Case Studies Needed: What's your experience of Flash Glucose Monitoring?

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Diabetes UK

Diabetes UK

Know Diabetes. Fight Diabetes
Staff member
Hello all,

Diabetes UK need your help :D

Our Policy Team are developing a consensus guideline for Flash Glucose Monitoring. As part of the guideline, we're looking to include short case studies of people’s experience of Flash Monitoring to support our recommendations. In particular, we are looking for people with Type 2 diabetes who use the FreeStyle Libre and would like to contribute their experience. However, we would love to hear from anyone using Flash Monitoring.

If you have enough time, one of our policy team would contact you to conduct a short 10 minute telephone interview or alternatively if you would like to submit a short written account, that would also be welcome.


Questions to consider.

1. What was your reasoning to use the technology?

2. How regularly do you use the technology? On average how often do you scan the sensor

3. How has using the technology affected your ability to manage their diabetes?

4. How has using the technology affected your lifestyle?

6. How have you found interpreting the data, that the device gathers, to manage your diabetes?

7. Have you had any training on how to interpret the data?

8. Does your healthcare professional help support your use of the technology?

9. How has using the technology improved your clinical diabetes outcomes?

10. What do you feel the main advantages and disadvantages to using the technology are?

11. How do you fund the technology? Is the technology funded on the NHS? If so how?


If you would like to provide a case study we would be grateful if you could respond by Friday Wednesday 12th May. I can then start to arrange telephone interviews to take place later this week and early next week. Those of you who would like to submit a written case study, please could you send them to be for Monday 15th April to policy@diabetes.org.uk.

Any queries please contact policy@diabetes.org.uk

Thank you very much folks 🙂
 
I have emailed them 🙂
 
Sadly it really doesn't reflect what's really happening to my BG - so I'm high so I correct, then test again after an hour to see if it's going down, and fair enough it is so that's OK - and the graph shows it's coming down to where the icon now is - so why is the arrow horizontal after only an hour? - and of course it continued to reduce, But the actual numbers don't actually portray what my BG meter tells me - and there aren't any trends (I've never had trends so I dunno why I thought I might see some LOL) So it will tell me I'm eg 2.4, well that's very odd, I feel fine but I'll test anyway - Oh I'm 6.0. Well - I feel like I'm 6 so that's good - but I'm relieved I didn't believe the Libre! And it's not like all the low readings are X percent lower or the high ones ditto or vice versa - they are completely random numbers within a range of about 5 either side of my meter reading. My meter readings generally - do tell me much the same as whatever my HbA1cs tell me. I have sent for some Control Solution from Roche, just in case, anyway.

I'm so disappointed !
 
I've emailed them.
 
trophywench said:
Sadly it really doesn't reflect what's really happening to my BG - so I'm high so I correct, then test again after an hour to see if it's going down, and fair enough it is so that's OK - and the graph shows it's coming down to where the icon now is - so why is the arrow horizontal after only an hour? - and of course it continued to reduce, But the actual numbers don't actually portray what my BG meter tells me - and there aren't any trends (I've never had trends so I dunno why I thought I might see some LOL) So it will tell me I'm eg 2.4, well that's very odd, I feel fine but I'll test anyway - Oh I'm 6.0. Well - I feel like I'm 6 so that's good - but I'm relieved I didn't believe the Libre! And it's not like all the low readings are X percent lower or the high ones ditto or vice versa - they are completely random numbers within a range of about 5 either side of my meter reading. My meter readings generally - do tell me much the same as whatever my HbA1cs tell me. I have sent for some Control Solution from Roche, just in case, anyway.

I'm so disappointed !
Click to expand...

Shame that was your experience TW. How many sensors did you try? 5mmol/L out would be a 'call Abbott to replace' one for me as that is way outside of usable tolerance. Any that have been that far adrift (only one in my years of using them) have been replaced by Abbott no questions asked. And yes you are right, there will be a delay between sensor glucose and BG (which applies to all continuous monitors) - but you should have had a LOT more useful information than that. How disappointing for you. FWIW, mine tend to be within 1mmol/L almost all of the time, unless my BG is moving rapidly, of course.

I share your frustration with the arrows - the flat arrow allows glucose to be moving by up to 0.06mmol/L per minute - which sounds tiny, but relates to 3.6mmol/L per hour or a drop of 1.8mmol/L in 30 minutes. I know lots of people really like them, but I tend to use the trace line instead as I found it more helpful.
 
Used two Mike - rep insisted that pressure on em makes no difference so asked me which arm I sleep on (left one) and deliberately inserted it in my left one - and started everyone's immediately cos it makes no difference, she said - useless from start to finish - according to it I spent at least 8 hours of every day in the twos and low 3s.

Soo - I left it another fortnight, then inserted another in my right arm which I do lie on for a bit some nights, but normally drop off on my left and wake up on it and didn't start that for about 25 hours. Exactly the same thing!

For all I know - I spose I might have a dehydrated body - but the skin on both hands and feet springs back instantly even when I squeeze it till it hurts (got my finger caught in the spring on a clothes peg last week and having the other hand already full of pegs and laden with half dry washing when it started to rain, so it was a little while before I was in a position to remove the ruddy thing and shit- it hurt LOL - instant spring back, after a few minutes, no actual mark) and if I'm thirsty, I drink and pee as much and as often as I always have, never any protein in tested samples or other probs with kidneys - just normal.

I dunno what else to try - though I do have one more sensor left, so if anyone has any thoughts or bright ideas I could try it. otherwise I think everyone just has to accept that they don't work for everyone! Rep didn't seem very interested in my results from the first one, just shrugged.
 
Yup, agree with you entirely TW. It does seem (like all things D - devices/insulin/BG meters blah blah blah) that what works for one will not necessarily work for another.

Really disappointing for you, but at least you've tried a couple of times and can be fairly confident it was not just a one-off dodgy sensor.

If you try the last one and get the same performance that will doubly confirm things. People do try alternative sites, but I'm not sure that would help tbh. All Abbot's data are from back-of-arm
 
Just now my BG was 10.3 on the Libre but my blood said 15, what?- so I washed my hands (which I'd already washed, cos Pete had asked for a piece of cake, but anyway...) repeat more carefully ... 13.5. Have a feeling this cannula is in a duff bit of me and I'm quite a lot more concerned at 13 than I am at 10, when I was only rather surprised. All straight horizontal arrows again ..... even when the blooming graph is undulating like a corrugated tin roof in Australia.

I'm going to pull the blasted thing off.
 
It is perfectly possible that your BG was rising at the time. Yesterday, before my gastroscopy I checked my BG on the Libre and it was 3.4. The nurse did a fingerprick showing 3.2. After three Dextro tabs, testing ten minutes later showed 3.5 on the Libre, and 5.4 fingerprick. Ten minutes after that, the Libre showed 5.2. I've just got used to that delay, so always use fingerprick to monitor hypos to avoid overshooting.
 
Well, there was a 5 minute gap between the Libre and the BG - I deliberately left it (well, 6 minutes) that long in order to get like for like. Abbot rep insists they are only 5 mins adrift therefore I have to accept that as a FACT.

1u of insulin reduces my BG by 3.0. At that time my basal is 0.27ph. Surely it would need to have missed a whole unit of insulin in the odd minute, to be that far out?
 
Hi. I'm happy to do a telephone conversation. I'm type one and use the libre

Sorry this is late. I'm at university Thursdays and Fridays so don't get a chance to check on here much.
 
I have just had my telephone call
 
Me too!
 
I emailed them with my responses.
 
Quick message from our Policy Team:

Thank you to those who contacted the policy team to share their experience of using Flash Monitoring.
It was a pleasure speaking with you and your experiences are valuable, they will help support our recommendations in the guideline for Flash monitoring , if it becomes available on the NHS.

If you have any queries relating to the Flash monitoring guideline please contact policy@diabetes.org.uk

Thank you

Tara 🙂
 
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