Freestyle Libre - Sensor failure rate of 40%

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Kaylz said:
Some dont need anything but then many of us use different things, micropore tape, cutiderm or tegaderm film patches, kinesiology tape, cohesive bandage tubular bandage etc and I and a few others have Libre armbands which you can purchase on ebay, it's an adjustable strap with a 3d printed piece of plastic that fits around the sensor xx
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helli said:
I use xDrip. It is only available on Android. It has a sister app xDripIOS for Apple.
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Thanks. I'll check it out.
 
I've so far had 2 sensors fail out of 5 - really not great.

- The first time the applicator jammed and refused to press the sensor in, I tried doing it manually but the needle bent and didn't go in properly so that was a write-off.

- The second time, this morning, everything appeared OK, but the sensor then gave me an exceptionally high reading, then after another hour it refused to give any more readings, repeatedly telling me to try it again in 10mn. I replaced the sensor.

This high failure rate seems really poor - I really don't believe I'm doing anything wrong, the readings themselves seem very reliable once the sensor is working correctly, but these initial failures are very frustrating, especially given the high cost of the units.

Have any of you had feedback from Abbott, do they readily provide replacements?

Thank you.
 

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RikMajor said:
I've so far had 2 sensors fail out of 5 - really not great.

- The first time the applicator jammed and refused to press the sensor in, I tried doing it manually but the needle bent and didn't go in properly so that was a write-off.

- The second time, this morning, everything appeared OK, but the sensor then gave me an exceptionally high reading, then after another hour it refused to give any more readings, repeatedly telling me to try it again in 10mn. I replaced the sensor.

This high failure rate seems really poor - I really don't believe I'm doing anything wrong, the readings themselves seem very reliable once the sensor is working correctly, but these initial failures are very frustrating, especially given the high cost of the units.

Have any of you had feedback from Abbott, do they readily provide replacements?

Thank you.
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They are usally pretty good at replacing, but in my experience they do not provide any feedback, even if you have send the sensors back.
 
I had a disastrous day (involving 3 sensors) after we arrived on holiday. They were unavailable locally so we returned home and I phoned Abbots who were very apologetic and replaced all three even though I had knocked the third one off by accident
 
My daughter was only diagnosed 2 years ago and is still extremely anxious. I found out about the libra sensors, which she has been using for about 18 months, which we pay for and I am happy to do so, as they really helped with her anxiety. They seemed to work fine for the first 8 months, but now have become a nightmare. Over the last months, many have either not worked or stopped working after 4-6 days, I make sure we always have a spare one. However in the last week, one stopped in 4 days, put a new one on on Thursday, today, Saturday, it showed her levels dropped from 10 to 3 in 6 minutes, causing a major anxiety attack, until we did the finger prick test, which showed her levels were actually 9.5. She put a new one on before going out for dinner with friends. This one is not working, so 3 faulty ones in a week, which is totally unacceptable !
 
gwool said:
My daughter was only diagnosed 2 years ago and is still extremely anxious. I found out about the libra sensors, which she has been using for about 18 months, which we pay for and I am happy to do so, as they really helped with her anxiety. They seemed to work fine for the first 8 months, but now have become a nightmare. Over the last months, many have either not worked or stopped working after 4-6 days, I make sure we always have a spare one. However in the last week, one stopped in 4 days, put a new one on on Thursday, today, Saturday, it showed her levels dropped from 10 to 3 in 6 minutes, causing a major anxiety attack, until we did the finger prick test, which showed her levels were actually 9.5. She put a new one on before going out for dinner with friends. This one is not working, so 3 faulty ones in a week, which is totally unacceptable !
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I do hope you have reported all this to Abbott and they have replaced them.
 
@gwool so sorry to read the sensors are causing additional anxiety, you do seem to have been unlucky with them. Have you spoken with your hospital diabetic nurse and requested the sensors on the NHS? It doesn’t stop the unreliability but it would take away the added stress. While you’re still paying for them I hope you’re reporting any problems to Abbots
 
We have asked the diabetic nurse, but she said she has not been on them long enough to qualify for them on prescription. We do report them, but it takes a week to get them replaced, so we have to keep searching for chemist that have any for her to use in the mean time. It's the unreliability of these which is so distressing at over £50 each, with Abbots really not caring about the lives they are possibly putting at risk.
 
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In Buckinghamshire I was paying for them for 6 months, I was told it was sufficient evidence that I used them appropriately and I went on the list to be considered for NHS supply. It took about 4 weeks and from then on they have been on a repeat prescription. Good luck getting yours, mostly they work well and have increased my independence and confidence although it’s advisable to use the back up blood prick tests occasionally.
 
gwool said:
We have asked the diabetic nurse, but she said she has not been on them long enough to qualify for them on prescription. We do report them, but it takes a week to get them replaced, so we have to keep searching for chemist that have any for her to use in the mean time. It's the unreliability of these which is so distressing at over £50 each, with Abbots really not caring about the lives they are possibly putting at risk.
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Hi @gwool If you are paying over £50 you are being charged too much. Firstly you shouldn’t be paying VAT, the pharmacy should have a form for you to say that as a diabetic person is uding them then you are exempt. Have you tried ordering them direct from Abbott’s website? You can declare exemption there during the ordering process.
 
When I did pay I found Azda was the cheapest and they helped with the VAT exemption form
 
gwool said:
We have asked the diabetic nurse, but she said she has not been on them long enough to qualify for them on prescription. We do report them, but it takes a week to get them replaced, so we have to keep searching for chemist that have any for her to use in the mean time. It's the unreliability of these which is so distressing at over £50 each, with Abbots really not caring about the lives they are possibly putting at risk.
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Self funding them isn't part of the criteria, if I were you I'd have a look at the criteria and see what your daughter meets already, it doesn't have to be all of them but being on intensive insulin therapy is one point, testing 8+ times a day via finger prick is another and present that to the diabetic nurse, I didn't have to self fund at all (I would never have been able to afford it) and I obtained them on prescription xx
 
I wonder if this is to do with freestyle2? I have just changed over to that, about 5 weeks ago, and have a had more problems, with 2 sensors out of 6 simply stopping working after 9-10 days, one not starting up at all, and one dropping off after a week. I've also had the problem of the sensor saying "try again in 10 mins" for about an hour. I wonder if the new sensors are not as water resistant? I never swim for more than 25 mins and that did not cause a problem with freeestyle 1 - its advertised as ok in water for half an hour. I hope I don't have to go back to freestyle 1 as the alarms are really useful. I'm hypo-aware but the alarm sounds a little before I feel the hypo, which is incredibly helpful. It is also helpful over going high, which I am less likely to notice in the short term. I will phone Abbott again in the morning, as this latest one has just given up the ghost with no warning, after 10 days.
 
Kaylz said:
Self funding them isn't part of the criteria, if I were you I'd have a look at the criteria and see what your daughter meets already, it doesn't have to be all of them but being on intensive insulin therapy is one point, testing 8+ times a day via finger prick is another and present that to the diabetic nurse, I didn't have to self fund at all (I would never have been able to afford it) and I obtained them on prescription xx
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It depends where you live. In Cornwall (which was late to prescribe freestyle libre) there were a number of criteria about need, and prioritisation of children, but then it was also prescribed for people who had self funded when Cornwall NHS wasn't funding. Not all of whom were rich - some just very keen to improve control.
 
I tried the Freestyle Libre 2 on a free trial. So one free sensor. I also purchased one. I use it for about 2 weeks a month to try and improve control and note spike foods for me as I'm pre-diabetic and have EPI (due to damage caused during cancer treatment). Creon which I take for the EPI can cause deregulation of glucose levels. Anyway - I've not purchased another Libre since the original two 5 months ago. They usually only last a week. They fall off. I've had error messages. They've failed within 24 hours. etc. I've had them fail within the hour. The one I have on now which is a replacement for the last one that fell off on the 8th day. Is recording my blood sugar on average around 7.2 where as my last one said my average was 5.9. With this one I checked my blood and it was routinely and regularly over 2 days 0.5 out. I rang Abbott and they said this was 'fine' as they accepted a difference between blood monitoring and the cgm of 2.0. I said this seemed rather a lot and seemed to make the product kind of useless. He said 'We do warn people not to rely on them.' Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Colour me flabbergasted.
 
@HollyerThanthou BG monitors aren't 100% accurate either and have a 15-20% allowed error margin so 0.5mmol between a BG meter and Libre sensor is absolutely nothing especially when they are measuring different fluids
 
0.5mmol difference is pretty standard and totally acceptable. I think many people assume that because BG meters and Libre give a reading with a decimal place, that they are accurate to that level and they most definitely are not so it may be that your perception of what is possible is unreasonable.
I can manage using Libre readings to calculate my insulin doses if it is up to 2 whole mmols out compared to finger prick (not ideal at that level but still manageable) but anything beyond that isn't reliable enough. To be fair it is designed more to help people with Type 1 diabetes who have more significant swings of BG levels due to insulin usage to manage their diabetes, rather than someone who is just "at risk of diabetes" who will have much more minimal swings and no risk of going too low.
 
I think 0.5 is fine but 2.0 isn't and also 'you can't rely on them' is a bit bonkers given that is exactly what people do. Interestingly the Libre did record me having 3 incidences of night time hypoglycemia. But now I just think those were probably errors in the sensor. Especially as Abbott note - I can't rely on it.

I'm also not 'just at risk' of diabetes. I'm at risk of diabetes.
 
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