Freestyle 2 monitor

L

lesleystan

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
I have recently started using these and am worried about rolling on it at night. Any advice?
 
The sensors are pretty resilient to be laid on although if you apply pressure it can report a false low.
If this is a problem, there are two options
- try not to lie on the side with your sensor. I don't know about you but this suggest always makes me smile - I wish I could control my tossing and turning at night.
- consider the placement. This mat require some trial and error to place it where you are less likely to apply pressure. For me, I find higher and further back is best but it depends upon your sleeping position(s). Remember the sensor does not bend so avoid placing it on a curved part of your arm or somewhere than flexes,

If you are concerned about knocking the sensor off, most of us find it sticks like a limpet but this seems to depend upon skin type. People who have issue either use a strap around their arm or overpatches. These are available from Amazon and eBay.
 
Hi and welcome.

Another option that someone mentioned recently to prevent "compression lows" (false lows from lying on it) was to wear an arm strap and put those foam hair roller things through the strap around the sensor to protect it from the pressure. I have no idea if this works but the person who tried it seemed to think it did.

As @helli says, if you can tell us why you are worried about lying on it, we can perhaps give you better advice.
It would also help to know why you are using the sensor? Are you using insulin and worried about having hypos or are you not at risk of hypos and using the sensor to give you information about how your body responds to various foods and exercise?
 
rebrascora said:
Hi and welcome.

Another option that someone mentioned recently to prevent "compression lows" (false lows from lying on it) was to wear an arm strap and put those foam hair roller things through the strap around the sensor to protect it from the pressure. I have no idea if this works but the person who tried it seemed to think it did.

As @helli says, if you can tell us why you are worried about lying on it, we can perhaps give you better advice.
It would also help to know why you are using the sensor? Are you using insulin and worried about having hypos or are you not at risk of hypos and using the sensor to give you information about how your body responds to various foods and exercise?
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Hi
Thank you for your response. I have been T2 for 20 years but following a hospital stay have recently been put onto Insulin. I am concerned about Hypos - I had a couple of sensors which failed - constantly recording over 3 points lower than my blood meter and giving false lows during the night which caused a lot of stress!! I am now more aware of calibrating sensors for the first couple of days to ensure they are working! I am finding getting to sleep difficult as I am worried that I could roll on it! I do find the sensors (when they work) very helpful in seeing how different food affect my bloods.
 
Sorry to hear that you now need insulin. We are really lucky that we have all this wonderful modern technology to help us manage our diabetes with insulin but it does bring it's own set of issues and as you have found, it is not always reliable, so we have to find a way to balance our fears and expectations. I know none of us enjoy being woken up during the night by an alarm, but in some respects a false alarm is better than a genuine one. I can understand that being frustrating and irritating but you seem to be very anxious about it, if it is stopping you going to sleep. Does it cause you to panic when it goes off? I find the phone alarm worse than the reader for making me panic but I sleep with the reader under my pillow, so perhaps it is because that mutes it a bit, whereas my phone is usually on the bedside table on charge and it makes a much more high pitched noise, which wakes me with quite a shock!
I know I used to fear nocturnal hypos and worry about going to sleep and wake up through the night to check my levels before I had Libre and the thing that cured me of that was actually having nearly a week of nocturnal hypos. Once I realised that my body would wake me up and I could treat them successfully, I stopped worrying and losing sleep and now if my alarm goes off in the night I wake up, scan (the reader requires you to scan), decide if it is a compression low or genuine, if the later eat however many jelly babies I think are necessary and be back to sleep within a couple of minutes. I don't even need to put the light on. It has just become an automatic process..... but it probably took a couple of years of experience to get to that point where I am very relaxed about it. In the beginning we are all anxious, but it will gradually improve. I think it is important to try to rationalize things though and to me a false alarm is far better than a genuine one so try not to worry about lying on the sensor and letting that stop you from sleeping. Gradually you do learn better placement of the sensor and I have managed to find ways to sleep so that they are less likely, but if I toss and turn a lot they doo sometimes still happen although mostly my overnight alarms are genuine hypos and I am pretty chilled about those too, although obviously I do my best to avoid them.

Have you experienced a hypo yet? Is that part of the problem, that you have not gained confidence in treating them?
 
My last 2 Dexcom G6 sensors have been on my chest, so no chance of compression lows as never lay on my front.

Tbh never really experienced compression lows even using Libre, maybe I don't roll about as much as other not sure really.

Obviously sensor companies only recommend arms but I've found sensors on chest to be extremely accurate so happy to place them there occasionally, I'm male btw just for clarity.
 
I've found the inside of the upper arm rather than outside to be better to stop compression lows as I do like to sleep on my side(s) (I have a lot less alarms) but everyone is different, and indeed sleeps different! - I use the "Not just a Patch" patches (I'm not an ambassador or being paid!) which look like an ink splot and don't get any movement at all with them and it gives me more confidence that I'm not going to knock it off - I do a lot of sport too, and they are good for me
 
lesleystan said:
I have recently started using these and am worried about rolling on it at night. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Hello

New here too I place mine on the back inside the arm to protect it and I also use a skin tac and a plaster for it and so far they have lasted the full two weeks with a bit of trimming on the plaster as the edge comes lose.
I sleep with my arm up and rested on under my pillow what I have learned in my sort time if I get a low warning say 3.9 I will set the 15 minutes reminder and then take my reading again most of the time it will be 4.2 or 4.4. The thing I have read and found is don’t over react to the readings if it is low and you feel fine for a finger prick test but most of all don’t worry just get on with life and remember if it does fall off or fail just ring Abbotts and they will send you a replacement as long as you have the code for your sensor so don’t though away the box.

James
 
If you use a Libre Reader rather than phone to scan the sensors, the serial number of the sensor is automatically stored in the Reader memory once you Start the sensor with it.
 
trophywench said:
If you use a Libre Reader rather than phone to scan the sensors, the serial number of the sensor is automatically stored in the Reader memory once you Start the sensor with it.
Click to expand...
So it does. It has the number of both my sensors used so far not sure how many it leaves in the memory but that is good thanks

James
 
Good to know. I am not using my phone just now because of the battery being a bit old plus I quite like having the reader.
James
 
So the box can go straight into the recycling bin - preferably squashed flat to take up less room!
 
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