routine or set up, my exercise has dramatically changed during lock down and that's taken me a while to get used to.
Agree with @Northerner much less hypos and I am really starting to learn about the impact food has.
I have stopped eating porridge completely. I thought before on finger testing I was fine with it, but the libre has shown me it really spikes me far too much, despite how in advance I take my insulin. It was leveling out after a while, by the time I was testing so I thought porridge was great for me.
It's definitely a work in progress, as it always is with D. But the new freedom to test whenever is beyond amazing.

I would say I sleep better, I don't worry what that last test of the night will turn into, and keep retesting for assurance, and not having to mess about if I do wake in the night, an easy painless check. Wow. It's such an improvement in our quality of life.

 

[rebrascora]

You make some very good points @PhoebeC although I have had lots more "hypos" in the past 2 weeks than before but my sensor is reading lower than my BG meter and none of the "hypos" have felt like anything other than very mild lows and the weather I am sure is playing a part in that. I also think I am trying to keep things lower ie 4s and 5s now I can see my readings whenever I want and that doesn't leave much room for downward drift. I think I have only had 1 or 2 vertical arrows in the hundreds of readings I have taken during the past fortnight and the vast majority of readings (probably 90%)are horizontal so most of the time it is just slow drift rather than peaks and troughs which has to be a good thing. Maybe I am just expecting too much too soon!

 

[rebrascora]

Just checked and out of the past 100 readings only 3 had diagonal arrows and the rest were all horizontal (no vertical arrows) and that is about 3 days worth of readings.... couldn't be bothered to go back any further. Is that about what other people find? As a result I tend to get a bit anxious when I get a diagonal arrow thinking that things are getting out of hand and in need of action although I still temper that with a bit of patience and more testing before I actually take action if necessary.... I feel like I am holding my nerve but knowing that I might leave it too late if I don't act, even though in the back of my mind I know it really doesn't matter than much if I wander out of range a bit..... maybe I am being too obsessive. I kind of treat it a bit like playing a very slow video game, trying to keep the ball in court

Oh boy is it itching today! Will be happy to remove it tomorrow and have a good scratch!

 

[Amity Island]

I think it very much depends on the individual and there certainly are people whose BG rises with the sun or at least long before they wake up. I did wonder if my situation was as a result of working rotating shifts for a lot of years and my body having to cope with getting up and going to bed at very strange times of the day so my liver got used to just waiting until I was ready, but I think it is probably just one of the many variables of human existence that we are all different.

Can I ask, if your fasting reading is a bit low when you get up, like mine was 3.8 this morning, do you have some carbs or just wait for DP to bring it up. I always have to inject a bolus of 1.5-2 units of NR for DP as soon as I get up even if I don't have any breakfast, so it seems pointless to have carbs and then inject insulin when I can just inject a little less insulin and let DP bring me up. It also feels a bit odd to inject NR when I am already low, but this system works for me. Obviously, if I woke up properly hypo (under 3.5) then I would have a small hypo treatment, but above that just seems a bit pointless. Just curious how other people manage it.

Hi Rebrascora,

As a one off, if I was 3.8 on waking, i'd just not wait the usual 30mins (after bolus) before eating breakfast. I'd eat about 10mins later to help pick up my b.g quicker. The things is, I don't always get dawn phenomena...so giving the extra unit at breakfast isn't always appropriate, but with the libre you'd notice that pretty soon.🙂
Obviously, if this became a frequent low waking, I'd need to adjust basal.

 

[rebrascora]

Interesting @Amity Island Thanks for that. My DP so far has been pretty consistent, so I am reasonably comfortable letting it do the job, but obviously I am now in a much better position to monitor it with my Libre. This morning it was much slower to kick in than usual but I didn't give myself a bolus for it to see what would happen and an hour later it turned up and I had to jab myself.

 

[trophywench]

... but you'd have seen that with the arrow on the screen when you scanned, rather than it being an hour later when you suddenly felt extra tired/thirsty.

The old old advice was that protein usually needs about 30% of the equivalent dose for that weight of carbs and 10% for fat.

I'd suggest you're pretty much onto a loser if it's MDI you're trying to adapt for that as hardly anyone would eat large amounts of fat or protein without one or other of the other 2 food groups.

 

[rebrascora]

I was lead to believe it was 40% of protein which breaks down into glucose and as you say 10% of fat. Most of my meals are under 20g carbs .... like my morning omelette with salad... so I am not eating huge amounts of protein and fat but what I have lasts me for most of the day without feeling hungry, so I eat less frequently. Usually I use my basal insulin to cover most of the glucose release from protein and fat but sometimes I have to use a split dose bolus and take the second shot 2 hours after my meal.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi,
I noticed that too. It's a bit misleading to call it Dawn phenomena, it's really waking phenomena.

For some people it‘s something that kicks in overnight (and they have to set an alarm to dose for it).

But I’m another who ‘enjoys‘ DPs lazy second-cousin ‘feet hit the floor’ phenomenon - which kicks-in when I get out of bed

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Can I ask, if your fasting reading is a bit low when you get up, like mine was 3.8 this morning, do you have some carbs or just wait for DP to bring it up.

Absolutely TREAT! the more minutes you spend below 4, the more your brain changes to ‘cope better’ next time, so that all of that expensive adrenaline etc doesn't have to get spent creating on warning symptoms... which means that you will begin to get fewer warning signs in the high 3s after a while... Then only in the mid 3s... then only reliably when nearing 3... or high 2s...

Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycaemia is often recoverable... but not always fully - and it‘s a real swine.

Just checked and out of the past 100 readings only 3 had diagonal arrows and the rest were all horizontal (no vertical arrows) and that is about 3 days worth of readings....

The arrows are useful, but the ‘flat’ arrow which is +/-0.06 mmol/L change per minute, still means a change of 1.8mmol/L eg from 5.7 to 3.9 in only 30 minutes (if it goes consistently in the same direction)

Hang in there... Abbott’s ‘real world data‘ from anonymised uploaded data shows that more scans are associated with reduced BG variability and averages - and by extension improved diabetes management and A1c

 

[SB2015]

If I woke at 3.8 and level, I would TREAT first but with just one JB, and then have breakfast straight away rather than wait my usual 30 min. If It was 3.8 and dropping I would treat with full JB dose and wait to sort it out before even getting up.

 

[Northerner]

Just checked and out of the past 100 readings only 3 had diagonal arrows and the rest were all horizontal (no vertical arrows)

I seem to remember being told that a diagonal arrow would mean a change of 1 mmol/l in 10 minutes and a straight down arrow means a drop of 1 mmol/l in a minute, which I find useful 🙂 My sensors always read around 1 mmol/l lower than a bood test on the scanner, and 2 mmol/l lower than my old Contour Next meter. I just accept what I see most of the time, but will do a blood test on the scanner if the scan looks highly inaccurate 🙂

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I seem to remember being told that a diagonal arrow would mean a change of 1 mmol/l in 10 minutes and a straight down arrow means a drop of 1 mmol/l in a minute, which I find useful 🙂 My sensors always read around 1 mmol/l lower than a bood test on the scanner, and 2 mmol/l lower than my old Contour Next meter. I just accept what I see most of the time, but will do a blood test on the scanner if the scan looks highly inaccurate 🙂

I think the straight up/down change is a bit high in that Northie.

Just looked it up in the manual...

Arrow direction	Rate of change	Change in 30 mins
Straight up/down	more than 0.1mmol/L per minute	more than 3.0mmol/L
Diagonal	between 0.06 and 0.1 per minute	1.8 - 3.0mmol/L
Level	less than 0.06 per minute	Up to 1.5mmol/L

 

[Northerner]

I think the straight up/down change is a bit high in that Northie.

Just looked it up in the manual...

Arrow direction	Rate of change	Change in 30 mins
Straight up/down	more than 0.1mmol/L per minute	more than 3.0mmol/L
Diagonal	between 0.06 and 0.1 per minute	1.8 - 3.0mmol/L
Level	less than 0.06 per minute	Up to 1.5mmol/L

Thanks Mike. I suspect that the person doing the training either tried to oversimplify things or just got it wrong, she said a few things that I knew to be wrong, having self-funded prior to getting it on prescription 🙄

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks for that info Mike.

My second sensor is on and I have 35mins to go before I see how this one is going to function. I have had a bit of a gap as I was busy this afternoon when it was due to change and of course it was typical that I should hypo in that short interval.... not a proper one though, just a 3.7 and I could feel it.... out working in the hot sun all day.

Interestingly I worked through the night last night which was much pleasanter than the midday heat and I got my first lovely "flat fish" on my Libre and with just 4 units of night time Levemir. Strange that I need 15 during the day but only 4 at night even when my body is still functioning and doing quite physical prolonged work. First time it hasn't dropped and particularly odd when I fasted most of yesterday. I had a couple of hours kip between 6am and 8am and woke up to my best fasting reading in ages of 5.0.... I really think that working nightshift just suits my body rhythm.... Ready for another kip now but need to wait for chucks to go to bed before I can zonk... and I want to see how this new sensor is working....

.... counting down!

 

[rebrascora]

Pleased to report that this sensor is also looking good from the off... First reading of 6.7 with an horizontal arrow and BG says 5.9 so this one may be reading slightly higher... the previous one was the other way around.... which hopefully means that it will record less hypos and improve my stats!
Second reading 6.6 20mins later.
BG is dropping slowly now with the reading showing 4.9 but still horizontal arrow and finger prick 4.2... have taken something to head it off. It is normal for me to dip at this time of day as not had much to eat yet and Levemir seems to peak in activity for me in the evening between 6pm and 9pm.

Anyway, all looking good again so far!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Good stuff @rebrascora

Hope it continues to perform well.

 

[rebrascora]

Well I am still really loving it!

I have had 4 waking readings on the trot in the 5s which is unheard of in my diabetes experience so far and I have 96% TIR and no hypos for the past 7 days. (Last 14 days are 91% and 3 hypos but only minor ones) I don't think this can be a fluke.
This morning I was brave and treated myself to porridge.... I very rarely have high carb breakfast. I bolussed 5 units NR (2 for DP and 3 for brekkie), waited just over an hour watching for the insulin to start to kick in, then started eating my porridge and watched it slowly and steadily rise to a peak of 8.6 one and a half hours after starting to eat and then slowly come back down. Chuffed to bits with that!

 

[trophywench]

The difference between night and day isn't whatsoever odd Barbara. Levemir doesn't stop abruptly at 12-ish hours, it can dribble on for ages, especially if you're not on a huge amount of it and also don't weigh a huge amount. BUT, the remaining dribble isn't enough to get your body through to the next morning. In other words, the night time dose probably wouldn't be enough on its own but added to the dribble, it is!

I was shocked to find how much I needed between 10pm ish and 2am ish when I swapped to a pump and also bearing in mind bedtime was 11 to 11.30pm then, so that was when I injected my 4 units plus a correction of Novorapid cos my BG was high, then went hypo after a couple of hours so the registrar at hosp clinic had said move the overnight jab to 9.30 - 10pm and that worked reasonably well for quite a while. But I still wanted it to be better than 'reasonable and mostly' ....

 

[Jaime]

Hi
I have just today received my Libre which was very exciting, couldn't wait to get going. Set was easy, insertion straightforward and painless. I have been using MySugr for a while now and think it's great to use as a bolus calculator. Does anybody know if its possible to link the Libre to MySugr?

 

[rebrascora]

@Jaime

Hi
Sorry I can't help with your question as I follow a low carb way of eating and have to account for protein so have no interest in a bolus calculator myself. You might get more helpful replies if you start your own thread to ask about it.