Freestyle Libre

[Jonathan_15Jan1969]

Hope everyone is safe and well.
I don't post often - more a reader than other things - but have also been a bit absent of late.

Due to the lack of hypo awareness, at my diabetes centre appointment in January, my consultant asked whether I might be interested in the Freestyle Libre. I had always been in favour of this device prior to it being available on the NHS, and when that happened, I checked with my CCG as to whether it was being provided - at the time my CCG wasn't going to. I guess due to pressure and the fact it has been proven good for many opinion has changed albeit with requirements. Hypo unawareness being one.

I have now been using one with a NFC (Near Field Communication) phone and required app. Have been using the phone app version for two weeks and for me it's already made a big difference.

What I read was that you can have both a reader and a phone set to a single sensor, though I believe you have to initialise the reader before the phone (might be wrong on that). However I wanted to do it this way for peace of mind so if for example I happen to lose/forget my phone (uncommon but not impossible) I would have a backup device.

What I wondered was if anyone was of the same mind and did this and how it would hypothetically work.
Would you initialise both then just use the phone and say the phone was lost several days later, continue with the reader. Would they be cummulative results or would you see results for each device so the averages etc. would be split and a bit messy/out of sync or something on that lines, until you recover a phone and initialise on the next sensor? Maybe you have to always scan both once initialised, so you have full results for at least one device in the event the other goes missing or gets damaged. Also after initialisation and you do record both do you have to do the reader first always or can you do either order? In other words order doesn't matter except for initialising the sensor.

Any users with more experience I'd be interested in any knowledge on this if you have tried or always use dual devices.

Thanks and take care.

 

[mikeyB]

Hi Jonathan.

I always activate my sensors with the reader, then the phone app. It won’t work the other way round. If there is more than an 8 hour gap between one or the other, they won’t share information, there will be a gap in the trace. That’s a function of the sensor memory, more than anything else. Both show the same

You can, of course, use just one or the other, so if one fails or needs feeding with leccie you’ve always got back up. Some folk on the forum just use the phone app. It’s slightly more functional and has more features than the reader, like predicted HbA1c, which I find predicts higher than reality. I think the algorithm needs a tweak.

So the answer is that you don’t need a reader. The upcoming Libre 2, at no extra cost, will be Bluetooth rather than near field tech, so you’ll be able to see results on your iPad, or any other Bluetooth enabled device theoretically.

 

[Jonathan_15Jan1969]

Thanks for the info Mike, and also the details on future direction it's taking with Libre 2.

I do use my phone mainly anyway but I'll just use the two devices to enable them and just have the reader in the event of a major issue with my phone device.

Probably be a bit cumbersome and time consuming to scan two devices. The finger prick blood monitor device would end up being quicker.

 

[trophywench]

One thing I definitely know Jonathan, is that should you wish to use both phone and reader with any particular sensor, then you have to start the sensor with the Reader and only once that has happened, can you read it with the phone. If you start it with the phone, you then cannot read that sensor with the Reader, for the duration of it.

 

[trophywench]

I typed that ages ago then went and did something different, came back, noticed I hadn't hit 'Post' and there you go! 🙂

 

[Jonathan_15Jan1969]

One thing I definitely know Jonathan, is that should you wish to use both phone and reader with any particular sensor, then you have to start the sensor with the Reader and only once that has happened, can you read it with the phone. If you start it with the phone, you then cannot read that sensor with the Reader, for the duration of it.

Thanks for that. I did have a feeling it was that order but wasn't positive and was unaware of the consequences if I did it the wrong way round.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks for that. I did have a feeling it was that order but wasn't positive and was unaware of the consequences if I did it the wrong way round.

If you want to run them both together more fully it’s sufficient to scan with the ‘Other’ device at mealtimes and before bed. That way you get scans approx every 8hrs on the device you aren’t using much,
so it has all the data for averages etc. easy enough at the moment if working from home, and more generally it‘s often not too hard to do 3-4 scans in a day approx 8 hours apart even if you leave the reader at home and use your phone as the main device.

 

[Jonathan_15Jan1969]

If you want to run them both together more fully it’s sufficient to scan with the ‘Other’ device at mealtimes and before bed. That way you get scans approx every 8hrs on the device you aren’t using much,
so it has all the data for averages etc. easy enough at the moment if working from home, and more generally it‘s often not too hard to do 3-4 scans in a day approx 8 hours apart even if you leave the reader at home and use your phone as the main device.

Good idea! The 8 hours and 3-4 scans - That's one of those facts that I remember reading on but had slipped my mind. That shouldn't be a problem plus with the alarm function you get reminders. Cheers for that.

 

[SB2015]

I still use both reader and phone.
I like to use the reader when I am doing sport as it is easier to stuff in my bra, than the phone.
The rest of the time I tend to use my phone.

 

[PhoebeC]

I was told they can’t supply me a reader unless I really can’t manage with out it so only using my phone currently, this is very useful to know.
Hope your well?