Got my freebie Libre2 sensor...any tips things to do, things to avoid?

[Ginny03]

Thanks for your response. Especially the tip about the magnetic clasp. Not sure if that's something that's in the literature and the learning modules from Abbott but well worth watching out for. I don't think I'd be able to self fund full time. Two things I'm thinking are: 1) if I was able to fund for 6 months or possibly less,3 months perhaps, would it still be a useful exercise and provide me with data that would inform the rest of my days without a Libre? I guess that might be a case of suck it and see. 2) On the basis that I was able to improve my control significantly I could put together a case for funding.

Even a month will give you an awful lot of information about things that affect your sugars, that you never even thought of and it will really help with getting your basal dose perfect. I hope that you can put together a case for funding. My control was always too good for them to fund me, but it has improved even more since using Libre and just made life so much easier. x

 

[Kaylz]

Some sensors are just faulty. Abbot is very good at replacing these if you PHONE them. Few people have experienced success with emails and online chat.

I obtained a replacement via email when I didn't have a chance to call them, took longer but was no different to calling them, same questions etc xx

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Abbott say they have data from Libre2 trials to back up this ‘no need to double check with fingerpricks‘ claim. which they suggested at an Zoom chat i was invited to, even meant for hypo recovery.

I raised it and questioned them about it, because - as far as know - it’s just one of the things about sensor glucose that it lags behind capillary blood. But they said they had data to back it up.

The Libre 2 I’ve tried were significantly more in like with my fingersticks - well... apart from one dodgy one(!)... but even then I could clearly see sensor lag when recovering from hypo. So it’s still a sensor behaving like a sensor. But (for me) much more accurate than my recent Libre1s

 

[rebrascora]

I am quite confident to bolus from my original Libre without finger pricks and treat hypos most of the time and bolus corrections and I can only recall one occasion where it differed to any great extent but I do still like to do a finger prick occasionally. Usually once I activate a new sensor and my levels are steady, I do that as a kind of calibration check just to assure myself it is in the right region and if I I get onto a BG rollercoaster which is rare I will do a few finger pricks until I get things stable again, but most days I don't do any finger pricks and I am quite comfortable about that. I suppose if my test strips were removed from my prescription I wouldn't find it a huge burden to self fund the odd pot that I now use.
I am more concerned about the battery life of the Libre 2 as I am notorious for my phone running out of charge whilst I am out and about. Mostly I manage pretty well with the Libre but there have been times when it has died on me and from what people say, the charge life of the LIbre 2 is pretty short. Can you use it with the alarms off to conserve battery power and then switch them on say overnight when you might benefit most from them? I am currently almost reluctant to swap over to the Libre 2 because I can envisage being caught short for power much more often. During the day I don't always have my phone or the reader on my person, so from what I understand the alarm would be going off that I was out of range and draining the battery unless there is a means of switching it off.....

.... Sorry to hijack the thread with my own questions about Libre 2!

 

[nonethewiser]

I am quite confident to bolus from my original Libre without finger pricks and treat hypos most of the time and bolus corrections and I can only recall one occasion where it differed to any great extent but I do still like to do a finger prick occasionally. Usually once I activate a new sensor and my levels are steady, I do that as a kind of calibration check just to assure myself it is in the right region and if I I get onto a BG rollercoaster which is rare I will do a few finger pricks until I get things stable again, but most days I don't do any finger pricks and I am quite comfortable about that. I suppose if my test strips were removed from my prescription I wouldn't find it a huge burden to self fund the odd pot that I now use.
I am more concerned about the battery life of the Libre 2 as I am notorious for my phone running out of charge whilst I am out and about. Mostly I manage pretty well with the Libre but there have been times when it has died on me and from what people say, the charge life of the LIbre 2 is pretty short. Can you use it with the alarms off to conserve battery power and then switch them on say overnight when you might benefit most from them? I am currently almost reluctant to swap over to the Libre 2 because I can envisage being caught short for power much more often. During the day I don't always have my phone or the reader on my person, so from what I understand the alarm would be going off that I was out of range and draining the battery unless there is a means of switching it off.....

.... Sorry to hijack the thread with my own questions about Libre 2!

You can turn off all alarms or just one or two, yes you can switch them back on when required.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Can you use it with the alarms off to conserve battery power and then switch them on say overnight when you might benefit most from them?

Yep. Without alarms running there was no noticeable hit on my phone battery consumption. They are easy to turn on and off too 🙂

 

[chezpez]

Hi all, can anyone advise me about starting libre 2 sensor. My question is can I use both the reader and my phone to scan as sometimes my phone takes ages to find the sensor on my arm and the reader is straight away. Though the phone has more info on it! - thanks

 

[nonethewiser]

Hi all, can anyone advise me about starting libre 2 sensor. My question is can I use both the reader and my phone to scan as sometimes my phone takes ages to find the sensor on my arm and the reader is straight away. Though the phone has more info on it! - thanks

When starting sensor with phone you can only use that & not reader, not sure about other way round but should do as could on libre 1. NFC on phone has to be over sensor otherwise it won't read it, on my Samsung its left of camera lens.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi all, can anyone advise me about starting libre 2 sensor. My question is can I use both the reader and my phone to scan as sometimes my phone takes ages to find the sensor on my arm and the reader is straight away. Though the phone has more info on it! - thanks

Yes you can!

BUT...

You can only get the alarms on the device which starts the sensor

AND

To use both phone and reader, you have to start with reader first.


So if you want to be able to use both phone and reader you are forced to have alarms on the reader, not on your phone.

 

[chezpez]

Yes you can!

BUT...

You can only get the alarms on the device which starts the sensor

AND

To use both phone and reader, you have to start with reader first.


So if you want to be able to use both phone and reader you are forced to have alarms on the reader, not on your phone.

Many thanks - that's great

 

[chezpez]

When starting sensor with phone you can only use that & not reader, not sure about other way round but should do as could on libre 1. NFC on phone has to be over sensor otherwise it won't read it, on my Samsung its left of camera lens.

Thanks ☺️

 

[Peely66]

I am quite confident to bolus from my original Libre without finger pricks and treat hypos most of the time and bolus corrections and I can only recall one occasion where it differed to any great extent but I do still like to do a finger prick occasionally. Usually once I activate a new sensor and my levels are steady, I do that as a kind of calibration check just to assure myself it is in the right region and if I I get onto a BG rollercoaster which is rare I will do a few finger pricks until I get things stable again, but most days I don't do any finger pricks and I am quite comfortable about that. I suppose if my test strips were removed from my prescription I wouldn't find it a huge burden to self fund the odd pot that I now use.
I am more concerned about the battery life of the Libre 2 as I am notorious for my phone running out of charge whilst I am out and about. Mostly I manage pretty well with the Libre but there have been times when it has died on me and from what people say, the charge life of the LIbre 2 is pretty short. Can you use it with the alarms off to conserve battery power and then switch them on say overnight when you might benefit most from them? I am currently almost reluctant to swap over to the Libre 2 because I can envisage being caught short for power much more often. During the day I don't always have my phone or the reader on my person, so from what I understand the alarm would be going off that I was out of range and draining the battery unless there is a means of switching it off.....

.... Sorry to hijack the thread with my own questions about Libre 2!

I don't consider this hijacking. It's just contributing and all responses are interesting. Still haven't put it on yet...not sure what my reticence is about??

 

[helli]

I am more concerned about the battery life of the Libre 2 as I am notorious for my phone running out of charge whilst I am out and about. Mostly I manage pretty well with the Libre but there have been times when it has died on me and from what people say, the charge life of the LIbre 2 is pretty short. Can you use it with the alarms off to conserve battery power and then switch them on say overnight when you might benefit most from them? I am currently almost reluctant to swap over to the Libre 2 because I can envisage being caught short for power much more often. During the day I don't always have my phone or the reader on my person, so from what I understand the alarm would be going off that I was out of range and draining the battery unless there is a means of switching it off.....

Are you concerned about the reader, rather than the sensor battery life. I confess I have my phone with me at all times and am not interested in carrying more around so the reader lives in a drawer.
if you are concerned, you can get phone chargers/battery packs which you can carry with you and charge the reader when it is getting low.
Many people charge their phone next to the bed overnight. I guess you can do the same with the reader. I see no reason why it would not last a day.

I have only used the phone app with Libre 2 but you can chose which alarms you want out of high, low and out of range. I have turned the out of range one off. The sensor is attached to me so the only time the out of range alarm would go is if my phone is not near me. So i wouldn’t hear the alarm.
(I guess it may go off if the sensor completely but my experience is that it continues transmitting even when it falls off)

I have not found it drains my phone battery.

 

[rebrascora]

Thanks for that @helli. Yes, my phone isn't compatible with Libre so it is the reader battery life that I am concerned about. Didn't know you could get portable back up batteries to charge the reader from, if that is what you are saying? I am so not up to date with tech!
I appreciate the answer is probably to charge it up by the bed overnight and I need to rig up a power point for that but I know I will forget sometimes or be staying at my partner's etc when it needs a charge. I have to say, the current reader seems to charge very quickly, so I hope the Libre 2 will be equally fast.

 

[rebrascora]

I don't consider this hijacking. It's just contributing and all responses are interesting. Still haven't put it on yet...not sure what my reticence is about??

I was like that with my first one, especially as I was self funding and at £50 a shot I was terrified I messed it up, particularly at the application stage. There was no need to be though. It is all pretty straight forward and you will absolutely love (become addicted even) to the info it provides you with.... probably the reason Abbott are doing this trial offer. People don't want to be without them once they get used to them. In fact you feel positively vulnerable without one, once you get used to them, particularly going to bed at night and that was just the original Libre with no alarms.

 

[Peely66]

Officially plugged into The Matrix today. (In other words I put the sensor on...finally)

 

[rebrascora]

Well??? How is it going so far?

 

[Peely66]

All good so far. I seem to be swinging about a bit but in range. Early days to be seeing much in the way of trends. I'm truly amazed at how unobtrusive it is. I can't feel it on my arm at all. I have continued my day as I would normally i.e finger testing when I normally would plus doing a scan and scanning in between testing. I need to re-read all the stuff about the lag which I can definitely see.

 

[helli]

Bear in mind @Peely66 that many of us find the first 24 to 48 hours of the sensor to be inaccurate As our body gets used to having an alien object inserted into our arm.
This is why we do not start it the same day as insertion.

This may explain the apparent “lag” you are observing.
Libre 2 shows less lag than the first incarnation. This appears to be due to the app predicting the value.

 

[Peely66]

Yes I'll bear that in mind. I wanted to start this sensor following the Abbott guidelines of waiting an hour and finger test to watch this inaccuracy effect. I watched a youtube video of someone who said they scanned 40 times a day which seemed a little excessive. I'm trying not to get data overload!!