Fears and Findings from Freestyle Libre2

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(I'm now up to date so from here on in these are contemporaneous comments.)

Given that I've only had breakfast, scrambled eggs (2) and roughly 50g of smoked salmon and nothing else today I'm somewhat reassured that my BG levels haven't been bad.

I feel a lot more "normal" than I did yesterday and I think the chart is reflecting that. I don't feel 100% and I'm still getting hot flushes so there's clearly something awry somewhere but I'm out to dinner tonight and I'm feeling reckless so I'm going to throw caution to the wind and have exactly what appeals.

IMG_0560.png

One thing I will be keeping an eye on is the 7d 30d and 90d estimated HbA1c stats.
Clearly I've not got enough data to have anything like a reasonable prediction but as I've ordered another two sensors (so that's another month) I'll be getting a better idea of how my typical food intake will likely impact it.

Here's the key graphic on the app: IMG_0562.jpeg
 
ColinUK said:
@rebrascora Do you know the answer to this question perhaps?
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I only use the reader, so all my data is downloaded to Libre View from the reader. I believe that if you use an unauthorized app on your phone then you also need to scan with the LibreLink app every 8 hours to collect your data for your team to be able to access on LibreView.
 
@ColinUK Don't worry about the sub 4 readings. You are not on any medication which can drop you dangerously low so your liver is quite capable of bringing your levels back up itself without eating carbs. This is the normal mechanism for balancing BG levels and it is not unusual for non diabetics to drop below 4.... added to which the sensors tend to exaggerate lows a bit in my experience. The only reasons we insulin users top up with carbs is because there may be more insulin in our system than our liver can counteract and we need to preserve our hypo awareness, so we need better consciousness of low levels than Joe Bloggs because if our Libre fails us we need to be able to notice we are low and take action promtly. The more time we spend below 4 even at non dangerous levels, the more accustomed our body gets to those levels and we then start becoming "blind" to impending hypos, until they are too bad.
Without injected insulin your body can and will manage a minor low like 3.6 and the arrow tells you that it isn't dropping further so no cause for concern or need to eat.
 
rebrascora said:
I believe that if you use an unauthorized app on your phone then you also need to scan with the LibreLink app every 8 hours to collect your data for your team to be able to access on LibreView
Click to expand...
That's what I do (I prefer LibreLink's interface for stats), though Juggluco claims to be able to upload to LibreView.
 
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rebrascora said:
@ColinUK Don't worry about the sub 4 readings. You are not on any medication which can drop you dangerously low so your liver is quite capable of bringing your levels back up itself without eating carbs. This is the normal mechanism for balancing BG levels and it is not unusual for non diabetics to drop below 4.... added to which the sensors tend to exaggerate lows a bit in my experience. The only reasons we insulin users top up with carbs is because there may be more insulin in our system than our liver can counteract and we need to preserve our hypo awareness, so we need better consciousness of low levels than Joe Bloggs because if our Libre fails us we need to be able to notice we are low and take action promtly. The more time we spend below 4 even at non dangerous levels, the more accustomed our body gets to those levels and we then start becoming "blind" to impending hypos, until they are too bad.
Without injected insulin your body can and will manage a minor low like 3.6 and the arrow tells you that it isn't dropping further so no cause for concern or need to eat.
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I guess my concern was really based on how crap I felt at the time as well. I was shaky and thought I was about to have one of my turns again. Oddly I felt exactly the same way when I was above about 9 1/4.

Maybe I'm just hyper sensitive.
 
No unicorn today.

Felt rough last night and was frequently awake overnight with recurring nightmares. Not a hugely unusual event but this time it was off the scale in clarity and duration.

I’m reassured to see that levels have fallen quite quickly this morning though.

I’ve been wide awake since 4am so there’s the reverse of the usual Foot on the Floor spike.

One thing to note is that Shuggah keeps dropping the connection to the sensor so I’m getting a fair few periods where there’s no reading. I’m thinking that’s more an irritation than anything important though as it does take a reading minute by minute.

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Thanks for posting this thread @ColinUK
It is really interesting, especially the dual phase of the insulin you produce.

At a recent meeting people were talking about signals dropping out.
It looks like you are making effective use of the data you are gathering.
Glad that you took the plunge and that it is proving useful.
 
@SB2015 Thanks!

I know I’m pushing things sometimes with food choices and I’m ok doing that in the name of science etc. but it is proving very useful.

If nothing else it’s served to let me know that without testing I’ve honestly not got a clue what’s going on with my BG levels.

It’s certainly giving me an impetus to control levels which wasn’t really there before so it’s worth it on that front as well.
 
Breakfast was an individual pot of Yeo Valley Live yogurt with about 50g of blueberries and a free pour of enough chia seeds to give a good covering over the whole lot.

It seems like it was a good choice.

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Not so useful when it loses connection for hours on end…
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It’s been like this today, even with a chicken shish wrap for lunch.

It’s not going to stay like this for much longer as I’m off the the parents for late afternoon tea and then supper.

It’s not how high it goes but how quickly it recovers!

IMG_0583.png
 
ColinUK said:
April 28th

6.2 this morning. No idea what it was overnight as Shuggah shows a lovely big gap for overnight. Not sure why so does anyone have a clue?
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I run Shuggah too and initially experienced a gap overnight. Then I remembered I had the sleep app on so it would stop all apps running during the sleep period, apart from any I’d added to be allowed to run. Added Shuggah and all was well the next night onwards.
 
ColinUK said:
27th April (again)

Guess when I had a tuna melt and a bit of cheesecake…

I’m just amazed that the level fell so quickly. And the angle of ascent and descent look interesting.
I’m wondering what could be thrown into the mix to slow the rise. Not that tuna melts and cheesecake are advisable but it’d be interesting to know how to mitigate the BG spike in case I ever have that meal again. (In case?!)

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I’m sure the cheesecake will likely be the cause of the spike. What type of bread was the tuna melt made with. If white (which can also cause a bit of a spike) I’d swap to wholewheat bread which causes much less of a spike being low GI. Eating this before the cheesecake will potentially reduce somewhat the spike usually caused by it.
 
ColinUK said:
My question received this answer from a knowledgeable forum user:

As regards your twin peaks, I believe there are 2 phases of insulin response, an initial release of stored insulin when food hits the stomach and then a follow up as the beta cells get to work. That second phase I believe is more controlled by communication between liver and pancreas and is often slower and less efficient due to visceral fat hampering that communication for how much is required and it is often that second phase which is impacted in Type 2s. Can't explain why the peaks are so uniform in profile, but it is quite impressive. I imagine the fat in the ice cream is also a factor in slowing the release down which is why the second peak is after the 2 hour mark.
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Sort of.

There's only two distinct phases when glucose is fed directly into the bloodstream - the sudden rise causes a release of what is thought to be 'stored' insulin from beta cells. This does cause a rapid rise of insulin and then a fall, followed by a slower rise of insulin (Second phase). In T2 diabetes it's been observed that this first release doesn't happen or is very small.

Under normal circumstances, the digestion of food means there's a slower release of glucose so the 'first phase' is not really distinguishable from the second phase (i.e. you don't get a massive rise on insulin that you get from the direct glucose) and it's actually a series of pulses at regular intervals. However, the lack of first phase does mean that the beta cells can't deal with rising levels effectively and this leads to the second phase (Which is slower anyway) having to deal with the whole lot... leading to high levels.

This is a great thread! I had some interesting observations when I used a Libre, mainly a sudden rise and fall when I had some oats. For some reason I stopped eating oats, even though the readings came back down to normal levels very quickly.
 
counsellorneil said:
I’m sure the cheesecake will likely be the cause of the spike. What type of bread was the tuna melt made with. If white (which can also cause a bit of a spike) I’d swap to wholewheat bread which causes much less of a spike being low GI. Eating this before the cheesecake will potentially reduce somewhat the spike usually caused by it.
Click to expand...
It was sourdough.

Oddly I don’t always have a problem with white bread. That’s especially the case with the more artisanal breads although there’s a traditional French bakery very near me and I cannot have their bread at all because it sends me sky high much faster than anything I’ve experienced with other breads.

I have cut bread consumption quite dramatically in general of course and my staple is either a seed packed German dark bread or a low carb seed loaf I make myself.
 
Went to the folks for tea and supper last night and it blew the roof off my BG.
Difficult to determine what specifically was the demon food but I’m suspecting it might have been the cream slices.

I’m pleased with the recovery once my pancreas managed to make inroads into bringing my levels down but not overly happy with how long they were in the yellow.

Lesson is don’t have that second piece of cake (especially after scones) but equally don’t fret too much if on a very rare occasion I do.

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What else did you have alongside the cream slices?

I had a scone once when I wore a sensor and didn't see much of a rise at all, which quite surprised me.
I haven't eaten once since, but I suddenly have a craving for a scone and piles of Rodders clotted cream.
 
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