Freestyle Libre - Sensor failure rate of 40%

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Indeed, @helli. I cannot understand how some folk have repeated sensor failures, when I have had none, either with the original Libre or Libre 2. I would be fascinated to find out the error messages, or what kind of failure these events are. I’m amazed that Abbott will keep sending replacement sensors out to the same individuals time after time, to be honest.

I’ll be phoning Abbott today because my reader died yesterday morning. Made a chirp noise which alerted me, pressed the “on” button and nothing happened. Put it on charge, but hours later it still was unresponsive. And still is. Shame really, because the current sensor was started with the reader rather than the phone, so I’ve got no alerts till I change the sensor tomorrow.
 
mikeyB said:
Indeed, @helli. I cannot understand how some folk have repeated sensor failures, when I have had none, either with the original Libre or Libre 2. I would be fascinated to find out the error messages, or what kind of failure these events are. I’m amazed that Abbott will keep sending replacement sensors out to the same individuals time after time, to be honest.

I’ll be phoning Abbott today because my reader died yesterday morning. Made a chirp noise which alerted me, pressed the “on” button and nothing happened. Put it on charge, but hours later it still was unresponsive. And still is. Shame really, because the current sensor was started with the reader rather than the phone, so I’ve got no alerts till I change the sensor tomorrow.
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" I’m amazed that Abbott will keep sending replacement sensors out to the same individuals time after time, to be honest."

Because they are faulty - I think you've rather answered your own question. The instructions are very clear on how to apply the sensor. The failure rate is due to them not being very good. You seem to be using Libre and I think the majority of these comments are about Libre 2? Having spoke to a pharmacist she noted that Libre seemed better than libre 2 and someone on this thread drew similar conclusions. I have finally had one that 'worked' after a fashion - daily error codes and 'breaks' in 'continuous monitoring'. I'm not sure I'll be paying for it myself.

My friend who is Type 1 went to see his GP the other day and he said that the Dexcom was much better - more accurate, more consistent and far fewer failed sensors.
 
mark king said:
Hello @69RJB, I'm not sure I agree with your interpretation fully.
Like you around the same time I had a sensor failure Abbotts replaced them quickly and no further failures.
The 3 month figures you quote of 191 for 2021 and compared to the same period the year before of 48 may not be down to an increased failure rate but down to the increase in numbers of patients using them.

I do agree medical devices should work reliably.

Best
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I would also suspect that not everyone records them. I haven't got a prescription - it would be self funded. For the 3 failures I had Abbott was the mediator in all of that. I'm not sure if they have any responsibility to report that to anyone given they are a private company. I would suspect that they're getting something out of the free trial in looking at that error rate and the problems that are causing it - given that you have to send every failed sensor back. Another colleague who is Type 1 and uses Abbott sensors had one fall off after 5 days the other day and had to go to the chemist to get another one she just put the old one in the bin. I'm not sure what would have been reported to anyone.
 
HollyerThanthou said:
I would suspect that they're getting something out of the free trial in looking at that error rate and the problems that are causing it - given that you have to send every failed sensor back.
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You do not need to send every sensor back.
I have reported a few (less than 10 in 3 years) and think about half needed to be returned.

I suspect self funders are more likely to report faulty sensors. However, despite mine being on prescription, I always report faulty ones as they cost the NHS, and hence the taxpayer, money.

It is possible that the sensors don't suit some people's physiology.
Whilst many say Dexcom are better, when I had the Dexcom trial (two sensors) it was less accurate than Libre for me.
 
helli said:
. However, despite mine being on prescription, I always report faulty ones as they cost the NHS, and hence the taxpayer, money.
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Indeed. I had to sign an agreement with the hospital when I got my Libre on prescription, and one of the conditions was that if I had a sensor failure I would contact Abbott for a replacement, and not just order another on prescription.
 
Derrick Baughan said:
Has anyone else kept a track of the failure rate of the sensor?

I have just started with the system. A 'trial' where I was issued a reader and one sensor, at the hospital but by a company rep. Clearly not a trial in the true sense of the word. More a marketing ploy to create demand. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with that. I am now self-funding the sensors until my CCG (Cambridgeshire) approve the use.

The system is a step change in how I manage my diabetes and I find it extremely useful. However, I now have my 5th sensor on and, after 4 days, it looks like it is failing. I keep getting the error message that glucose readings are not available, try again in a few minutes.

This will be the 2nd of 5 sensors to fail, a rate of 40%. Tomorrow I ring Abbot up to see what they have to say. Anyone else had a similar experience or am I just the unlucky one to get the Friday afternoon sensors?
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I have had no issues with the reader, I find it more difficult to get a reading in my phone. But overall love it
 
Derrick Baughan said:
Has anyone else kept a track of the failure rate of the sensor?

I have just started with the system. A 'trial' where I was issued a reader and one sensor, at the hospital but by a company rep. Clearly not a trial in the true sense of the word. More a marketing ploy to create demand. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with that. I am now self-funding the sensors until my CCG (Cambridgeshire) approve the use.

The system is a step change in how I manage my diabetes and I find it extremely useful. However, I now have my 5th sensor on and, after 4 days, it looks like it is failing. I keep getting the error message that glucose readings are not available, try again in a few minutes.

This will be the 2nd of 5 sensors to fail, a rate of 40%. Tomorrow I ring Abbot up to see what they have to say. Anyone else had a similar experience or am I just the unlucky one to get the Friday afternoon sensors?
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I have now used Libre 2 for 3 years, the first 6 months I bought them then went on to the NHS scheme. I couldn’t have been more delighted, I had most of my life back, however, I have had several issues. They include, knocking them off (3) dropping off as they hadn’t stuck properly (3) faulty sensor (2). The knocking off I seem to have reduced by placing them more under my arm than at the side. I had a disaster on holiday when I went through three sensors in a day plus the batteries in my blood testing kit were flat and no sensor or testing kit was available so we had to return home. I now keep one in the car and one in my travel bag. On each occasion Abbots were extremely helpful and replaced them all without hesitation but it’s best to be aware that issues can occur
 
Taking note of the comments. I’ve been using it for around 3.5-4yrs. Self financed until last 6 months. The problem is the sensors. I had 4 fails in a row back in August….all replaced by Abbott. Just had another fail. New sensor put on…at end of 1st hour, tried reading…..reported sensor has ended… replace. Frustrating…..i have one spare sensor…from the same batch. Fingers crossed for tomorrow when i try it. Currently wondering if i would be better trying another sensor system.
 
helli said:
You do not need to send every sensor back.
I have reported a few (less than 10 in 3 years) and think about half needed to be returned.

I suspect self funders are more likely to report faulty sensors. However, despite mine being on prescription, I always report faulty ones as they cost the NHS, and hence the taxpayer, money.

It is possible that the sensors don't suit some people's physiology.
Whilst many say Dexcom are better, when I had the Dexcom trial (two sensors) it was less accurate than Libre for me.
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I disagree…..if it fails, not matter if self funded or prescription, it’s important to report so that a Yellow card is completed for the MHRA. It is a medical device….all failures need to be logged
 
69RJB said:
I disagree…..if it fails, not matter if self funded or prescription, it’s important to report so that a Yellow card is completed for the MHRA. It is a medical device….all failures need to be logged
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I think you misunderstood my comments.
I report all failures but they do not always want them returned.
 
mikeyB said:
Indeed, @helli. I cannot understand how some folk have repeated sensor failures, when I have had none, either with the original Libre or Libre 2. I would be fascinated to find out the error messages, or what kind of failure these events are. I’m amazed that Abbott will keep sending replacement sensors out to the same individuals time after time, to be honest.

I’ll be phoning Abbott today because my reader died yesterday morning. Made a chirp noise which alerted me, pressed the “on” button and nothing happened. Put it on charge, but hours later it still was unresponsive. And still is. Shame really, because the current sensor was started with the reader rather than the phone, so I’ve got no alerts till I change the sensor tomorrow.
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Because they are faulty….error code was ER 3,365
 
I have had no issues with the Libre, I find it really useful for recording all my data, meals , how much insulin and when inject really benefits my managing my diabetes.
 
69RJB said:
Because they are faulty….error code was ER 3,365
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That’s a code that refers to the filament that’s inserted, possibly due to bending or blockage. It can’t get bent on insertion, so post insertion events must have occurred. If it’s blocked, that’s just bad luck - only a clot could cause that if you happened to hit a blood vessel on insertion, which is bad luck. Neither of these events are due to the unreliability of the sensors, neither are caused by the sensor failing. Far from it, in fact, if it tells you what’s wrong.
 
mikeyB said:
I’m amazed that Abbott will keep sending replacement sensors out to the same individuals time after time, to be honest.
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Why? If there's a fault with a sensor it's their duty to replace it, in 2 years of Libre 1 I had 5 replacements, I started Libre 2 in June and yesterday received my 9th replacement out of 14sensors, the issues aren't caused by me so why shouldn't I receive replacements?
 
The last sensor I applied failed, something electronic. They sent me a new one though and I had to return the old for diagnostics. I had 1 fall off after 1 hour due to lack of adhesive and I knocked one off (well annoying). My failure rate is around 25% I think which is a bind as I also self fund. 2 of the 3 failures I have had abbott replace for me.
 
This alleged sensor failure does seem to be a bit hit and miss.
There seems to be 2 camps, either they stick on your arm and work well or they drop dead and fall off.
From memory I never had any L1's fail and so far only 1 L2 gave me issues with the catheter breaking up on attempted assembly prior to attachment.
Abbots did say they had some issues with L2 but L3 had sorted them all out.
Trouble is L3 is not yet available in the UK and nobody seems to know when they might be.
From reading these posts it seems the same people get the falling off problem which to me makes it more likely it's the person not the unit that causes the issues.
If it was the sensor everybody would be seeing it and not individuals.

Let's hope L3 arrives soooooooooooon.
 
The fact of the matter is that there are experienced Libre users here on the forum who had occasional problems with the original version, who are now having significant problems with the new version and in general, more people seem to be having problems with the Libre 2 than the original judging by the posts on this forum.
It may well be that certain pharmacies or areas are supplied by warehouses that have less reliable batches than others which might account for why some people have a higher failure rate than others.

Someone posted a suggestion a while ago on the forum that the manufacturing process, which is likely the same machines as produce(d) the Libre 1 are starting to wear and the tiny tolerances involved may mean that a very small amount of wear on the machinery might have a significant impact on the insertion/application process.... particularly the filament insertion if the assembly has just become a fraction out of of line with the needle, resulting in it not going in exactly straight. I find this explanation reasonably logical. A similar problem may be occurring with the adhesive layer on the sensor pad. ie some machines churning out sensors without enough adhesive.

We all know that Abbott were under a lot of pressure a couple of years ago to step up production due to high demand and it may be that older machines have not been updated or serviced as efficiently as they should be, to keep the production at a maximum, resulting in some batches being more likely to be faulty.

Whilst I am not having problems with my original Libre sensors (knocked one or two off in the early days), I am now dreading the change over to Libre 2 in case I also encounter these problems and I quite resent the suggestions in some of the posts here that it is the patient's fault or that there may even be a suggestion of fraud (posting that it is surprising that the same people keep getting faulty sensors replaced, could certainly be viewed in that context) when Abbott are clearly aware that there is a manufacturing problem, otherwise they would not be replacing the sensors so freely.

It is a mess, but most of us would not want to be without our Libre sensors in order for Abbott to take some time out to put their house in order, which I think they probably need to do.

I am still waiting for a Libre 2 reader which I ordered online months ago when my consultant said they would be changing me over to Libre 2. I read recently that Abbott are completely out of stock of Libre 2 readers, so again, it seems they haven't anticipated the market well. I just hope I don't get the upgrade to Libre 2 anytime soon as I will have no means of reading them. Every month I breath a sigh of relief that my prescription is still the original, which is crazy, but I don't want the aggravation of having to ring Abbott every week as some members here seems to need to do.
 
Derrick Baughan said:
Has anyone else kept a track of the failure rate of the sensor?

I have just started with the system. A 'trial' where I was issued a reader and one sensor, at the hospital but by a company rep. Clearly not a trial in the true sense of the word. More a marketing ploy to create demand. Although there is nothing inherently wrong with that. I am now self-funding the sensors until my CCG (Cambridgeshire) approve the use.

The system is a step change in how I manage my diabetes and I find it extremely useful. However, I now have my 5th sensor on and, after 4 days, it looks like it is failing. I keep getting the error message that glucose readings are not available, try again in a few minutes.

This will be the 2nd of 5 sensors to fail, a rate of 40%. Tomorrow I ring Abbot up to see what they have to say. Anyone else had a similar experience or am I just the unlucky one to get the Friday afternoon sensors?
Click to expand...
 
Have had failure to stick with both versions, and they both happen in the height of summer during a heatwave.
I have been using for over 2 years.
 
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