Libre 2 alarms

[Standup]

I suspect I know the answer already but just in case I'm missing something obvious...

Is there only one high/low alarm ? I set mine relatively high but that means it often goes off at 3am or similar. So far as I can tell it won't alarm again until it goes above the alarm setting? Or if you continue to be below the alarm setting will it sound off again at some point? At the moment I'm having to wait quite a while for levels to rise or lower the alarm setting before going back to sleep.

I'm thinking about adding the app to a second device with lower settings to get around this but that seems excessive.

My partner has linked to the app but with much lower settings (mainly in case I miss it for whatever reason) but several times its not gone off. This appears to be linked to me viewing the app - If I'm in the app the alarm doesn't sound on her phone. It also a new phone though so could be a setting somewhere?

I'm on iOS and they're on Android.

 

[Anna DUK]

I think that's right @Standup, there's only one high alarm setting you can input and the same for the low alarm setting. It'll only alarm once you come out of the range you've set. What figures have you set it to alarm at? Are your sugars often out of this range?

As far as I understand, the alarm won't go off on your partner's device when you're in the app as it's assuming you are seeing that your sugars have come out of range and therefore able to take action immediately. The LibreLinkUp is not intended to be a primary glucose monitor so it will only flag when your (primary) device hasn't responded to the alarm.

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, I found this a problem when I set my low alarm higher. I started off at 4.2, then set it up to 5.0 but I had more hypos because I would get distracted and forget to keep an eye on things and ended up hypo during the day or as you say, not come up high enough to reset the low alarm and I have now come down to a low setting of 4.5 which is working better but I may go back to 4.2 as I still have a tendency to wake up and treat and go back to sleep straight away and drop again before I hit 4.5 and end up low for hours. It happened last night despite 2 lots of jelly babies. I really can't be bothered to stay awake for 30 mins in the middle of the night waiting for my Libre to come back up.
Oddly my levels seem determined to flat line in the red overnight even with no evening Levemir. It doesn't bother me particularly other than making my stats look really bad. 😡

 

[Standup]

I think that's right @Standup, there's only one high alarm setting you can input and the same for the low alarm setting. It'll only alarm once you come out of the range you've set. What figures have you set it to alarm at? Are your sugars often out of this range?

The low is set at about 5.4 as when they drop it tends to be rapidly. Its more of a problem overnight as I have to stay awake for 30 mins or more for my midnight feasts to take effect. I could set it lower but that then tends to mean a cola or similar rather than crackers or a cereal bar. Its all manageable apart from the alarms. Highs are the same problem in that I also have to stay awake to make sure levels aren't continuing upwards.

Working in technology the app does feel relatively under developed but hopefully that will improve and I can understand they don't want to do continual releases because of the impact it could have on users.

 

[goodybags]

what’s your thoughts, ok we are all different, but by default what kind of level “as a low”
would be normally declared as low and going hypo, to set the low alarm at
I think mine goes off at 3.7 at the moment, advice appreciated

 

[rebrascora]

what’s your thoughts, ok we are all different, but by default what kind of level “as a low”
would be normally declared as low and going hypo, to set the low alarm at
I think mine goes off at 3.7 at the moment, advice appreciated

Most of us feel that one of the main benefits of CGM is that it can warn us we are dropping low before we actually become hypo and use the low alarm as a preventative feature rather than an alarm to tell us that we have gone too low.
If you have not altered the settings on your low alarm, it is likely the factory setting of 3.9, but it may be that by the time it triggers the alarm you are dropping fast and it is 3.7 by the time you check it..
Just checked my reader and you can set it as low as 3.3 or as high as 5.6. Can't see the point of having it as low as 3.3, but many of us set it above 4, to give us time to prevent a hypo happening. You need to experiment to find what is the best level for you. Too high and it goes off too often and you may become annoyed with it or like me, forget to keep an eye on it and then I drop into a hypo because I don't necessarily want to eat a jelly baby or anything else when I am at 5mmols. Similarly, too low and you don't have time to prevent it. It also depends how anxious you are about having hypos and your hypo awareness and how quickly and by how much your BG responds to your chosen hypo treatment.

Just to be clear, my alarm is set at 4.5 and if it goes off, I will usually just have 1 jelly baby (5g carbs) which should take me up to about 6mmols. Obviously if I was to take a full 15g hypo treatment at 4.5 I am going to end up high far too often, so you need to have a graded response, depending on the circumstances. If I am dropping fast and the alarm goes off and I am 4.2 with a vertical downward arrow, I would likely eat 2JBs to turn it around.

 

[goodybags]

thanks @rebrascora that makes sense how you describe it, yes my low alarm within the app was set at 3.9 however as you describe I’m usually dropping and around 3.7 by the time it goes off,
prior to using CGM I used to nearly always just always wake up if my levels dropped to the mid 3’ and by that time felt the need to eat the contents of the fridge, anything and everything, I now have jelly babies bedside, and lifts in the car
fingers crossed for less nigh-time hypos anyway following a chat with my GP today, have dropped one tablet and reduced my insulin (slightly)