Freestyle Libre - Sensor failure rate of 40%

[jgubits]

That is usually when your levels are changing very rapidly. Does it happen after particular foods? I know I ate some sweets and stuff that I shouldn't have the other day and I kept promising myself I wouldn't have anymore and then I did, so I had to inject more and more insulin and basically the Libre didn't know if my BG levels were rising and falling, so it threw in the towel and gave me that error message but clearly it can't count to 10 mins because it was out for half an hour or more and my levels crashed and I had to get the finger pricker out. Those are exceptional circumstances though and I don't think it was unreasonable that it got muddled. The problem is that it uses the previous readings to extrapolate in order to predict what your current BG levels will be to try to overcome the time lag with interstitial fluid, but if the previous reading are changing very rapidly either only in one direction or oscillating, then it can't safely predict what your next level will be, so it takes a time out in the hope that things will settle over the next 10 mins and it has a better idea of how things are panning out. So usually that will happen if you have eaten something very sweet without timing the insulin well or had too much insulin or injected it too soon or too late and your levels are changing fast or exercised with active insulin in your system. Ideally you want to prevent swings in your BG from high to low and back and try to keep things a bit more stable by improving the timing of your insulin or slowing those fast release carbs down with something slower... or avoiding them. I follow a low carb way of eating so I very rarely get problems like that.... unless I am naughty 🙄 , which doesn't happen very often.

Thank you Barbara for the time you are spending answering my questions.
But I don't think that what you described applies to my case, I'm very accurate with my eating and insulin injecting, nothing unusual in my behaving occurred in the last 48 hours compare to the previous days when the Libre worked well, the only thing I can do now is replacing the sensor, I'm going to do it later today and I'll report here what's happened after that.
Thanks.

 

[jgubits]

OK, I replaced the sensor and now more then a day after replacement everything works well, meaning that it was a deflective sensor and noting else, the previous sensor worked well only for 9 days instead 14, the company sent me a replacement which is on the way, and thank you for your advices and support.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

OK, I replaced the sensor and now more then a day after replacement everything works well, meaning that it was a deflective sensor and noting else, the previous sensor worked well only for 9 days instead 14, the company sent me a replacement which is on the way, and thank you for your advices and support.

Good to hear @jgubits.

Glad you got it sorted 🙂

 

[JohnS]

I'm new to Libre 2, after 9 days of using it, my first sensor start having problems, on the beginning in the middle of the night the alarm waked me few times showing a low levels of glucose around 60 mg/dl but a blood test was 97 mg/dl, then a series of lost signal and try again in 10 minutes, I didn't replaced it yet but in the last 24 hours it's on and off, if it continues I'll have to replace the sensor before 14 days, I spoke to the company they sending me another one.

So as a new user I'm a little disappointed hopping that the other sensors will be good.

I had similar problems with the Libre 2 (signal loss alarm going off) I tracked it down to me closing down the app on my iPhone after a reading. Now I just keep it running and bingo, no lost signal problems!

 

[DouglasXKR]

I'm new to Libre 2, after 9 days of using it, my first sensor start having problems, on the beginning in the middle of the night the alarm waked me few times showing a low levels of glucose around 60 mg/dl but a blood test was 97 mg/dl, then a series of lost signal and try again in 10 minutes, I didn't replaced it yet but in the last 24 hours it's on and off, if it continues I'll have to replace the sensor before 14 days, I spoke to the company they sending me another one.

So as a new user I'm a little disappointed hopping that the other sensors will be good.

I battled with this “try again“ business and reasoned that it might not always be the sensor that’s failing but might be the iPhone; resetting the iPhone worked once or twice, not always.

 

[jgubits]

I battled with this “try again“ business and reasoned that it might not always be the sensor that’s failing but might be the iPhone; resetting the iPhone worked once or twice, not always.

In my case I'm using the original Libre 2 reader device not an iPhone, and it happened to be a deflective sensor.

 

[Tdm]

I disabled the signal loss alarm as you instructed but I also get a Sensor Error "Glucose reading is unavailable. Try scanning again in 10 minutes". sometime the reading is unavailable for 2 or 3 hours, then the reading comes back for a short time and unavailable again for couple of hours, that's the most disturbing issue that makes the system useless to me, is there anything you can suggest about that?

MOvexovercto dexcom? I've not had those issues on dexcom

 

[nickie08]

Hello unfortunately my sensor libre 2 failed first day in the sea on holidays it got ripped off by a wave, I put another sensor on and 2nd day in the sea with waterproof covers for protection and it has come off again, so disappointing as I thought they could cope with the sea. I researched it all before I came out but now I have to go back to pricking my fingers and makes me feel so much more vulnerable

 

[rebrascora]

Hello unfortunately my sensor libre 2 failed first day in the sea on holidays it got ripped off by a wave, I put another sensor on and 2nd day in the sea with waterproof covers for protection and it has come off again, so disappointing as I thought they could cope with the sea. I researched it all before I came out but now I have to go back to pricking my fingers and makes me feel so much more vulnerable

Sorry to hear you have lost 2 after such a short time in the sea. An arm strap might have given it better protection and would be worth considering for next time. I always apply my sensor before bed then put my arm strap on which keeps it in place and applies gentle pressure around the edge of the sensor ensuring the adhesive develops a really strong bond with the skin during those first few hours particularly and that seems to have made a significant difference to the resilience of my sensors, but generally I wear the arm strap throughout the 14 day period except for if I am getting dressed up and feel it looks out of place. I find it particularly helpful in the shower too when it is easy to forget which arm it is on when you are having a good scrub.... or drying yourself off afterwards.