How has the Libre impacted the way you manage Diabetes?

[Cherrelle DUK]

There are quite a few on the forum who use the Libre or similar device to help them manage their diabetes. I was just wondering if you could share your experience re the difference it has made, good or bad, for those who are considering getting one.

Would be good to share what device you have and the type of diabetes you were diagnosed with.

 

[pm133]

Type 1.
Usng Libre freestyle.

The device gives me 24 hour coverage of what is happening with my levels on a continual basis.
That knowledge feeds confidence that I'm doing the right thing and that I'm not doing anything in between finger pricks which could unwittingly lead me to disastrous complications years down the line.
That confidence frees me up to take some risks, measure the result and reflect accordingly.
It has allowed me to push diabetes to the back of my mind and get back to living again.

I fought against using one at the start but I've changed my mind.

It also provided me with enough knowledge to successfully prevent my consultant wrongly re-diagnosing me as type 2 and removing my insulin. In that regard, it saved me from disaster.

 

[Ljc]

It was This site that I first heard about the Libre. At the time I was on MDI but labelled T2 .
It was a game changer for me . The 24/7 info enabled me to lower my Hb1ac safely, gave me more confidence and fingers crossed I hope it will slow down the progress of my ckd.
I still do a few finger pricks but nowhere near as many as I used too.
So long as the sensor is no more than 2.0 mmol/ l out I am happy with it and will use the sensor to bolus .

When my Hb1ac dropped to 42 the dn at the time was so concerned about hypo’s , the fact was due to frequent scanning I was having less hypo’s.

It’s brill for Basal testing, no setting of alarms during the night as the graph reveals all in the morning , saves my fingers too .

One thing I hate about it is all the non recyclable waste

 

[helli]

My LIbre history is a bit long - sorry.

Five or six years ago, I pushed for a CGM trial so that I could learn how my blood sugars behaved to certain scenarios such as stress, early mornings, exercise ... things that I don't do all the time but often enough that I wanted to learn how to adjust my insulin. I didn't wat to wear one all the time and thought a 2 week trial would be sufficient. This was declined.

A few years later I was offered a Libre trial and found it incredibly in accurate - it wasn't always high by a couple of mmol/l or low by 1.5 mmol/l. It was just random so I didn't take it up.

Then Libre started becoming popular and I decided to try again. I used Glimp instead of the LibreLink app as it allowed me to calibrate the readings and I found it more useful. As I was self funding and learning, I would wear a sensor 2 weeks out of 6 and built up a better picture of what was happening. In between, I was pricking my finger 9 or 10 times a day.

Then the NICE recommendations changed and I qualified for Libre on prescription so started wearing Libre 1 all the time and funded a Miaomiao so I could use it as a CGM. This time, I used xDrip as I found it had more features which I liked as well as the ability to calibrate.

Early this year, my prescription was changed to Libre2. I continue to use xDrip instead of the official app but, thankfully, my diabetes team have no problems with this. But I was able to ditch the Miaomio.

My HbA1C has always been pretty good (low 50s/high 40s) so I haven't seen much change in that but I have been able to reduce the roller coaster. Without changing my diet, the last two blood tests have reported an HBA1C of 45 and xDrip shows about 80% in range.

I achieve a lot of this by pre-empting highs and lows - my alerts are set at 4.5 and 8.5. So I can suspend the basal on my pump before i go hypo and give myself a bolus correction before I go too high.

So my experience is
- worth persevering
- not perfect
- use it to understand how your body reacts
- alert before you have a problem

(Sorry - I warned you this was long.)

 

[Robin]

I’m Type 1 and using the Libre.
I discovered the existence of the Libre on this forum, and self funded part time so I could see what was going on overnight because I had a lot of hypos. I discovered that I always had a big dip in the middle of the night, which was exacerbated by taking my Lantus at bedtime. It gave me the data I needed to ask to swap to Levemir so I could split the dose unevenly and get the best fit with my basal to iron out the overnight lows.
I asked for a referral back to the hospital so I could get it prescribed, and managed to achieve this after a year of jumping through hoops, so I could then use it full time.
I also find it useful for testing when I’m out walking, or doing strenuous gardening, especially now I’ve changed to the Libre 2 and it will alert me that I need to fuel up with glucose before I hypo. I can also test when I’m riding a horse, (something you can’t do with a finger prick test because it needs both hands off the reins.)
It surprises me that none of these exercise related reasons are part of the criteria for getting one on prescription. I think they should be. Anything that alerts you before you hypo, instead of waiting til you have the symptoms then treating and waiting for your levels to come back up, or allows you to test when you don’t have the opportunity to clean your hands or use both of them, has got to be a good thing.

 

[Northerner]

I'm officially listed as 'Type ?, treated as Type 1', largely due to the fact I don't fit any of the major (or even minor!) categories. Basically, I was diagnosed Type 1 and put on basal/bolus regime, but stopped requiring basal 4 years post-diagnosis and haven't needed any for the ensuing 9 years 🙂

My control has always been pretty good, with HbA1c in the mid-30s. However, I was aware that I was prone to hypos, although I discounted that as a significant factor in my low HbA1c. Once I started on the Libre, however, I could pre-empt hypos and have virtually eliminated them 🙂 As a consequence, my HbA1c has actually increased (last one was 48 mmol/mol), but my levels are much more stable. I believe this improvement in stability may have been responsible for a slight improvement in my maculopathy 🙂 As far as I'm concerned, it is a game-changer 🙂 I scan on average 24 times a day - I would never have finger-pricked that often - and all the data has revealed patterns and problem areas that I would have been otherwise totally ignorant of 🙂

 

[Ljc]

I forgot the sheer convenience when eating out, exercising etc

 

[Cherrelle DUK]

Thank you for sharing your experience! It sounds as though the Libre has bought an element of freedom to many people.

I feel / hope that it will be the way of the future and given to people as standard, particularly young people and vulnerable adults as the amount of info you obtain is priceless.

There will be downsides to everything so hopefully they will improve the functions and sustainability of these kind of devices.

 

[DaveB]

Hi. I've been using a self-funded Libre 2 for 2 months now. I classify myself as a Type 1.5 as my C-Peptide is just above the T1 top limit. As my diabetes if not that well-controlled I find the Libre 2 a real boon in enabling me to get my split Basal right and then seeing what my profile is hour by hour during the day. Finger-prick tests gave me no idea of what the BS movements were. The alarms have helped me already a few times during the night. Despite some people having adhesive problems I have had no skin irritation or other sensor problems. I use my Android mobile phone. The system does cost £100 per month but if you can afford it it's well worth trying.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Another thing I value is Time in Range. In a simple bar chart it gives an idea of how good my control is, and the Home screen (on the phone app, anyway) it gives a single number: the percentage of time I'm in range over the past 24 hours. So I get a simple metric I can try and improve over time.

And the idea gives some positive feedback: most of the time I scan it comes up (in green) as in range. And (now and again) it shows that I've been in range close to 100% of the time (for 24 hours).

In contrast HbA1c never seemed that useful. It just says OK or "could do better". The Time in Range stuff gives me information I can actually use.

(Obviously the details also matter: when I see I'm not doing so well, looking at the daily patterns and low glucose events pages helps much more than my records ever did, if only because all the information is collected automatically without any work from me.)

 

[Sally71]

My daughter is approaching 9 years of type 1. For the first four years we did finger pricking only with Combo pump. For the next four years we had another Combo but got a Libre as well (self funding for 2 years and then got them on prescription) and it was quite a revelation to see exactly what goes on in between finger pricks! We discovered that daughter will quite often be low at night for 3-4 hours and she doesn’t wake up! So have managed to get basal much better fine tuned with the help of the Libre, it hasn’t made any difference overall to HbA1c but we were pretty steady anyway around 49-53 which is pretty good according to our medical team. When we were self-funding I thought it was worth the money just for the up and down arrows, it makes so much difference knowing whether you are rising or falling.

Since last August we have had Dexcom sensors paired with a Tandem pump and that was a new revelation, having the pump automatically switching off basal when dropping, so hypos now are fewer and less severe. Daughter used to spend far too much time in the medical room at school dealing with hypos, since we got Dexcom I think she’s had one stubborn one that wouldn’t come up again, the rest she can deal with in the classroom. I don’t know how we managed without the alerts either, I’ve got Dexcom Follow on my phone so I know if she needs help at night without having to go and check (although just recently it seems I sleep through the alerts 😱)
Never got on to Libre 2 so can’t say how it compares, find Dexcom so accurate though that we hardly do any finger pricks any more.