Hello from Canada!

[Jules7565]

Hello everyone, nice to meet you all! I am Canadian with a 26 year old disabled daughter with Type 1, alot of problems with CGMs, glucometers, so much so that we have turned to another device which I am told is or was in tryouts in UK.
I am hoping to find some answers because I am pretty fed up with doctors and have tried 5-7glucometers, 4 kinds of CGM's and all have fallen short. An acquaintance of mine who has been in the UK for some time suggested I join this forum in hopes some of you would know the answer. I am looking for people who are currently or have used the A5X android phone by Nuu with pre-installed FreeStyle Libre 2 Special Edition application. Here in Canada, this model (A5X by Nuu android) with app was given to us free from Abbott Company after her freestyle models 1&2 continuously failed (either sensors or machines) as a last ditch effort to have something work as a CGM for her. My question is, how reliable is A5X with this special edition app on it? Or am I just being blown off by Abbott yet again for their crappy machine or sensors? As of yet, i don't see much of a difference after two weeks.

Can't thank you guys enough for the feedback if any and if not then it was still a pleasure 🙂

 

[Eternal422]

Hello @Jules7565 and welcome to these forums! There are loads of people on here with lots of practical experience of everything to do with managing diabetes.

I have been using the Freestyle Libre 2 here in the UK since July and have been very pleased with the results so far. I use the Librelink app on my iPhone and so don’t have any experience with your set up. I’m sure there will be others on here who can help you specifically with the android version of the app.

I have so far just had problems with my first sensor, which started fine but then started reading much lower than finger stick tests. I called Abbott and got a replacement without any issues, but whilst waiting for the replacement my first sensor gave up after 8 days. So maybe it was just a bad sensor in the first place - possibly its battery failed?

Anyway, the sensors after that have thankfully been fine and pretty closely match finger stick tests when I occasionally try them out. Don’t forget the lag between a finger stick reading and the sensor, some on here reckon it is more like 15 mins, but like everything else it will vary between people. There will be a noticeable difference if BG is rising or falling rapidly - if rising rapidly the sensor will read lower until it ”catches up”, if falling then the sensor will read higher.

There are also “compression lows”, where the sensor will read lower than actual BG if, for example, you sleep on the sensor, I.e. putting pressure on it on the arm.

Anyway, good luck with your daughter’s Libre and keep asking questions on here!

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @Jules7565

Sorry to hear you’ve been having a tough time with diabetes tech. It can be so helpful when it works, but SO frustrating when it doesn’t eh?!

I’ve not heard much of A5X in the UK, but we have lots of Libre and Libre2 users on the forum, and other CGM too. Different sensors do seem to suit different people (plus glues/adhesion seems to react differently to different skin types.

Plus, of course, there are inbuilt limitations to CGM sensors (sensor lag, sensor glucose vs capillary blood glucose, conversion algorithms)

Have you been having problems with sensors not lasting their expected duration? Losing signal/connection? Or is it differences between BG meter and sensor glucose that have been troubling you?

 

[Jules7565]

Welcome to the forum @Jules7565

Sorry to hear you’ve been having a tough time with diabetes tech. It can be so helpful when it works, but SO frustrating when it doesn’t eh?!

I’ve not heard much of A5X in the UK, but we have lots of Libre and Libre2 users on the forum, and other CGM too. Different sensors do seem to suit different people (plus glues/adhesion seems to react differently to different skin types.

Plus, of course, there are inbuilt limitations to CGM sensors (sensor lag, sensor glucose vs capillary blood glucose, conversion algorithms)

Have you been having problems with sensors not lasting their expected duration? Losing signal/connection? Or is it differences between BG meter and sensor glucose that have been troubling you?

Thanks for the reply!
It's mostly the BG meters being inaccurate really compared to sensor, we've never had one accurate enough which is a bummer and we know alot of sensors are. She's a small girl, small frame, some even told us when
there isn't much fat on arms the sensor may not work as well? So confusing but we keep on going 🙂 We know that a tiny different between sensor and BG meter is normal but not by 3,4 points and certainly not every second sensor.. I hate that one has to depends in a way on this machine, because that is what its become for her, a crutch.