Freestyle Libre....Good, Bad Or Indifferent?

[Diabeticliberty]

Thank you to all of you for your help. I will try mine when it turns up and if it works to my lifestyle then all well and good. If it doesn't then it will be another 5 minute wonder relegated to the 5 minute wonder cupboard. You may not be aware of this but in that cupboard I have a flux generator operated Delorean car that goes so quick it feels like I am time travelling!!!!!!!

 

[DeusXM]

Are they worth a punt for somebody who has never used one?

They are...if you are good with the basics of diabetes management and have a good understanding of how insulin affects you.

The Libre provides a lot of detail but that detail is less helpful for anyone still figuring some of the 'simpler' things relating to insulin - for instance, if you're still trying to work out your ratios for the first time, the Libre can help but doesn't necessarily offer you more meaningful info than you could have got with a straightforward pre- and post-prandial check.

Once you're beyond the basics though, it's really good for fine-tweaking your treatment, particularly discovering and eliminating the weird stuff. For instance, thanks to my Libre I've been able to very easily check my basal for accuracy and I've also picked up a major morning blood sugar issue that I sorta knew happened but I really didn't appreciate just how much it was affecting me. It was a massive eye-opener and the steps I've been able to take based on the Libre's information have caused quite a frightening transformation. I've never been regarded as a morning person and disturbingly I've found that actually, it's almost all down to my blood sugar. The change in my morning mood (generally) has been a bit like I've been replaced by a different person.

So yes, if you are confident in adjusting your insulins and understand the mechanisms by which your blood sugar can be affected, you can make the most of what is a very high initial investment.

 

[Sally71]

You're right, Sally, the Freestyle strips ARE a faff! And it took me a good few minutes to find the finger prick option on the Libre - it's hidden somewhere in Settings if I remember rightly. If I was trying to use it when hypo it'd be a real challenge! 🙄
From what you and Shirley say, the Libre sounds like a parents' dream, especially for overnight checks.😛
Good luck with your new toy when it arrives, DL.🙂

I think if you just shove a test strip in the hole it will go straight to blood testing mode!
When we trialled one we had to blood test on it too, and have done a couple of ketone tests with the one we've got now, didn't find it difficult at all 🙂
Yes overnight checks are a doddle now, unless it says LO, then I always think it might be a good idea to do a finger prick too just to check how low!! Or of course if daughter happens to be lying on the sensor it's fun too (she's got what I think is called a pilot bed, i.e. a top bunk bed without a lower bunk, so I have to climb up the furniture to get at her at night 😱 )

 

[Bloden]

Yes overnight checks are a doddle now, unless it says LO, then I always think it might be a good idea to do a finger prick too just to check how low!! Or of course if daughter happens to be lying on the sensor it's fun too (she's got what I think is called a pilot bed, i.e. a top bunk bed without a lower bunk, so I have to climb up the furniture to get at her at night 😱 )

You need to rig up something like Tom Cruise had in Mission Impossible - some bungies and a couple of safety pins should do it.🙄

 

[Sally71]

You need to rig up something like Tom Cruise had in Mission Impossible - some bungies and a couple of safety pins should do it.🙄

A crane with steel ropes more like....

 

[SB2015]

Back to looking just at patterns with the differences between Libre and Accu Chek back up to 2 or 3.
Patterns still useful and enjoyed a snack seeing the plummet line appear, so prevented a reading below target.

Like Sally I am not going to bother sending it back, I shall take Matt's advice and up my water intake (I am just back from Pilates), and focus on the patterns that it shows me.

 

[shirley]

Have to support what Sally has said, if you lay on the sensor you sometimes get a LO reading that may not be accurate. It is also important to keep well hydrated and to put any new sensor on at least 24 hours in advance so that it settles down and you get the full 14 days of reasonably accurate readings. We have found the readings very accurate and have only returned 3 sensors in the last year or so. I am aware, and I am sorry if I have missed it on this thread, that if you phone Abbott about dodgy readings, they will expect you to have tested using their strips and are no longer happy to accept comparables with other meters. Think that even if you don't use the Libre for fingerpricking at other times, having a few suitable strips when things go wrong is a good backup.

 

[Diabeticliberty]

The more I read about the Libre the less I am starting to like it and it hasn't even landed on my doormat yet. To those of you who have suggested altering insulin doses and food intake according to results this is something I adopted over 20 years ago when I was still testing using BM strips and making a visual guess against a colour swatch on the side of the bottle (yes we used to have to do that). I think that the meter is worth the trial to me since it cannot hurt to try a new meter. Individually wrapped test strips for conventional blood testing would feel like stepping back into the Dark Ages since the AccuChek cassette system is really user friendly. I just wish the meters were a little bit more reliable and the results a little more trustworthy. I can only take the new meter as I see it and will offer my own personal critique which will of course be completely biased and one sided because I am an awkward pig - these are the words of my family and the people who work for me.

Please note: no pigs were harmed in the creation of this post

 

[HOBIE]

For us, it has been simply life changing. My son cannot manage his diabetes at all. It makes lots of testing, even at night, a doddle. They don't always produce accurate results but when we have had a faulty one it has always been replaced and we don't fingerprick more than once a day, except when we have an unexpected high or low and when the sensor first goes on. It has reduced our HbA1C too but that is just an aside for us.

That says it all. I love the Libre.

 

[Robin]

To those of you who have suggested altering insulin doses and food intake according to results this is something I adopted over 20 years ago when I was still testing using BM strips and making a visual guess against a colour swatch on the side of the bottle

I don't think anyone has said just that. I think what we are trying to say is that once you've done that using test strips, the Libre can give you so much more info.
I've been able to experiment with how long before a meal I need to inject, and have been surprised to find its ideally 30-40 mins, if I want a smooth line and not Mount Everest in the first hour,not something I'd have found out with test strips unless I'd used an awful lot of them, meaning I'd have had to keep breaking off from what I was doing.
Also, I've never mastered the art of testing whilst horse riding,( when my levels can be unpredictable), without both hands off the reins, which isn't ideal. ( Cue for horse to start grazing, rather than bolt off, but still annoying when the reins shoot over its head) I can swipe the Libre mid ride, though I do worry I'll drop the reader in the mud one day.
But the most I've learnt is what happens overnight. Even setting the alarm and testing at 3 am has a bit of a 'Schrodingers cat' effect - if I know I'm going to be woken up artificially in the middle of the night, my readings may well play up when they wouldn't normally. (Or would they?) I discovered I was plummeting between midnight and 1am, (caused by a Lantus spike 5 hours after I'd injected it) which exacerbated my natural dip towards 3am, and meant I was unwittingly going hypo most nights. I ironed it out by altering the time I taken my Lantus.
Having said all that, may be it won't be for you, I've only been diabetic 9 years, and I still feel I'm learning. You may feel you know all there is to know about taming your particular beast. (I'll stop now before I look like I've been brainwashed by Abbot.)

 

[Sally71]

Well daughter at this precise moment is having another of those annoying hypos that take forever to come back up again regardless of how much sugar you throw at it. I have to say, repeat scanning is SOOOOOOO much easier than loads of finger pricks, as soon as it shows upward movement I'll know she is OK! So far we've gone from 2.2 to 2.6 but not very quickly!

 

[Diabeticliberty]

I don't think anyone has said just that. I think what we are trying to say is that once you've done that using test strips, the Libre can give you so much more info.
I've been able to experiment with how long before a meal I need to inject, and have been surprised to find its ideally 30-40 mins, if I want a smooth line and not Mount Everest in the first hour,not something I'd have found out with test strips unless I'd used an awful lot of them, meaning I'd have had to keep breaking off from what I was doing.
Also, I've never mastered the art of testing whilst horse riding,( when my levels can be unpredictable), without both hands off the reins, which isn't ideal. ( Cue for horse to start grazing, rather than bolt off, but still annoying when the reins shoot over its head) I can swipe the Libre mid ride, though I do worry I'll drop the reader in the mud one day.
But the most I've learnt is what happens overnight. Even setting the alarm and testing at 3 am has a bit of a 'Schrodingers cat' effect - if I know I'm going to be woken up artificially in the middle of the night, my readings may well play up when they wouldn't normally. (Or would they?) I discovered I was plummeting between midnight and 1am, (caused by a Lantus spike 5 hours after I'd injected it) which exacerbated my natural dip towards 3am, and meant I was unwittingly going hypo most nights. I ironed it out by altering the time I taken my Lantus.
Having said all that, may be it won't be for you, I've only been diabetic 9 years, and I still feel I'm learning. You may feel you know all there is to know about taming your particular beast. (I'll stop now before I look like I've been brainwashed by Abbot.)

I don't think I know anything about taming my own particular hamster never mind beast 😉 and of course I am very much up for trying one of these and hope it contributes toward better long term management. I think DeusXM suggested they are good if you understand your insulin and are into changing dosage as required which I do every day. As regards still learning? I believe we are all still learning about our own condition and picking up useful pieces from the shared resource on this forum. That in essence is what has brought me to try the Libre as I would have probably never even considered it had I not been curious about it when a few of you mentioned it in threads on here. I really hope that it works for me. I am still on regular bottles and regular syringes for my insulin as when I tried Basal Bolus it was a bloody disaster for me. I hope that the Libre can help me sort out some of the wrinkles that still haunt me and most other people with the condition. If not and anybody on here would care for a spare meter any of you will be welcome to it with my compliments it may however be a bit battered after I take a 14lb lump hammer to it

 

[Northerner]

I think it will really open your eyes to a lot of what is going on, @Diabeticliberty 🙂 Still deciding whether to go for one myself 🙂

 

[Well.legless.69]

I've got the libre and love it but wasn't sure what the strip hole was for didn't read anything about it

 

[Sally71]

I think it will really open your eyes to a lot of what is going on, @Diabeticliberty 🙂 Still deciding whether to go for one myself 🙂

Go for it Northie, it might be interesting the next time your pancreas decides to wake up and play games in the middle of the night!

 

[Copepod]

Completely off topic, but "taming the beast" makes me wonder how challenging will be the captive bred harvest mice I am adopting on Sunday. Going to visit my friend on Friday so I can get their accommodation ready for their arrival.
I'm sure Libre is great, but it's too expensive and not right for me, as I like not being permanently attached to anything diabetes related.

 

[DeusXM]

I think DeusXM suggested they are good if you understand your insulin and are into changing dosage as required which I do every day

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to suggest or insinuate you didn't know this stuff. But this is a public forum with members whose experience ranges from 'help I've just been diagnosed' to 'I've been doing this for half a century with no complications', and given the Libre is an expensive investment upfront, my natural inclination is to help protect others with less experience (ie. those who are at the start of their diabetes journey and reading this thread) spending a fortune when they can do quite a lot to help themselves without spending a penny first.

What I would say is the Libre encourages you to make lots of little adjustments throughout the day. The best metaphor I can think of is it's a bit like driving. With a standard meter, you're driving with your eyes closed, opening them once in a while for a few seconds and then changing your speed and direction of travel abruptly at that point if you're off course. With the Libre, it's like driving with your eyes open and constantly making little adjustments to your speed and steering to stay in a straight line. By doing so, I've dropped my A1C from 7.1 to 5.9 in three months.

With regards to accuracy, I have had no problems at all aside from when I accidentally snagged a sensor and it partially came out of my arm. Complaining about accuracy issues there would be the equivalent of complaining my regular meter wasn't accurate because I'd spilled Ribena on all the test strips!

 

[Diabeticliberty]

Just to clarify, I wasn't trying to suggest or insinuate you didn't know this stuff. But this is a public forum with members whose experience ranges from 'help I've just been diagnosed' to 'I've been doing this for half a century with no complications', and given the Libre is an expensive investment upfront, my natural inclination is to help protect others with less experience (ie. those who are at the start of their diabetes journey and reading this thread) spending a fortune when they can do quite a lot to help themselves without spending a penny first.

What I would say is the Libre encourages you to make lots of little adjustments throughout the day. The best metaphor I can think of is it's a bit like driving. With a standard meter, you're driving with your eyes closed, opening them once in a while for a few seconds and then changing your speed and direction of travel abruptly at that point if you're off course. With the Libre, it's like driving with your eyes open and constantly making little adjustments to your speed and steering to stay in a straight line. By doing so, I've dropped my A1C from 7.1 to 5.9 in three months.

With regards to accuracy, I have had no problems at all aside from when I accidentally snagged a sensor and it partially came out of my arm. Complaining about accuracy issues there would be the equivalent of complaining my regular meter wasn't accurate because I'd spilled Ribena on all the test strips!

For my own part I apologise if I replied as if I was responding from a position of wounded ego. Nothing could be further from the truth. I have had the condition a long time and intend having the condition for a whole lot longer as I am far from ready to check out just yet 😉. In order to help achieve this I will take advice from any body and from anywhere and if the Libre offers me a bit of an edge in achieving this then I welcome it with open arms. I also value your opinion as you have experience of using one. I on the other hand will no doubt be a complete dunce with it.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Which insulin(s) are you using @Diabeticliberty? If you are still on vials/syringes (ah..! that takes me back!) I am wondering whether you are on mixed. Great if that works well for you and it will be really interesting to see how Libre informs your understanding of what your BGs do between fingersticks/overnight etc.

I half wonder (since you didn't get on with MDI) whether you might end up adding a rapid-analogue pen into your mix which will allow you to carry on as you are, but give you the option of correcting high BGs with an insulin that acts faster and fades fairly quickly (eg Apidra).

 

[Diabeticliberty]

Hello Mike, if you want a bit of pure retro I use Humulin - S and Humulin - I. Mix them myself in a big ole 1ml syringe which gives me enough flexibility. I am then at liberty to stick myself with supplementary soluble if I start munching on cream cakes. I have commented before on here that when I tried basal bolus I absolutely hated it. My control went tits up and anything that you put in front of me for more than ten seconds I wanted to eat and go back for seconds. For some obscure reason and the white coats were unable to offer a suggestion it gave me a bonkers appetite.